Teachers usually can’t use standardized tests to accelerate students’ learning. The tests are often too general and the results too slow in coming to help teachers make daily instructional decisions.

The K-12 “reading wars” discussions have been missing a critical point: No matter the curriculum used, too often, teachers are being asked to stick to a script and execute equal teaching, not ...

Our whole lives we are taught to set goals in the same, straightforward way. Create an outcome, and identify the milestones to get toward that path. Implement. Somewhere along the ...

Doing well in school isn’t just about being able to read dense books and solve complex math problems. There are other, less tangible qualities that help students succeed, like having the courage to ...

Mr. Willingham is a psychologist at the University of Virginia and the author, most recently, of “Outsmart Your Brain: Why Learning Is Hard and How You Can Make It Easy.” See more of our coverage in ...

On a recent morning, I had the chance to read poems my ninth-grade English students had written about encounters with racism. I was struck by the beauty and poignance of many of their lines. Yet I ...