free education articles for teachers

Sign up for our free weekly newsletter and receive

top education news, lesson ideas, teaching tips and more!

No thanks, I don't need to stay current on what works in education!

COPYRIGHT 1996-2016 BY EDUCATION WORLD, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

COPYRIGHT 1996 - 2024 BY EDUCATION WORLD, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

• SchoolNotes.com
• The Educator's Network

Greater Good Science Center • Magazine • In Action • In Education

Our Best Education Articles of 2021

Our most popular education articles of 2021 explore how to navigate some of this year’s challenges—including grief, boredom, and isolation—while uplifting our capacity for connection, belonging, and healing. Several articles also highlight how character, conscience, and kindness can guide us toward greater meaning in our lives.

If you are looking for specific activities to support your students’ and colleagues’ social and emotional well-being in 2022, visit our  Greater Good in Education website, featuring  free  research-based practices, lessons, and strategies for cultivating kinder, happier, and more equitable classrooms and schools. And for a deeper dive into the science behind social-emotional learning, mindfulness, and ethical development, consider our suite of self-paced online courses for educational professionals, including our capstone course, Teaching and Learning for the Greater Good .

Here are the 12 best education articles of 2021, based on a composite ranking of pageviews and editors’ picks.

How to Help Students Feel a Sense of Belonging During the Pandemic , by Mary C. Murphy, Kathryn Boucher, and Christine Logel: Belonging and connection in the classroom contribute to success and well-being, particularly for marginalized students.

Four Ways Teachers Can Help Students Develop a Conscience , by Vicki Zakrzewski: How do kids develop a sense of right and wrong—and what can educators do to help them act on their conscience?

How to Help Students of Color Find Their Power , by Brandy Arnold: Project Wayfinder is helping Black and Latino students explore their identities and goals.

What a Children’s Book Taught Me (and My Students) About Grief , by Lauren McGovern: Teaching sixth graders about grief helped teacher Lauren McGovern after the loss of her son.

36 Questions That Can Help Kids Make Friends , by Jill Suttie: A question-and-answer exercise may help middle schoolers build friendships, including with kids of different ethnicities.

How to Make This Hard Transition Back to School With Your Students , by Amy L. Eva: Here are three ways educators can support their students (and each other) this fall.

A Different Way to Respond When Kids Do Something Wrong , by Joanne Chen: Restorative practices—taking responsibility, making amends, and seeking forgiveness—are an alternative to strict punishments and blame.

What Do Kids Mean When They Say They’re Bored at School? , by Rebecca Branstetter: Boredom can be a temporary emotion or a sign of a deeper issue, says a school psychologist.

How to Help Students Be the Best Version of Themselves , by Karen E. Bohlin and Deborah Farmer Kris: When students are facing challenges, educators can help them reflect on—and act on—what matters to them.

Four Character Strengths That Can Help Kids Learn , by Carol Lloyd: Research suggests that fostering character strengths can help children be better students.

How Educators Can Help Make a Kinder World , by Vicki Zakrzewski: By integrating character education, SEL, and mindfulness, schools can cultivate the inherent goodness in students.

Three Strategies for Helping Students Discuss Controversial Issues , by Lauren Fullmer and Laura Bond: Here are research-based ways to facilitate civil discourse in the classroom.

Bonus: Science of Happiness Podcast Episodes

Episode 94: How to Craft Your Life : When the world around you changes, so can your goals. Our guest, Patty Brown, tries a practice to tap into a new sense of purpose.

Episode 96: Don’t Be Afraid of Your Anger : What happens when we suppress our anger? And what if we tried to work with it instead? Our guest, Soraya Chemaly, tries a practice to harness her inner fierceness to care for herself.

About the Author

Greater good editors, you may also enjoy.

Our Best Education Articles of 2019

What a Children’s Book Taught Me (and My Students) About Grief

What Do Kids Mean When They Say They’re Bored at School?

Our Best Education Articles of 2020

How to Help Students Feel a Sense of Belonging During the Pandemic

Explore. Create. Collaborate.

Support a vibrant, educator-focused commons.

The tens of thousands of open resources on OER Commons are free - and they will be forever - but building communities to support them, developing new collections, and creating infrastructure to grow the open community isn’t. Grassroots donations from people like you can help us transform teaching and learning.

Make a Donation Today!

Introducing Open Author

Create OER with Open Author

Open Author helps you build and publish Open Educational Resources for you and for the benefit of educators and learners everywhere.

Build. Save. Collaborate.

Groups provides a flexible environment to organize, create, share, and discuss resources with others in your network. Collaborate with group members, tag and add resources to shared folders, create your own collections, all within a public or private group.

Extensive Library, Powerful Findability

Harness the power of the Commons

Dedicated to professional learning.

Our award-winning OER Professional Learning programs support instructors and curriculum specialists to gain the necessary skills required to find, adapt, and evaluate high quality open materials.

In-person and virtual OER workshops help focus instructors to develop a "commons" mindset, to experience the benefits of open processes using the platform's tools, collaborative features, and workflows. This can include using Open Author for creating, remixing, and publishing shared curriculum.

Become an OER Commons pro

How to Search OER Commons

How to Use Groups

How to Create a Profile

Good Teaching Is Not Just About the Right Practices

In a series of interviews with master teachers, a reporter finds that certain intangible qualities matter more than the best tactics. 

Your content has been saved!

Good teaching isn’t about following a “rigid list of the most popular evidence-based tools and strategies,” veteran high school English teacher Renee Moore tells Kristina Rizga for The Atlantic ’s On Teaching series. The most effective teaching tools, Moore suggests, are intangible qualities that directly address the fundamental human needs of a diverse classroom community—traits like empathy, kindness, and a deep respect for the lives and interests of individual students.

