In an effort to lure top high school students to enroll and their parents to pay annual tuition, room and board pushing into the $50,000-plus stratosphere, many private colleges have been on a building and amenities spree in the past decade. A recent front page story in The...

39 years ago, Margarita Muñiz's first teaching job in Boston was at the Agassiz School as a bilingual elementary teacher. She went on to serve as principal of the successful two-way dual language Rafael Hernandez School in Boston where she has been...

Educators giving students the choice between carrots and chips, as reported in a recent New York Times article, is not a choice: it is negligent. Despite the alarming childhood and teen obesity epidemic, school personnel serve as "detail" sales people for...

My secret advice to raising SAT scores is to read the New Yorker magazine weekly -- or another magazine that is a reach to read because it's written for adults, not teens. There are other good reasons to read the New Yorker, but if you...

Our Expeditionary Learning school has a unique graduation requirement: 2 summer credits earned in programs or work we approve. Affluent parents take investing in summer enrichment for their children as a given. Thanks to our board members, donors, faculty and parents, our students also have incredible learning opportunities...

"To make a way when there is no way." Thony Ferdinand
"To listen past the noise." Greg Carlson
"To live with discipline and joy." Haley Malm
"To remain rooted and grateful." Liz Butler

Intentions are a powerful way to launch...

Yesterday, my colleague Thabiti Brown called me in California from the beautiful courtyard inside the Boston Public Library (View image). Like me, Thabiti is happy to spend a precious summer vacation day at the library. The...

One of my favorite books is called Outside Lies Magic by Harvard School of Design Professor John Stilgoe. I used to assign it to my Harvard Graduate School of Education students who were designing curriculum because teachers tend to equate staying indoors with learning. Stilgoe's basic...

In the spring of 2000, before hiring any teachers for our new urban high school, I invited the students who had been accepted by lottery to give me advice on how to select teachers. These students were completing eighth grade and their advice is as sound today, as it was...

I'm not a hunter, but when I was living in Vermont years ago, I couldn't help but take visceral note when deer hunting season posted each fall. This must be how our colleagues at Codman Square Health Center (with whom we share our site) must feel when state...

We read about food deserts, but this afternoon, I was reminded what it means to work smack dab in the center of one. At Codman Academy, in Dorchester, Mass., our Nutrition Action Club has organized Junk Food Free Spring, and to keep students motivated to follow...