Education Collection

Opinion Collections

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Camilla Sucre for Education Week
Social Studies Opinion Celebrating Black History Education: A Collection
This year’s special Education Week Opinion project celebrating Black History Month focuses on what is going well in Black history education.
January 30, 2024
Used to Think
Hear how these Harvard education graduate students evolved their thinking around both their practice and work as systems leaders.
School & District Management Opinion 'I Used to Think School Systems Were Broken': Educators Reflect
Changing your mind or evolving your thinking is not easy. Hear how these education leaders did just that.
September 27, 2023
1 min read
Illustration of students and hands.
Robert Neubecker for Education Week
Policy & Politics Opinion Mapping the Future of Education: A Collection
Educational progress has stalled. But recommitting to opportunity for students shows the way forward, say advocates from across the country.
April 26, 2023
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Xia Gordon for Education Week
Social Studies Opinion The Urgency of Black History: A Collection
A strong Black history program is about more than building a curriculum; it’s about building citizens. Here’s where to start.
January 31, 2023
Illustration of man at computer weighing facts and opinions.
James Steinberg for Education Week
School & District Management Opinion The Public Role of Education Researchers: A Collection
Rick Hess releases the RHSU Edu-Scholar Public Influence Rankings in tandem with his commentary on the state of public scholarship.
January 17, 2023
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Erin Robinson for Education Week
Equity & Diversity Opinion What Black History Month Should Mean: A Collection
Amid national backlash against racially conscious instruction, it will take hard work to improve how Black history is taught in schools.
February 1, 2022
Illustration of magnifying glass and school buildings.
James Steinberg for Education Week
School & District Management Opinion How Educators and Researchers Can Work Together to Improve Schools: A Collection
Researchers and educators share their best advice on how to create successful partnerships that can improve schools.
January 18, 2022
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Lincoln Agnew for Education Week
Teaching Profession Opinion What We Learned About Teachers During the Pandemic: A Series
A researcher shows how teachers went from making school happen to having little say in planning for an unprecedented year.
July 19, 2021
Superintendents discuss ideas at a roundtable.
Vanessa Solis/Education Week and Getty Images
School & District Management Opinion Leadership Lessons From the Kitchen Table: A Series
Experienced district leaders from one end of the country to the other share their most instructive insights from leading through a pandemic.
July 8, 2021
Hand writing the word racism on blackboard. Stop hate. Against prejudice and violence. Lecture about discrimination in school.
Tero Vesalainen/iStock/Getty
School & District Management Opinion Leading for Racial Justice: A Series
Two educators explore the hard but necessary work of making schools places where Asian, Black, Indigenous, and Latinx students can thrive.
June 15, 2021
family remote ed Opinion
Feodora Chiosea/iStock/Getty
Equity & Diversity Opinion Using Cultural Knowledge for Equity: A Series
How can you make instruction work for children of color? The equity team of an Oregon district shares research and experience.
February 11, 2021
Image of Carter G. Woodson
AP Photo and Getty
Equity & Diversity Opinion How to Get Black History Right: A Series
What does it mean to be an educator of Black history? Educators, students, and historians explore.
January 29, 2021
Researchers explore a data canyon
J. R. Bee for Education Week
Leadership Opinion What U.S. Education Has to Learn From 2020: A Collection
What happens when we enter new territory that cries out for evidence-based guidance, but there is none or very little?
January 15, 2021
A sea of lit memorial candles is overlaid with a bright watercolor faceted screen
E+/iStock + Education Week
Student Well-Being Opinion How to Support Your Students Following a Traumatic News Day
Educators and researchers share their advice and reflections on how to respond to tragic events at home and abroad.
January 7, 2021
Hands holding a girl with a book bag. Girl's feet are roots that are growing into the palms of the hands holding her.
Taylor Callory for Education Week
Student Well-Being Opinion How Students Find Strength Now: An Opinion Project
Students are carving their own paths in the pandemic. Educators and students explore what that means for schools.
September 9, 2020
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Raul Arias for Education Week
Leadership Opinion The Principal Is In: Advice for Principals
In a biweekly Education Week column, experienced principals and other school leadership experts offer advice for their peers.