Working from a place of caring, Rizga reports, the best teachers establish deep connections with students, and then build up to a “daily commitment to bringing in well-considered, purposeful practices and working child by child.” For master teachers, then, the person precedes the pedagogy—and finding the right mix of practices, at least to some extent, is contingent on knowing what each child needs.

Rizga travelled across the country for two years for the series, interviewing some of America’s most accomplished veteran teachers in an effort to collect their wisdom and discover “what has helped them bring out the best in their students.” The result is an edifying collection of stories that touch on issues from race and culture to advice about how to teach remotely.

We pulled out some of the most constructive, foundational ideas that informed teacher mindsets through decades of work in the classroom, and helped them inspire even the most reticent students to grow and learn.

WORKING CHILD BY CHILD

Part of getting to know students, says high school English teacher Pirette McKamey, involves watching and listening as students speak in class or in the hallway, and observing how they express themselves in their work. “Every time a student does an assignment, they are communicating something about their thinking,” says McKamey, who is now the principal at Mission High School in San Francisco. “There are so many opportunities to miss certain students and not see them, not hear them, shut them down.”

It also means finding opportunities to connect with each child individually. Moore recalls a 17-year-old student who, in spite of excelling in math class, struggled with writing in her English class. After spending time with the child after school, she found he lit up when discussing sports and family—subjects she encouraged him to write about, resulting in more complex, lively writing. She also recorded their conversations and asked the student to transcribe the recordings—without worrying too much about spelling and grammar—an exercise that allowed him to see proof of his “capacity for unique ideas and analysis,” and opened the door for Moore to begin teaching him grammar and composition. The student became the first of his six siblings to graduate with a high school diploma.

The experience “taught me the power of getting to know your students well enough to teach,” says Moore, illuminating the powerful but not always intuitive connection between relationship-building and improving academic outcomes. Instead of designing pedagogy around individual student needs, “we’re shuffling kids through a system designed on a factory model, and we often give up too soon, because they don’t get to grade level by the time the system says they should. When they don’t, we say they’re not ready to learn or are hopeless. But they are just not on our schedule; it has nothing to do with their innate potential or ability.”

When Moore surveyed her students for a research project in 2000 about best practices for teaching English, students confirmed what she’d long suspected: They learned best when teachers “saw and heard them as individuals, helped them understand their strengths, and connected what they were learning with their future ambitions.” When, instead of recognizing and supporting student effort, teachers focused on minor issues like lateness or poor grammar, students reported feeling discouraged.

REFLECTING ON CLASSROOM PRACTICE

Finding time and head space for reflection—especially after teaching all day, grading assignments, fielding student and family queries, and preparing for the next day’s lessons—is challenging but absolutely essential to good teaching. It’s also not just about reflecting on your pedagogy.

McKamey got in the habit of spending her commute going over what she’d observed about each student that day. “She noted, for example, any body language that might indicate disengagement, like expressionless faces, or heads on desks,” writes Rizga. She also tracked student engagement, going over in her mind instances when she saw, for example, students chatting spontaneously about assignments, or doing extra work. “The next day, McKamey would synthesize what she’d observed, and adjust her lesson plans for the day ahead.”

LEARNING FROM COLLEAGUES

When thinking about productive relationships, teachers should think laterally too: acknowledging and tapping into the strengths of colleagues was a trait of master teachers. Peer networks allow educators to learn from each other, enrich their practice, and access a valuable support network that helps teachers feel connected and more likely to stay in the field.

For many seasoned educators, peer networks are “the main mechanism for transferring collective wisdom and acquiring tacit knowledge that can’t be learned by reading a book or listening to a lecture—skills such as designing a strong lesson plan with precise pacing, rhythm, and clear focus, for instance, or building positive relationships among students,” Rizga writes in another piece in the collection.

“When they struggled—and all of them told me they did—they conferred with colleagues at the school, or teachers in professional associations, or online communities. And together, these teacher groups acted intentionally to identify the challenges students were facing and come up with personalized plans,” Rizga reports.

THE VALUE OF TEAM PLANNING

When teachers were able to share insights and intentionally plan together, they collaborated across academic subjects in new and creative ways, Rigza writes, coming up with valuable lessons and programs that were “more likely to be culturally specific, speaking to the realities of their students’ lives.”

Former high school English teacher Judith Harper, for example, worked with her teaching colleagues in Mesa, Arizona, to help boost students’ public speaking, interviewing, and college-essay-writing skills.  Many of her students came from “working-class and Latino families who didn’t always speak English at home,” and building these skills opened up new opportunities for them. Rebecca Palacios, an early-childhood educator in Corpus Christi, Texas, worked with her teaching colleagues to launch a coaching program to help the Latino parents of her preschool students learn how to support their children’s reading skills at home.

(40K+ Subs)

(2K+ Sites)

(300,000+ Users)

Exclusive Insights

The 50 Best Education Blogs

Last updated: august 31, 2024 . updated every 24 hours ( learn more )..

This wasn't a standard list of blogs. This isn't your standard SEO newsletter.

Exclusive insights from tracking the rankings of 2,114 specifically-chosen websites. Learn more .

"Glen found a very sneaky technical SEO issue on our homepage. Sometimes a fresh set of eyes goes a long way."

"Glen's recommendations helped us improve crawl budget, remove deadweight pages and led to overall improvements in organic traffic to our key pages."

"I've been a practitioner of digital marketing for over a decade and I've learned more from Glen about SEO than anyone else."

CLAY COLLINS

What the...?

• Private SEO Audit 🔒
• SEO Extension (300K+ USERS)
• SEO Blog (40K+ SUBS)
• Behind the Scenes
• Algorithm Updates
• Top 50 (All Niches)

is our own fully fledged SEO framework and private community focused on taking search engine rankings to the next level.

SEO Blueprint is updated weekly (including now in 2024) and contains exclusive insights we don’t share in public.

