A full overview of how Central Park East (Deborah Meier) uses a portfolio system to assess student graduation.

De Lissovoy interrogates the meaning and implications of Freire's "Pedagogy of the Oppressed" in the light of the neoliberal 21st century fragmentation of society and individuals.

An overview of self-determination theory and how its incorporation in school showcases a heavily increased level of learning.

Relates research between motivation and intrinsic objectives to deeper understanding of subject matter.

Provides details on the need for self-determination and competence, laying out the necessary requirements for people to achieve each.

Provides evidence that extrinsic rewards have a damaging effect on intrinsic motivation.

An inspiring look at how Dennison leads students towards positive outcomes through an authentic "human" education at the First Street School.

Exemplifies the issues of prestigious-college seeking youth, our obsession with “being the best”, and what education truly means.

Showcases research and case studies at implementing anti-bias curriculum in the classroom.

A fundamental overview of experiential learning and one of the originators of progressive education.

A series of lesson plans on teaching labor movements.

Research shows how grit is a general indicator of success. Notably, however, is that grit is defined as a individual's perseverance and a passion for a long-term goal.

A range of interviews talking about teachers giving up power to allow for choice within their classrooms.

Consistently poses questions that counteract misinformation about Native communities, specifically stories that are usually taught in elementary school

Highlights a program of a digital literacy program centered on poor students of color.

An argument for youth cultural literacies and application in the classroom.

An overview of the concept of critical pedagogy, showcases why it is needed in urban contexts, and provides three case studies of what it actually looks like in practice.

A history of grading from the early 20th century, showcasing what assumptions and ideas have existed about grades and assessment.

A basis for “growth mindset” - a review of research studies showcasing how students who believe that intellectual abilities can be developed (rather than fixed) have higher achievement rates.

This paper focuses on research that illustrates the important interplay between students' scientific epistemological views and their learning strategies.

Demonstrates the issues of implementing education for liberation, and provides a critique for "empowerment."

An essay supporting the need for children's inquiry, socialization, and natural curiosity to be embraced and focused on by schools.

A deeply researched account of how America's schools are aimed at wealth as opposed to educational pursuits.

Author provides a deep overview of the origins and cultivation of curiosity.

Explains how young children see and understand the world, showcasing their brilliance and ability to perceive new ideas.

Analyzes the question: Do specialists actually get better with experience or not, and is narrow, deliberate practice the only way to achieve greatness in a given field?

A collection of articles, research studies, and expert discussion on the misuse of standardized testing.

A journey of over a decade in the testing industry. Starting as a simple scorer, Farley works his way through the ranks to reigning as a testing consultant — despite all of the deplorable events he witnesses.

Showcases how certain words and topics are pressured to not be covered in public schools from various sources.

This article powerfully challenges the popular cognitive science-backed direct instruction approach to schooling.

Study shows how lack of peer acceptance in 4th grade led to increasingly negative academic outcomes to 6th grade (and possibly beyond), identifying a need for teachers to build relationships between students.

Further inquiry into the concept of "critical pedagogy" and how one's perspective and life situation needs a raised consciousness to understand and change the system they're apart of.

Freire's argument of using the techniques of critical pedagogy to specifically liberate oppressed societies.

An application of Pedagogy of the Oppressed with specifically the urban poor.

The basis of "critical pedagogy" - analyzing how the teacher/student relationship has become similar to colonization models, and our need for teachers to work "with" students rather than "at" students.

Showcases the activist, "Freire" approach to transformative change in the classroom.

Details how the view of students as passive receivers of information can corrupt and misalign the goals of the education system.

Highlights the need for “humanization” of the classroom and how teachers can connect to students’ lived experiences.

Essays by Freire and various contemporary theorists on lessons learned in teaching liberatory learning.

A treatise on the United States school lunch system: its history, battle over nutritional quality, and those who are fighting to change it.

A well-written account of how school programs that are meant to encourage reading actually hinder and destroy a love of reading, in-turn decreasing reading comprehension.

Outlines how students choose what their college major will be and based on findings, recommends that students are exposed to more internships & experiences to find greater purpose.

Frames the transactional, market-oriented, outcomes-focus of modern higher ed. institutions as befitting “classrooms of death”, borrowing symbolism from 19th century Danish folk school leader Nikolai Grundtvig.

A teacher's study of being a participant observer in an English classroom, resisting the temptation to enact control.

Demonstrates the need for quality professional development amongst a growing teacher shortage. Finds that only 11% of teachers have a say in their professional development.

An extensive look at what it means to work in “Good Work” - or work that has purpose, meaning, and intrinsically motivated goals. Written by a collection of experts on purpose.

This article argues that metal detectors bestow an organizational stigma to schools.

An overview of how teachers should implement and inform equity-centered and progressive classrooms. (The attached link is Chapter 7, on how to inform and introduce students to this style of learning.)

Research finds that 9th and 10th grade students had greater life satisfaction and less depressive symptoms when they found meaning and love in their lives.

The first comprehensive study of 3,898 prekindergarten classrooms across 40 states into the expulsion rates in state prekindergarten systems.

Outlines the day-to-day interactions teachers have with children, offering suggestions to solve the minute interactions that encompass most of this profession.