July 23, 2020
School & District Management Opinion Weighing the Research: What Works, What Doesn't
In an ongoing series, Susanna Loeb, Heather Hill, and guest authors put the pieces of research together so that education decisionmakers can evaluate which policies and practices to implement.
February 7, 2020
Leadership Opinion How Education Scholars Stay Informed
As the media landscape becomes more atomized and the political landscape more fractious, we wanted to know how scholars are keeping current.
January 13, 2020
Big Ideas in Education Special Report 10 Big Ideas in Education 2020
Education Week reporters and editors question some of the basic assumptions that underpin public education and stand in the way of transformation.
January 8, 2020
College & Workforce Readiness Opinion From the Pueblo to College: The Journey of Two Rural Students
What does it take for rural students to succeed academically? This three-part video series follows two Native American students as they transition from high school to higher education and explores what their decisions mean for their families and their Jemez Pueblo community.
December 20, 2019
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Skip Sterling for Education Week
Student Achievement Opinion Redefining Opportunity and Advantage in Education
The word choices we make can inform and affect how we view student potential. This special Opinion package tackles what educators need to know.
December 5, 2019
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Anthony Russo for Education Week
Leadership Opinion Want to Be a Public Scholar? Here's What You Need to Know
Five education scholars share their best advice for how to make have your voice heard in education policy and practice
January 15, 2019
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Daryn Ray for Education Week
Big Ideas in Education Special Report 10 Big Ideas in Education 2019
Education Week reporters and editors identify 10 of today’s most pressing challenges in education and offer bold ideas for addressing them.
January 9, 2019
School & District Management Opinion How Principals Navigate Challenge
From school shootings to student suicides to hurricanes and more: School leaders open up about how they faced some of the most difficult circumstances of their careers.
November 27, 2018
School & District Management Opinion An Inside Look at School Improvement (Perspectives)
What does continuous improvement look like in practice? One school community shares insights from its innovative model.
June 11, 2018
Leadership Opinion How Should Education Scholars Join the Public Conversation?
Frederick M. Hess and four education scholars discuss the pros and cons for academics who want to wade into public debate.
January 16, 2018
Big Ideas in Education Special Report 10 Big Ideas in Education 2018
Part opinion writing, part conversation, and part journalism analysis, this special report explores game-changing disruptions to the field of education that have the potential to shake up the schoolhouse and the classroom.
January 10, 2018
Future of Work Opinion Artificial Intelligence, Schooling, & Tomorrow's Jobs
Are students academically prepared for a future of jobs we have yet to imagine, shaped by technology we have yet to invent? Professors, advocates, and futurists explore what's ahead.
December 11, 2017
Curriculum Opinion Arts Education: A Look Ahead
In this package, Education Week has convened a range of researchers, professors, and practitioners to argue their case for arts education’s path forward. Despite their many contrasting opinions, these experts all agree on one thing: Arts instruction is key to American schooling and is worth supporting, researching, and protecting.
October 2, 2017
Equity & Diversity Opinion Education Equity Is Now Up to the States
As ESSA goes into full effect and the federal role in education recedes, equity now belongs to the states. Education leaders from around the country weigh in on their priorities for upending equity.
May 31, 2017
Education Opinion The Leftward Tilt of Education Scholarship
With the release of 2017's RHSU Edu-Scholar Public Influence Rankings, Rick Hess weighs in on "the leftward tilt" of education scholarship.
January 11, 2017
Student Well-Being Opinion Student Trauma: How School Leaders Can Respond
In this special package, school leaders and two founders of trauma-informed programs reflect on proven strategies that promote healing.
December 3, 2016
Teaching Opinion Focusing In on Science Learning
In this special Commentary package, Education Week editors challenged classroom teachers, teacher-educators, and researchers to tackle issues surrounding STEM learning and propose new ideas for improving science instruction.
October 25, 2016
College & Workforce Readiness Opinion Reimagining College Admissions
In this collection of Commentaries, four thought leaders unpack the hot-button issues that surround the pathway to higher education.
January 19, 2016
Families & the Community Opinion Inside Opt-Out
This Commentary special collection offers a range of perspectives on parents’ opting their children out of tests.