Join members at companies like…

Teaching tips

75 educational websites for teachers: the ultimate list.

• The Albert Team
• Last Updated On: March 1, 2022

Time, for teachers, is a precious thing. We know that the day in, day out grind of managing a classroom often feels like a busy and, at times, chaotic undertaking. From planning compelling lessons and providing constructive feedback to forging meaningful relationships with students and dealing with paperwork, teaching is a profession which swallows time whole. Predictably, it can be difficult finding time to scour the internet and discover new ideas. 

But educational websites for teachers can not only save you time but inspire. We’ve combed through the expansive online catalog of teacher resources and compiled our favorites into the definitive list of online educational websites. We’ve even organized the sources by classroom needs. You’ll find the best online resources for both teachers and students within this comprehensive list!

What We Review

How to Use This Comprehensive List of Educational Websites for Teachers:

We’ve arranged our favorite online educational websites into 11 different categories that cover everything from lesson planning to teacher-focused YouTube channels. Each section contains a handful of links to online resources equipped with our reasons for why we think they’re great, who would benefit from them, and each resources’ targeted grade level. 

To hone in on your favorite links from our list, we recommend that you either create a new Google Doc and copy/paste some of your favorite links, or that you jot down some favorites with pen and paper. Trust us, these resources will not only save you tons of time but make your instruction more efficient.

The Best Educational Websites for Lesson Plans

1. BetterLesson : Website offering lesson plans, professional development, and instructional strategies for core-subject teachers from lower elementary to high school. Their database offers literally thousands of unique and compelling lesson plans, instructional strategies, and modules on developing leadership, student engagement, and classroom learning. This is an essential online educational source. 

2. Library of Congress : A detailed and comprehensive collection of lesson plans involving all things Social Studies with a particular strength in American History. Contains engaging lesson plans on a diverse range of subjects as Baseball and Race to The Huexotzinco Codex. Perfect for Social Studies and History teachers from grades 6-12. 

3. NASA STEM Engagement : Massive catalog of high-interest and engaging STEM lesson plans with free teacher resources, printables, and step-by-step procedural instructions. Tons of compelling video content and interactive activities too. NASA STEM Engagement would benefit any teacher looking for creative and exciting lesson plans for K-12 students.

4. The New York Times Learning Network : Topical lesson plans for the four core subjects with a particular strength in English and Social Studies. NYT is a great resource for those looking to interweave curriculum into current events. Since the Times is a fairly sophisticated source, it works best for teachers working with 8-12-level students. 

5.   PBS Learning Media : Comprehensive catalog of genuinely fun and engaging lesson plans for Math, Science, Social Studies, English, Engineering and Technology, and Health. Offers material for PreK all the way through high school. A perfect source for all teachers looking for new lesson plan ideas.

6.   ReadWriteThink : Massive bank of online teacher resources filled with tons of lesson plans organized by subject, learning objective, grade level, and theme. Perfect for any teacher looking for developed, clear, and well-organized lesson plans, from Kindergarten to 12th grade. English teachers will find this site particularly useful as it holds more than 500 different resources on fiction and literature!

7.   Teachnology: Large database of no-nonsense, unfussy lesson plans involving all core subjects for grades K-12, with a particular strength in Math thanks to its immense collection of lesson plans from primary to high school math. Perfect for new teachers looking for basic lessons and seasoned veterans alike!

Return to the Table of Contents

The Best Educational Websites for Assessments

1. Albert: We’re a practice and assessment platform after all, so we’ve got tons of great tools and resources that can be utilized by any teacher looking to strengthen the methods and forms of their assessments. Each of our AP® modules contains practice assessments that can be used as models, and we also offer practice for various state assessments . We’re a great resource for teachers of all 6-12 subjects!

2.   Edpuzzle : Video-based platform which allows teachers to upload or choose their own video from YouTube and have students respond accordingly. Teachers can build quizzes or tests around the video and receive immediate results. Edpuzzle also reinforces student accountability by allowing teachers to check if students are watching the videos, how many times they’ve watched each section, and if they’re understanding the content. Perfect for distant-learning or 6-12 teachers looking to add more visual media into their lessons.

3.   Google Forms : This one is sort of a no-brainer. Google Forms, like many of the Google apps, is simple, straightforward, and efficient. It provides an easy and direct way to build surveys and quizzes, and the interface is easy to use. Results come immediately in organized reports. An essential assessment tool. And it’s 100% free, too.

4.   Kaizena : An online assessment tool which allows teachers to provide students with immediate or real-time feedback for Google documents, PDF’s, or other uploaded work. Teachers can upload their own rubrics or other resources as well, making for an interactive, more discussion-based assessment. Perfect for 6-12 teachers looking to forge more meaningful relationships with students through feedback. 

5. Socrative : An easy-to-use quiz app which offers a super efficient way to monitor and evaluate learning while saving time for educators. You can create multiple choice, true/false, or short answer questions, and Socrative also provides reports on results and student experience. It’s perfect for any 6-12 teacher looking to enhance their assessments.

The Best Educational Websites for Teachers to Use in the Classroom

1.   Albert : Not only do we offer tons of opportunities to develop and strengthen distance learning, but we also provide valuable tools that can be utilized inside the classroom. Our assessments, study questions, and courses can be projected onto a white board for classwide engagement. We’re a great resource for those looking for practice content filled with detailed explanations, scaffolded learning, and critical rigor.

2.   ClassDojo : Free site that offers many features and platforms to document, manage, and improve student behavior and learning. Contains messaging apps that can be linked to students and families alike, incentivized learning opportunities, and much, much more. Perfect for 6-12 teachers needing a tool to strengthen classroom management and class engagement.

3.   GoNoodle : An excellent resource for K-8 teachers, this site offers videos and content perfect for quick brain breaks and mini-lessons. The videos emphasize physical activity and total student engagement while still being educational and content-driven. GoNoodle is a perfect way to let younger students release some energy while still remaining in the academic mindset. Their YouTube channel also contains tons of content.

