Back to School
Education news, analysis, and opinion about the start of the school year
EdWeek's Back-to-School Reading List
Explore some of our most popular and powerful stories, selected by our editors as back-to-school must reads. Update date: July 19, 2024
School Climate & Safety
Q&A
How Peer Mentors Can Ease the Transitions to Middle and High School
Advice on how to build peer mentor program.
Teaching Profession
Educators Prepare Early, Spend Their Own Money for New School Year
As back-to-school looms, educators often spend unpaid time and personal funds to prepare for the year ahead.
Student Well-Being
What Principals Can Do to Make Sure Students Feel Welcome at School
Student anxiety and absenteeism are top of mind for principals as schools reopen.
Federal
Photos
PHOTOS: Take a Round-the-World Tour of the Return to School
Here's what back to school looks like in classrooms around the globe.
School & District Management
Opinion
How Principals Can Start School With a Smile
Here are five ways to stay positive and focus on morale this year.
Teaching
Opinion
Teachers, Don't Take Your Work Home and Other Reminders
Some teaching strategies are tried-and-true, but fresh ideas may add more zest to your classroom and your regimen.
Teaching
Opinion
How to Win Students’ Attention This School Year—and Then Keep Them Motivated
Teachers, principals, and researchers share their best advice, tips, and guiding principles for student engagement.
Student Well-Being
A New School Year, a New COVID-19 Variant. What Are Schools to Do?
School is starting, a new COVID-19 variant is circulating, and cases are rising. Here's advice for schools.
School & District Management
K-12 Essentials Forum
Start the School Year Strong: How K-12 Leaders Can Create Thriving Schools for Teachers and Staff
Join this free event to get inspired by creative and proven ways to motivate your team the entire school year.
Student Well-Being
5 Tips to Support Students’ Mental Health as the School Year Begins
At least one measure shows teen mental health has improved from earlier in the pandemic, but there's still a lot of work to be done.
Teaching
Opinion
Want to Start the Year off Right? Teachers Share Their Best Tips
A contract, a biographical poem, identity portraits—some of the many ways educators are engaging their students from Day 1.
Teaching
Opinion
Don't Waste Instructional Time at the Beginning of the Year
Use those first weeks to explicitly teach listening, speaking, and thinking skills that will help build relationships as well.
Teaching
Opinion
3 Educators Offer Their Best Ideas for Starting the Year Off Right
The first two weeks of school can help set the tone for everything that will follow.
Federal
Cardona Back-to-School Tour to Focus on Teacher Pipeline, Academic Recovery
U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona will spend a week traveling to six states to highlight a range of K-12 priorities.