June 9, 2015
Standards Opinion Common Core: Perspectives From the Classroom
In this special Commentary package, five educators discuss the realities of common-core implementation from the frontlines, highlighting both challenges and opportunities.
March 23, 2015
Curriculum Opinion Inspired Learning
In this special package from Education Week Commentary, educators and advocates discuss the arts in K-12 education. Regular contributing artists illustrate the package, which includes a video that explores the role of the arts in classroom engagement.
December 2, 2014
Equity & Diversity Opinion Brown at 60: Perspectives
Education Week Commentary explores the legacy of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, including how questions concerning race continue to play out in K-12 education.
May 29, 2014
College & Workforce Readiness Opinion College Access for All
Today, more than ever, a college degree is considered an essential ingredient for personal economic success. But how do educators and policymakers work together to encourage more students to apply to, stick with, and succeed in higher education?
June 10, 2014
Equity & Diversity Project Education in Indian Country: Obstacles and Opportunity
On most measures of educational success, Native American students trail every other racial and ethnic subgroup of students. We explore why.
December 4, 2013
Families & the Community Opinion The Role of the K-12 Parent
This Commentary package offers different perspectives on the changing nature of parent empowerment and the role that family engagement can play in student achievement.
November 5, 2013
Teacher Preparation Opinion Commentaries on Teacher Preparation
Commentary considers teacher education and the best ways to prepare new educators for the classroom
June 10, 2013
Federal Opinion A Nation at Risk: 30 Years Later
This special collection, and a new blog that accompanies it, examines the legacy of the landmark report.
April 23, 2013
Standards Opinion Common-Core Commentaries
Adopted by 45 states and the District of Columbia, the Common Core State Standards have provoked opinions and ideas from thought leaders, policymakers, and the educators who have to implement them. Browse their perspectives in this collection
August 9, 2012
Federal Opinion The Federal Role in Education
What lessons have been learned from the past half-century of federal involvement in education? Chester E. Finn Jr., Charles Barone, and Marshall S. Smith, among others, consider this question and others in this collection of five essays adapted for Education Week from the book Carrots, Sticks, and the Bully Pulpit (Harvard Education Press, 2011).
May 1, 2012
Student Well-Being Opinion Education and the Whole Child
Many advocates for children argue that schools need to do more than focus on academics solely—that they must address the "whole child." These Commentaries offer perspectives on what educating the whole child means in reality, why some feel it's more important now than ever before, and how schools and other organizations are working together to meet students' needs outside the classroom.
February 14, 2012
Federal Opinion NCLB Turns 10
To reflect on the anniversary of the No Child Left Behind Act, the Education Week Commentary editors asked K-12 education leaders, politicians, teachers, and child advocates for their thoughts. Read what Linda Darling-Hammond, Kaya Henderson, and Paul G. Vallas, among others, have to say. This package also includes links to Education Week's coverage over the decade, readers' comments, and a glossary of selected NCLB terms.
January 5, 2012
School & District Management Opinion K-12 Innovation
What can schools learn from video games? Do ideas always have to be “big” to solve education problems, or can schools benefit from an evolving slate of smaller, more focused changes? Could some schools leap into new digital advances while others proceed more cautiously, without harming students? Ken Kay, Ted Kolderie, Michael Levine, and others weigh in on these ideas and more in this collection of Commentaries on innovation and learning.
November 8, 2011
School & District Management Opinion The Futures of School Reform
The members of the Futures of School Reform Group represented leading thinkers from the academic, business, and public-policy sectors.
March 27, 2011
Teacher Preparation Opinion Perspectives on TFA in Its 20th Year
In its two decades, Teach For America has dispatched more than 20,000 young teachers to work in some of America’s poorest schools and communities. To mark TFA’s 20th-anniversary year, 2010-11, Education Week's Commentary editors sought out a variety of perspectives on Teach For America and its effects on teachers, students, and schools.
March 16, 2011
Teaching Profession Opinion The Future of Teaching
Karen Hawley Miles, Barnett Berry, and others explore how to strengthen the teaching profession as a whole through new learning opportunities and better evaluation systems. The authors also consider what teaching will look like in years to come and the importance of listening to the rising numbers of new teachers. The “future of teaching” is still being mapped out; read what leaders think is ahead
January 18, 2011