4.   Kahoot : Classic interactive and fun quiz-style game that students most always enjoy. You can create your own assessment, design your own questions, and receive immediate feedback using Kahoot. A teacher classic, and rightfully so. Great for in-person education and distance learning alike but it’s particularly fun in the classroom. Kahoot is a must-have for all 6-12 students.

5.   The Nerdwriter YouTube Channel : YouTube channel offering tons of academic-inspired videos on current events, pop culture, economics, politics, history, literature, art, mathematics, and more. While most of its content is fairly accessible, The Nerdwriter often digs into pretty complex topics so we recommend this channel for 9-12 students. The videos can serve as excellent primers to get students to begin thinking about a new unit or to introduce a complex idea or topic through a high-interest, pop-cultural context.

6.   Quizlet : Classic flash-card and quiz-based website that operates as an excellent tool for individual or class-wide test reviews, informal assessments, or quick checks for understanding. Either create your own quizlet or choose one from the massive catalog of pre-existing reviews. Quizlet is perfect for 6-12 educators looking for more online resources to help students comprehend difficult concepts and develop academic vocabulary.

7.   Random Name Picker : A fun and engaging name randomizer that’s perfect for informally assessing the class or quickly checking for understanding. Students enjoy the thrill of the spinning wheel, and it works perfectly for test or unit reviews. Randomization is a standard component of instruction at large, so Random Name Picker works well across all subjects and all grade levels.

8.   ReadTheory : Database with hundreds of reading passages, exercises, and worksheets designed to captivate students and develop critical reading skills and comprehension. It’s easy to use and highly adaptive, perfect for both in-person education and distance learning. ReadTheory offers material for K-12 students, so we recommend this online resource to any teacher looking to develop their students’ reading skills.

9.   TedEd : Site filled with hundreds of TedEd animations and TED Talks. Strategically designed to spark the curiosity of students, these videos and animations are not only highly engaging but educational and informative. TedEd also allows you to create customized lessons for your students, add interactive questions, create discussion topics, and more. Teachers can share the lessons with your students online and track the results. Perfect for 6-12 teachers looking to add more visual media to their instruction.

The Best Educational Websites for Teachers to Use Outside the Classroom

1. Albert : We’re a great tool for strengthening assessments and engaging a classroom full of students, but we can also be utilized as a distance learning resource. We offer over 100,000 original practice items, assessments, and writing prompts which can work perfectly as online homework or distance assignments. Our 121 Tools for Distance Learning & Strategies for Student Engagement page is a great place to start!

2.   Edmodo : This online educational network allows teachers to share coursework and materials, send messages, provide feedback, and make learning accessible to all students. Edmodo’s interface is easy to use and looks similar to Facebook and other social media platforms, so students seem to use it with ease. Perfect for 6-12 distant learning.

3.   Freckle : This differentiation platform allows teachers to engage each student at their own individual level, without having to spend extra time preparing many different lessons for each individual learner. Every lesson is available in different levels, so each student can learn and understand the material at their own level. Perfect resource for 6-12 teachers facing the difficulty of reaching all students.

4.   Google Classroom Question Tool : Another essential online resource. Google Classroom is really a teacher’s best friend, and its “Create a Question” feature allows teachers to pose class-wide questions, track the number of students who’ve responded on the stream page, and provide feedback. Google Classroom and all of its features are essential for teachers of any subject across 6-12 grade levels.

5.   Khan Academy : A personalized learning resource for all ages, Khan Academy offers practice exercises, instructional videos, and a personalized learning dashboard that empowers students to study at their own pace in and outside of the classroom. Above all, Khan Academy focuses on skill mastery and building strong foundations within the K-14 grade levels. They even offer standardized test prep!

6.   Scrible : This resource offers a digital platform where students can share resources, notes, work, projects, and more with each other. Teachers can facilitate discussion, add feedback, and monitor student progress. This is a fantastic tool for 6-12 teachers looking to strengthen students’ collaborative and research skills.

7.   Trello: This online organizer allows teachers to work more collaboratively with students and offers a list of boards, lists, and cards which can make the workday easier and more efficient. With its built-in workflow automation, Trello seriously boosts productivity. Perfect for 8-12 teachers looking to strengthen their organization.

8.   WordPress : Well-established blog creation site that can be utilized by teachers looking to create online pages, blogs, or content databases. Perfect for 6-12 teachers searching for exciting ways to engage the class, create pages for new units, disseminate information, or share material with students. Its simple interface makes it easy to use as well, so you won’t spend hours creating a blog.

Return to the Table of Contents  

The Best Educational Websites for General Teacher Resources

1.   Bamboozle : Massive databank of various online games and activities perfect for elementary and middle school students. Some of them are sillier than others, but many are educational and fun. A good resource for teachers looking to reward their students with some less strenuous but still relevant activity.

2.   BouncyBalls : A fun and easy way to manage the noise level in your class during group work or collaborative activities. The site captures the noise level of a classroom through your computer’s microphone and measures the level with a representation of bouncy balls which jump high when it’s too loud. It visually shows students when they’re being too loud so you don’t have to constantly remind them. An excellent and fun tool for any teacher in need of some new ideas involving classroom management.

3.   Classting : Media app designed to draw families into the daily classroom and generate more open lines of communication between educators, students, and parents. Classting is flexible and simple, and perfect for increasing student accountability and strengthening parental involvement. All teachers grades K-12 can benefit from this tool.

4.   FreshGrade : This app encompasses pretty much everything. Teachers can create lesson plans, share materials, communicate and engage with parents, and even create gradebooks. Additionally, students can create portfolios, take assessments, and reach out to their teachers. It really does it all, and its simple interface makes distant learning or online education super easy. Perfect for teachers of all subjects across grades 6-12.

