Research

How Writing Lights Up Your Brain

I was putting together resources to support teachers in weaving writing into their classes when I came across an article…

Coffee with a Friend Who Asked Me What I’m Reading in Ed Tech These Days

We had turmeric lattes (who knew there was such a thing) and avocado toast (that I knew) at a cafe.…

Read Factfulness and See How the World is Actually Getting Better and Better

I love Hans Rosling’s data-driven talks about how the world is getting healthier and wealthier, slowly and steadily. When the…

See if Your School District or University Has Been Investigated for Civil Rights Violations

The United States Department of Education investigates claims of civil rights violations in K-12 and higher educational institutions. The data…

Why Do Boys in Rich Districts Do Better in Math Than Girls? Look at the Data.

A recent data analysis of 260 million standardized test scores by researchers at Stanford University suggests that both boys and girls…

A Stunning Data Viz of Segregation in Chicago Public Schools

We often hear the word “achievement” used to describe the challenges in public education. That word tends to mask the…

What Do We Know about Literacy in the Content-Areas? Eavesdrop on These Experts to Find Out.

Literacy belongs to all teachers, regardless of the grade and subject you teach. Still, it can be challenging to understand…

To Think Differently, Try Speaking Differently

Pictures might be worth a thousand words, but words are worth a hundred billion neurons. In this excellent talk, cognitive…

Literacy and Orality Nerds, There’s a Walter Ong Lecture Online

Walter Ong’s work on literacy and orality marked, for me, a turning point in my professional life. I’ve since come…

Why is English So Damn Hard to Learn? There are 3 Secrets to It.

English is really hard to learn. As the number of students who require support learning English continues to increase throughout…

Language Evolved To Ensure Human Beings Cooperated, And We Might Be Screwed

Watch biologist Mark Pagel explain why humans’ capacity for “cumulative cultural adaptation” or social learning is what makes us so…

Babies Are Like Little Linguistic Statisticians

A thoroughly intriguing talk about the ways babies learn language. Researcher Patricia Kuhl suggests that babies keep track of sounds…

What If the Crisis in Public Education Is Not What You Think?

Over the past month, teachers in West Virginia, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Arizona, Colorado, and North Carolina led mass protests, accusing state…

Words like Water: How a Baby Learned to Speak

You take a techy who becomes a dad and has a fascination with language. Then add videocameras all throughout the…

What Makes Teacher Professional Development Effective

Check out this fantastic resource for school leaders and teacher educators. The Learning Policy Institute, Stanford professor Linda Darling-Hammond’s second…

Racism and the Limits of Data Visualizations

What a thoughtful discussion of the limits of empirical data and visualizations in public discourse. In this commentary, Andre Perry…