Starting on December 7, 2025, first-time undergraduate applicants may see a new feature in the FAFSA that indicates whether the median earnings of its graduates four years after completion fall below the median earnings of high school graduates in the same state. The agency announced this week that a new earnings indicator will be incorporated […]
Instruction & Curriculum
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
Finding Peace for immigrant communities in the era of ICE
Unidentified black SUVs swarming the parking lot, strange, official-looking men yet no badges, and a distinct, overwhelming fear. I will never forget my first encounter with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in my school community. It marked the start of an era in our predominantly Latinx neighborhood, a close-knit community of mostly Central Americans fleeing […]
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Understanding Developmental Coordination Disorder: Supporting students who struggle with movement
Poor handwriting? Difficulties with spatial awareness? It could be dysgraphia; it could be Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD); or, it could be a lesser-known, but prevalent disability called Developmental Coordination Disorder. Teachers are not diagnosticians, but in order to help our students with the most effective and targeted interventions, we need to have an idea about what […]
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Introducing Outroduction: A saga of the living glossary
It started like any other English lesson. My fifth graders and I were listing out the features involved in journalling. Date, introduction, point of view were the first few given by students. Suddenly, a hand shot up. “Outro,” one student said confidently. I blinked. Outro? “Wait… is that even a word?” I asked. “Yes!” came […]
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Why Project-Based Learning Turned Me Into an Educational Theorist
Excitement! Anxiety! Hope! These were just a few of the many emotions I felt when I stood in front of a high school classroom for the first time as the teacher. I was the one writing on the chalkboard and overhead projector. I was also the only one expected to design, plan, and teach every […]
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Teaching Eighth Grade: When the picture before you doesn’t match the old picture in your head
“Old” in my twenty-nine years isn’t much, I’ve gathered, yet when I think about the dreams I’ve had about my classroom environment versus the classroom I stand in today, you’d think it was a vastly different time, not a little over a decade apart. It is a vastly different time, I’ve learned. Vastly. Different. With […]
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The Heart of a School Counselor: A Tapestry of all the Feels
The first time I sat across from a student whose eyes held more storm than sky, I knew this work would demand every piece of me. As a school counselor, I entered this profession with a fire in my chest—a fierce desire to cradle the hearts of students and lift the spirits of educators. I […]
Posted inInstruction & Curriculum
A Thanksgiving Conversation We Can’t Avoid: Education Under Attack
This year in education has been anything but peaceful. I needed this one-week break for Thanksgiving. In August, billions in school funding were abruptly withheld just as the school year began. On top of that, ICE has targeted students and parents on campus, with teachers stepping in to physically protect them and their families. Special […]