5.  National Gallery of Art: Great online resource and lesson catalog for art teachers or teachers looking to incorporate more art, visual images, or other artistic media into their instruction. They offer lesson plans and instructional design for Kindergarten all the way through the university level, so the Gallery proves beneficial to any teacher. A little art goes a long way!

6.   Remind : A must-have communication platform that allows teachers to remind students of due dates, certain activities, or important news. Its emphasis on two-way communication makes for straightforward dissemination of  updates and important information, and it can also be used to reach out to students’ parents. This is a great tool for 6-12 teachers looking to increase student accountability.

7. Seesaw : Online portfolio for students to submit images, videos, documents and more. Both students and teachers can use digital annotation tools to mark up their work, ask questions, and give feedback, a feature which makes Seesaw wonderfully collaborative and effective. It can also be used to connect with students’ families and showcase your students’ work. Perfect educational website for middle and high school students, along with their 6-12 teachers.

The Best Educational Websites for Social Emotional Learning

1.   CASEL : This organization practically leads the way in all things SEL, offering tons of research, methods of practice, and literal policy that can be used by educators to make their classrooms more equitable and interactions among students more amicable. Their teacher resource page is a checklist of further reading and research on SEL that offers great insight into the importance of SEL. Essential site for all teachers of all subjects.

2.   Centervention : Another massive databank of SEL activities and worksheets. These materials would nicely complement those found in Pathway2Success as they encourage collaboration and group activities which would enhance the more singular activities offered by P2S. These activities would work best for K-8 too.

3.   Common Sense Education : Website filled with tons of material for teachers including modules, workshops, and lessons on social emotional learning. The site offers material on empathy, compassion, integrity, self-control, humility, gratitude, teamwork, and much, much more. Many of Common Sense’s features include links to current events, worksheets, and videos relevant to SEL, which makes the site super useful for teachers trying to merge their content with SEL. Common Sense Ed works for teachers of all subjects across all grade levels.

4.   Edutopia : A stalwart figure of innovative and online educational resources, Edutopia not only offers innumerable lesson plans and professional development workshops but also material on social emotional learning. Many of their SEL modules are work-driven, so it is easy for teachers to blend academic content with social and emotional skill development. This site is chock-full of videos, articles, and activities involving SEL.

5.   Pathway2Success : Large databank of SEL activities and worksheets. The best thing about this site is the huge stockpile of free printable materials that can be used for quick daily grades or comprehension activities. The activities are fairly simple so we recommend Pathway2Success for K-8 students as they’re a great place for free teaching resources.

6.   SuperBetter : This app turns daily routine and habit into video game objectives, making for a fun and engaging way to better your character and defeat bad habits. It morphs healthy actions like exercise, taking a walk, etc. into “power-ups” and unhealthy practices and emotional challenges as “bad guys” and “quests” to take. SuperBetter is self-regulated, so students remain in control of their own personal habits. Since it is mostly a phone app, we recommend SuperBetter to older students (7-12) with cell phones. By the way, check out our free teaching strategy discovery tool .

The Best Educational Writing and Grammar Websites for Teachers

1.   Albert’s 100% Free Grammar Course : Our 100% free grammar course offers hundreds of questions, exercises, and reviews on all things grammar. We begin by reviewing parts of speech and the complexities of the individual word before moving into review sentence construction, clauses and phrases, punctuation, and more. Our modules are interactive and engaging, and they also provide feedback. This course is perfect for all 5-12 teachers across all subjects, but particularly useful for English or ESL teachers.

2.   BrainPop Grammar : Fun site filled with interactive games, activities, videos, and mini-courses on grammar, writing, and vocabulary. The games and modules are engaging but informative and solution-driven. BrainPop also includes quizzes and constructive feedback features that render the games entirely educational. A great site for teachers looking to give K-9 students a light break.

3. Daily Grammar : A fun, convenient way to learn and develop grammar skills. This site contains an online spiral workbook featuring over 400 lessons and more than 80 quizzes. Each lesson is grouped into certain categories involving speech, sentence structure, mechanics, and more. Easy to use online writing resource that’s perfect for 5-12 English teachers.

4.   Duolingo : Not entirely about English grammar per se, but an excellent tool to develop foreign language skills. The site/mobile app offers over 30 different languages to study, and it hones your skills through quick, engaging, and surprisingly addicting interactive activities. Constantly rated among the best foreign language online resources, Duolingo is perfect for foreign language teachers looking to engage their students with technology.

5.   The Elements of Style Online PDF : William Strunk and E.B. White’s grammar and style guide, simply put, is the holy grail of all writing manuals. It’s a stone-cold classic which consistently stands the test of time, and for good reason. Strunk and White are comprehensive, accessible, and informative where other grammarists are pedantic and too arcane. This would be a perfect resource for high school English teachers, and perhaps AP® teachers in specific, as it is the classic grammar and style reference guide.

6.   Grammarly Blog : Grammarly is an AI-powered grammar tool used by many companies and schools, and their online blog proves as strong as their main product. It contains tons of material and tips on a diverse range of grammar-related topics such as passive voice, sentence fragments, comma placements, hyphenation, and more. With its simple interface and casual tone, Grammarly Blog would make for an excellent online resource for 6-12 teachers looking to strengthen student grammar.

7.   Oxford Practice Grammar : Oxford’s very own online grammar practice. The university provides reviews and activities at beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels, so as to scaffold and track progress. Each component contains practice exercises, read and write modules, and full-blown tests. Oxford is one of the most prestigious schools in the world, so it’s safe to assume that their grammar practice is top-notch. This resource is perfect for newbies and experts alike, and would benefit all teachers looking to develop students’ writing skills.

8.   Purdue OWL : Purdue University’s online writing lab. This is THE classic site for all things grammar, writing, citation, and formatting. You’re probably already familiar with this page.