An overview of the history of the high-stakes testing system.

A series of essays discussing post-modernism, feminism, cultural studies, and critical pedagogy.

Showcases how educational policy has been taken by corporate forces and market-driven philosophies.

A rejection of the empirical concept of teaching, Giroux analyzes how students have become more like customers than learners.

Political attacks on critical race theory and the 1619 Project, promoting "patriotic education", etc. amount to an attack on academic freedom and normalizes authoritarianism.

Demonstrates the democratic possibilities of schooling, offering that schools are one of the few places youth can engage in democratic thinking.

An extensive argument of how neoliberal is not just an economic theory, but a form of political and cultural power manifested in education.

Demonstrates how building leaders and educators can move away from mandated strict guidelines that often hurt student outcomes.

A four-year study of 1,000 classrooms offering ways to improve the schooling system away from high-stakes testing and moving toward a common set of concepts.

Demonstrates through research that nonfiction reading is integral for student success, yet lacking in school. Suggestions are made to connect nonfiction reading to student interest.

Outlines the need and practice of play in schools, including its benefits and definition as "play."

Finds that teachers report the highest levels of occupational stress, the same as nurses, which impacts the classroom.

When two groups of students were presented with controlling vs. non-controlled learning, those in a non-controlled (and more autonomous) environment had greater learning outcomes and motivation.When two groups of students were presented with controlling vs. non-controlled learning, those in a non-controlled (and more autonomous) environment had greater learning outcomes and motivation.

Explains the hyper focus on markets' connection to damaging children's outcomes.

An argument against the implementation of No Child Left Behind and "standardized test scores at any cost" culture.

"It will be formidably difficult to institutionalize new forms of pedagogy for the children of poverty, but it is worthwhile to define and describe such alternatives."

An overview of what testing companies, officials, and policy-makers want from standardized testing and their misunderstandings about the education system.

Showcases various teachers fighting back against standardized testing, from walk outs to opt outs.

Demonstrates how educators and activists across the country have challenged institutional racism across the US.

This extensive study of ADHD students in school realizes that ADHD students are often not included or individualized for at school, nor are they readily accepted. It calls on the need for more individualization for every student.

A full overview of the work of imagination, play, and a child's intellectual growth.

Demonstrates how much of what children learn about the world is from other people.

Experiment demonstrates how when members of a group knew that their contribution would be visible and graded, they shared less relevant information, in comparison to someone who was not expecting a contribution grade

A conversation on the need to identify one's purpose as an educator to fight for social justice.

A high-level overview of how the news media makes citizens view the world in a certain way, with specific segments on the view of public life and education.

A complete synthesis of how testing accountability structures are built and why their dataset is limited.

A breakdown of why standardized test prep does little to nothing in actually impacting achievement.

Notes that those who are proactive at finding their purpose in life have greater emotional/social well-being, as well as a greater agency in comparison to those whose purpose came about on its own.

This book analyzes how traditional education has led to the destruction of learning by students, ruining their natural sense of discovery they were born with.

An overview of Holt's methodology of best teaching practice, encouraging students to learn on their own.

Data from childhood to adulthood on how different levels of SES and race affect someone’s chances of economic mobility.

Interviews and analysis of how colleges no longer feel standardized tests are valid measures of academic progress, and are looking for ways to measure soft skills.

How to use restorative justice in the classroom with research to back up its practice.

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted teacher finances & benefit gaps. This survey data & analysis also shares key findings about teacher well-being.

Horton and Freire discuss a pedagogy for liberation from two radically different backgrounds, offering insights on collective struggle and change-making.

A complete work over the use of labor-based grading contracts, a more holistic way of assessment in lieu of the traditional grading scale.

A free resource on promoting student social justice and activism, themed around experiential learning.

"Although largely ignored for a long time, we have known for decades that children’s emotion knowledge (EK) contributes to their ability to regulate their emotions and behavior. "

Emphasis on standardized tests, fading novelty, lack of motivation, and increasingly regimented school structures contribute to a decline in engagement as kids progress through school.

This paper analyses the demographic data of California K-12 schools, proposes a cross-disciplinary theoretical framework for critical teacher engagement, and concludes with an argument for critical teacher engagement where teachers are seen as intellectuals and public cultural workers.

Discusses implementation of cooperative learning, which is shown to have greater outcomes in student achievement than competitive learning.

A detailed analysis of how relationship building - specifically a focus on social and emotional engagement - led to drastically increased academic performance.

A breakdown of how white supremacist curriculum hurts students and what we can do to change it.

Demonstrates how educators should understand and utilize different language between accommodations and modifications.

A perfect encapsulation of understanding the carceral network, the importance of organizing, and counteracting inhumane systems.

Offers a theoretical overview of the concept of critical pedagogy: changing the structure of school to end oppression, in a simpler language that Freire or Giroux.

A summary of the research and survey data about why teachers of Color leave the profession and what successful districts have done to retain and diversify their teaching staff.

An overview of the need for curiosity in schools, featuring research and interviews with experts.

Showcases how anxiety can be crippling for students and have an impact on their academic performance (not ability). Teachers should empathize and build support structures to help students suffering from anxiety.