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We share evidence-based K-12 learning strategies that empower you to improve education.

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Social and Emotional Techniques That Help Students Focus on Academic Progress at Mount Desert Elementary

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Blogs on After-School Learning

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Reforming Our Schools: Nonacademic Support for Students is Essential

Claus von ZastrowJuly 21, 2010

Tags After-School Learning, Comprehensive Assessment, Mental Health, Teacher Development, All Grades

Editor's note: Anne O'Brien is our guest blogger today. She is a project director at the Learning First Alliance, a Teach for America alumna, and a former public school teacher in the greater New Orleans area.

Many times education reform debates are framed with an us versus them mentality. It doesn't matter what you are arguing for, there is always a clearly defined group working against you. The media also provides the reformers versus the establishment (never mind those members of the establishment who are doing innovative reform work all over the country).

Learning Inside an Out-of-School Newsroom

Betty RayJuly 19, 2010

Tags After-School Learning, Career and Technical Education, Integrated Studies, Mentoring, Student Engagement, Technology Integration, High (9-12), California

Editor's Note: Our guest blogger this week is Elisabeth (Lissa) Soep, PhD, research director and senior producer at Youth Radio, a Peabody Award-winning, youth-driven production company in Oakland, California, with bureaus across the country and partners around the world.

Imagine an Education Nation: Six Leading Edges

Milton ChenJuly 14, 2010

Tags After-School Learning, Curriculum, Digital Divide, Leadership, Online Learning, Professional Learning Network (PLN), Project-Based Learning, Student Engagement, Team Teaching, Technology Integration, All Grades

My new book is just out, Education Nation: Six Leading Edges of Innovation in our Schools (Jossey-Bass). You can preview it on Amazon. In it, I pose this challenge: "Imagine an Education Nation, a learning society where the education of children and adults is the highest national priority, on par with a strong economy, high employment, and national security."

Romeo and Juliet for the 21st c.: How One Teacher Created a Drama Club and Made Shakespeare Hip

Betty RayJuly 6, 2010

Tags After-School Learning, Primary (K-2), Technology Integration, Upper Elementary (3-5), Visual Arts, Pennsylvania

Editor's Note: Our guest blogger today is Erika Saunders who teaches 6th-8th grade special ed-learning support and mentally gifted kids at Joseph C. Ferguson Elementary School in North Philidelphia.

"If you build it, they will come." Not only does this apply to baseball fields and ghosts of players past, but also to theater and students. At least it does at Ferguson.

Summer: The Third Trimester

Milton ChenJune 10, 2010

Tags After-School Learning, Alternative Scheduling, Dropout Prevention, Parental Involvement, All Grades

As we head into summer vacation and schools are shuttering their doors for three months, we should be rethinking how summer can become the "third semester" for 21st Century learning. At a conference in Washington last week, a colleague was surprised to hear that the long summer break dates back to our agrarian society and the need for young folk to help their families bring in the crops. Today, the vast majority of students don't bring in crops but need to be harvesting knowledge year-round.

Kyle Pace on PDopia: Planning the Perfect PD

Betty RayJune 7, 2010

Tags After-School Learning, Leadership, Professional Development, Professional Learning Network (PLN), Technology Integration, World Language Learning

Editors Note: Our guest blogger today is Kyle Pace, an instructional technology specialist for a school district in the Kansas City area.

Can Schools Alone Save Struggling Communities?

Claus von ZastrowMay 21, 2010

Tags After-School Learning, Teacher Development, Upper Elementary (3-5), Michigan

Here's how John Cooper of the Sundance Film Festival described a new documentary on public schools: "It's an analysis of how bad neighborhoods don't necessarily create bad schools, but bad schools create bad neighborhoods... ."

This strikes me as an oversimplification -- and possibly a harmful one at that.

Guest Blog: Building Communities in the Classrooms

Betty RayFebruary 18, 2010

Tags After-School Learning, Mentoring, Professional Learning Network (PLN),

Cheska Lorena (@MissCheska) is a self-described "twenty-something New Jersey native, certified HS biology teacher, and a huge ed-tech enthusiast." A native of digital communities, she was the natural choice for this week's #edchat. Feel free to share your thoughts in the space below this blog.

--Betty Ray, Community Manager (@EdutopiaBetty) and Elana Leoni, Social Media Marketing Coordinator (@elanaleoni)

What is community?

Twitter's afternoon #edchat session on February 16th was a flurry of great thoughts and conversation. Many tweeters gathered together to discuss how to build communities in classrooms in both online and offline settings. The conversation kicked off with an attempt at defining community:

How Does Your School Garden Grow?

Suzie BossNovember 4, 2009

Tags After-School Learning, Project-Based Learning, Upper Elementary (3-5), California

On a crisp fall morning, I watched students at Lewis Elementary School, in Portland, Oregon, roll up their pant legs and wade barefoot into piles of sand, clay, straw, and water.