The Best Educational News Sites for Teachers

1.   The Atlantic Education : A key player in contemporary journalism, The Atlantic also offers a whole mini-publication on all things education. They cover policy, new methodology, controversies, current events, and more. They also explore news within higher education, a world which indeed proves useful to secondary teachers as many educational trends and innovative methods seem to trickle down from the university to the high school.

2.   Chalkbeat : A non-profit news organization committed to reporting on education issues rooted in local American communities. Their mission is to “inform the decisions and actions that lead to better outcomes for children and families by providing deep, local coverage of education policy and practice,” and their reporting certainly upholds this objective. While they do cover national educational news, they also focus on local education stories in Chicago, Colorado, Detroit, Indiana, New York, Newark, and Tennessee.

3.   Education Dive : Reputable publication providing in-depth journalism and insight into the most impactful news and trends shaping K-12 and higher education. Their newsletters, articles, and think pieces cover topics such as policy, blended learning, classroom tech, learning management and more. A leading figure in education news, Ed Dive is a perfect resource for all teachers.

4.   Education Week: A reliable and unbiased news source dedicated to generating innovative research, compelling articles, and general information about the ever-changing world of education. They offer a mix of opinion-based thinkpieces, reviews of academic articles, interviews, case studies, and much, much more. A great site.

5.   Faculty Focus : This e-newsletter is perfect for any teacher looking to get a daily dose of educational news. They provide content on academic leadership, the philosophy of teaching, faculty development, online education, and more. The newsletter feature is a nice way to consistently stay on top of the status quo, too.

6.   National Educational Association : One of the best sources out there for information on the public sector of education. From coverage on policy to critical think-pieces, NEA covers it all. Their articles are supported by academic research, case studies, policy, and more, rendering the publication one of the most reliable and reputable out there. This is an essential source for public school teachers.

7.   The Pie News : Publication dedicated to international news on education. They offer articles on current events, innovative classroom strategies, reform, policy, technology, and much, much more. The Pie’s global sweep is perfect for teachers looking to learn more about education throughout the world rather than just on the national level.

The Best Educational Blogs for Teachers

1.   Connected Principals : Blog run by and for school administrators. It offers hundreds of posts about educational policy, leadership, teacher-admin relationships, equity, and more. Even if you’re a teacher and not an administrator, this site proves useful with its amazing educational tips and its insight into what makes a good educator successful. This is essential for anyone working in education.

2.   Cool Cat Teaching Blog : Award-winning teaching blog run by Vicki Davis, a seasoned teacher who’s taught K-8 and regularly coaches K-12 teachers on utilizing innovative pedagogical strategies and integrating technology in their classrooms. Davis writes about the complexities of excellent teaching and discusses various methods designed to reach every child. Her posts regularly focus on teaching, technology, leadership, productivity, and writing. A great resource for all teachers of all grade levels.

3.   Larry Ferlazzo’s Websites of the Day : Helmed by venerated English, Social Studies, and ELL teacher/all-around education all-star Larry Ferlazzo, this blog covers a diverse range of education-related topics including policy, technology, equity, instructional design, and more. Ferlazzo also often shares his own experiences and successes and trials with his own pedagogy. A great resource for teachers looking to deepen their understanding of the complex and often chaotic world of education.

4.   NYC Educator : A funny and often acerbic blog with over 3,000 posts featuring current events, commentary on all things education, and entertaining satires of education policy makers. Described as the “the Daily Show of education blogs” by Edutopia, this page blends parody, critical insight, and retro iconography into a truly unique and compelling melange of education commentary. Perfectly interesting for all educators across all grade levels and subjects.

5.   Successful Teaching : Straightforward and relatable blog dedicated to sharing tips for instructional design, classroom management, saving money as a teacher, and more. Patricia Hensley, the teacher behind the blog, writes with clarity and warmth, and her posts often feel like your personal favorite teacher writing directly to you. Informative and useful for all teachers across all subjects.

6.   TweenTeacher : Though technically geared toward middle school, this blog features tons of great information on pedagogy, instructional design, classroom management, technology, and more. Heather Wolpert-Gawron, the blog’s creator and main contributor, also shares anecdotes and personal experiences from her teaching experience which can be extremely helpful and comforting to read, especially during those moments when the profession seems too much .

The Best Education Policy Sites for Teachers to Follow

1. Ballotpedia : This site provides a comprehensive history of educational policy from the colonial era through today, covering essential developments, legislation, and the role of the federal government in shaping education. If you’re totally new to educational policy this may be a great place to start.

2.   The Hechinger Report : Run by a group of experienced and esteemed teachers, administrators, and policymakers, this site covers inequality, innovation, and the policy surrounding education with data-driven clarity and sharp insight. It sets out to explain how education policy is one of the biggest issues of our time, and how it affects young people today. Essential for teachers looking to get involved in educational reform.

3.   Learning Policy Institute : Institute which conducts and communicates independent, high-quality research to improve education policy and practice. They work with policymakers, researchers, educators, community groups, and others to advance evidence-based policies that support empowering and equitable learning for each and every child. Nonprofit and nonpartisan, the Institute connects policymakers and stakeholders at the local, state, and federal levels with the evidence, ideas, and actions needed to strengthen the education system from preschool through college. Perhaps the best place to begin getting involved in education policy.

4.   Rand Corporation : Research organization that develops solutions to public policy challenges in order to help make communities throughout the world safer and more secure, healthier and more prosperous. One of their biggest areas of study is, of course, education, and their research and analysis often addresses issues that impact  assessment, accountability, choice-based and standards-based reform, school leadership, teacher effectiveness, technology, and vocational training. Rand also explores general life skills, such as media, health, extracurricular activity, and financial literacy.

5.   Urban Institute Center on Data Education and Policy : This trusted source for unbiased, authoritative reporting offers data- and research-driven commentary involving reform, theory, the state of education, and the complex world of education policy at large. They are a nonprofit research organization dedicated to supporting change based on facts rather than ideology, and their content always hits the mark.

6.   US News Education Policy : Well-established media powerhouse offers their own section on education policy, featuring articles on legislation, finance, technology, and more. US News is consistently reputable and reliable, and their Ed policy section proves no different.

The Best Teacher YouTubers to Follow

1.   Bond With James : Top-notch educator with experience as a teacher, district level instructional specialist, and campus administrator who creates weekly vlogs to share tips, experiences, and more. His channel is dedicated to helping teachers develop their skills in areas such as classroom management, engagement techniques, instructional coaching, delivering professional development, and more! His interview tips video is particularly helpful for those looking to become teachers.

2.   The Caffeinated Classroom : Helmed by seasoned high school English teacher Marie Morris, this blog is a place for educators to explore resources and be inspired. Morris often shares innovative and creative practices developed over a decade of teaching in various classrooms. From classroom management to models of seating to creating effective assessments, Morris covers it all. Perfect for new teachers looking where to begin or classroom veterans searching for new ideas and inspiration.

3.   Darin Nakakihara : Teacher vlog about creator Darin Nakakihara’s adventures as a 4th grade teacher, a husband, and a father. His content includes videos involving technology how-to’s, professional development, classroom management, and more. He also includes personal content that covers his hobbies and interests such as DJing, basketball, and more. Fun and engaging. Perfect vlog for teachers looking for entertaining yet informative video content.

4.   Five Foot One Teacher : Created by Brittany Sinitch, a survivor of the Parkland, Florida school shooting, this blog fosters hope and change through social media and weekly vlogs. After her world was turned upside down in February 2018, Sinitch decided to focus on inspiring and educating through teacher vlogs and activism. Her videos not only address the complexities and difficulties of teaching but the challenges of navigating life in the 21st century. Think of it as self-care meets teaching experience/tips. Though she left teaching in 2018, Sinitch has recently announced a return. This is a great vlog for teacher content and motivating, inspirational material alike.

5.   My Life as Kim: Started by a high school science teacher in Idaho known as “Kim,” this blog is fun, easy-going, and super informative. Kim covers a diverse range of topics such as productivity, distance learning, and even what she prepares for lunch. From personal anecdotes and experiences to educational tips and tricks, My Life as Kim covers it all. A great online resource for teachers of all subjects and grease levels.

6.   Real Rap with Reynolds : With over 40k subscribers, Real Rap with Reynolds is one of the best teacher vlogs currently on YouTube. The vlogger, CJ Reynolds, is a literature teacher in West Philadelphia who creates video content about all things education. His videos include discussion on topics like first year teaching, Shakespeare, the history of hip-hop, classroom management, and more. He’s opinionated and well-spoken, and his taste for literature is perfect for any English teacher working in grades 6-12.

What Makes a Good Educational Website for Teachers? 5 Signs of Quality

1.   Research- or experience-based content .  Perhaps the number one sign of quality within online educational websites is the presence of either scholarly research or professional, direct experience. Avoid sites that were not designed by academics, administrators, educational organizations, publications, or, of course, teachers themselves. After all, the people who know the most about a given profession are always those that work within it.

2.   Variety .  As you probably already know, teaching is such a complex and challenging line of work, so the best way to approach it is by engaging with a diverse range of perspectives. Sites that profess to have the way are probably a no-go. Look for websites and online resources that offer a wide and broad variety of advice, experience, and knowledge to enrich your own perspective. 

3. Concrete examples .  Do you remember that old creative writing proverb, “show, don’t tell”? Well the same goes for educational websites. Look for sites that contain concrete examples of lesson plans, assessments, class-wide discussion questions, and forms of feedback. Sites that merely tell you about something can be helpful to get started, but spend most of your time on sites which include concrete examples. 

4. Engagement with technology and multimedia content. Though writing will always remain a reliable form of communication, we currently live in an ever-evolving media-saturated world where our understanding of the technologies before us are as vital as our mastery of written communication. Therefore, the online sources you use should at least address technology, visual media, and other non-written forms of communication. Technology, whether we like it or not is embedded within the fabric of 21st-century culture, so it’s best we all begin to master it. 

5. Passion. Last but not least, look for sources that are brimming with passion. Whether you’re reading a more pedantic article on legislation and education policy or skimming through a teacher’s daily blog, look for online resources that care . They don’t necessarily need to be jumping up and down with joy per se, but you should be able to tell that the site’s heart is in the right place. There’s no point in spending time with resources that lack energy or drive, so spend your time with websites that demonstrate passion.

3 Reasons Why You Should Use Websites to Support Your Classroom

1. A diversity of perspectives. Perhaps the biggest reason we consult online resources is to learn something new, to gain insight, and to be inspired by someone or something else other than our daily experience. Simply put, online educational websites allow us to collaborate, and the success of education depends on teachers at large rather than the individual educator. A diversity of perspectives enriches your own pedagogy. 

2. Efficiency. Educational websites undoubtedly make your workday much, much more efficient. Instead of pulling out your hair trying to create the perfect lesson plan or end-of-course assessment, use the web to find tips, tricks, and other examples. The Internet has accelerated pretty much every aspect of society, so it’s no surprise that it can also strengthen your efficiency. 

3. The feeling of solidarity. Let’s face it: teaching can often be a very difficult and even disheartening profession. Thus, it is imperative you don’t go at it totally alone. Scanning online teacher blogs, reading about education policy, or watching a teacher’s vlog generates feelings of solidarity and companionship that are vital to becoming a successful educator. The right educational website can truly work wonders on your professional and personal psyche. 

Wrapping Things Up: 75 Educational Websites for Teachers

The internet is brimming with so many online teaching websites that it can feel overwhelming and downright impossible choosing the best teacher resources to integrate into your own pedagogy! 

That’s why we’ve compiled this list of educational websites for the classroom—to point you in the right direction and to save you time. 

From the topical lesson plans over at The New York Times Learning Network to Marie Morris’s exciting educational vlog to Albert’s very own content reviews, teacher resources, and assessments, this definitive list of online educational websites for teachers encompasses the best sources on the web to enrich your skills as an educator and inspire you to new heights. 

Albert is committed to developing an educational community of curious, independent thinkers, and this list is specifically designed to uphold our mission.

If you enjoyed this post, check out our other posts on strategies for teaching online , our viral post on distance learning tools or Our free 150+ teaching strategies discovery tool .

Interested in a school license?​

8 thoughts on “75 educational websites for teachers: the ultimate list”.

I really appreciate thisarticle thanks for sharing. very helpful to. keep sharing and to know more click civil engineering colleges in navi mumbai

Thank you for sharing the nice information about the educational teacher websites lists!

You’re welcome!

I got this web site from my friend who shared with me about this site and at the moment this time I am visiting this site and reading very informative articles here. Thanks for sharing the blog it’s very useful and informative.

This is very educational content and written well for a change. It’s nice to see that some people still understand how to write a quality post!

Thanks! So glad you find our post helpful.

This site and reading are very informative articles. Thanks for sharing the blog it’s very useful and informative.

You’re welcome! We’re glad you enjoy it.

Comments are closed.

Popular Posts

AP® Score Calculators

Simulate how different MCQ and FRQ scores translate into AP® scores

AP® Review Guides

The ultimate review guides for AP® subjects to help you plan and structure your prep.

Core Subject Review Guides

Review the most important topics in Physics and Algebra 1 .

SAT® Score Calculator

See how scores on each section impacts your overall SAT® score

ACT® Score Calculator

See how scores on each section impacts your overall ACT® score

Grammar Review Hub

Comprehensive review of grammar skills

AP® Posters

Download updated posters summarizing the main topics and structure for each AP® exam.

  Check Out These Free Courses & Discounts >

Education Articles For Teachers & Educators:

Putting Student Discourse to Work in the Classroom

By ModelTeaching | September 18th, 2024 |

Putting Student Discourse to Work in the Classroom by Model Teaching | September 18, 2024. What is Student Discourse, and How Does it Benefit Students? The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines discourse as “a verbal interchange of ideas.” But put into an academic setting, student discourse is the interchange of ideas between students that is focused on academic content. It is students talking to each other in a structured manner, using academic language. Importantly, discourse is an exercise in enhancing critical thinking and reasoning and should be focused on discussions that encourage a deeper look at concepts, as opposed to the simple recall of information in the form of a group activity. The word “student” in the phrase student discourse should not be overlooked. It is a conversation between students, not the teacher and student, and certainly not the teacher talking at their students. Discourse implies a back-and-forth exchange [...]

Creating a Sensory Friendly Classroom for Students with Autism

By ModelTeaching | August 19th, 2024 |

AI Tools for The Classroom: A Review of Artificial Intelligence Tools for Teachers & Students

By ModelTeaching | August 7th, 2024 |

Ramp It Up: Turning the Summer Slide into a Launchpad for Learning, Part 2

By ModelTeaching | August 1st, 2024 |

Ramp It Up: Turning the Summer SLIDE into a Launchpad for Learning, Part 1

By ModelTeaching | July 31st, 2024 |

From Routine to Reflection: How to Use Admit and Exit Tickets to Create a Culture of Reflection in Your Prek-12 Classroom

By ModelTeaching | March 27th, 2024 |

How to Utilize Energy Breaks for Your Daily Classroom Routines

By ModelTeaching | March 8th, 2024 |

Tech the Halls: A Jolly Guide to AI Resources that Can Transform your Classroom!

By ModelTeaching | December 18th, 2023 |

Simple Advice, Tips, and Strategies for New Teachers to Ensure You Have a Great School Year

By ModelTeaching | September 1st, 2023 |

How to Implement Peer Tutoring in Your Classroom

By ModelTeaching | June 19th, 2023 |

The Scientific Investigation Framework: Re-Designing Labs in the Science Classroom

By ModelTeaching | June 16th, 2023 |

Will AI Replace Teachers? We Don’t Think So.

By ModelTeaching | May 4th, 2023 |

A Formula for Student Feedback

By ModelTeaching | March 23rd, 2023 |

All Blog Topics

Classroom Management

• English Language Learners (ELL)

Gifted & Talented

Leadership Development

Lesson & Curriculum Planning

Math Instruction

Parent Involvement

Reading/ELA Instruction

Science Instruction

Social/Emotional Learning

Special Education

Teaching Strategies

Technology In The Classroom

Testing Strategies & Prep

Writing Instruction

Want to Learn More?

Learn about our Professonal Development courses for teachers & educators.

Free Professional Development

Free Educator Resources

Popular blog topics:, your shopping cart.

The cart is empty

Search our courses, blogs, resources, & articles.

Articles for Students

Scholastic Classroom Magazines combine authentic texts with digital resources to ignite student engagement and raise achievement in every content area. 

These free articles cover some of our most popular topics, from current events to social and emotional learning. Share them with your students, share them on social media, or just check them out for yourself!

Early Learning

Investigate Apples

School Rules

Apple Science

I Am a Leaf Peeper

Middle and High School

Home > Resources > Journal of Teacher Education

In This Section

Resource library, journal of teacher education.

• NCTQ Review
• High-Quality Educator Preparation
• Research-to-Practice Spotlight Series
• Career Center
• COVID-19 Resources
• Educational Technology
• AACTE Research, Reports, and Briefs
• Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
• Research and Resources from AACTE’s Strategic Partnerships

AACTE Member Free JTE Access

JTE Highlights

From:  Ed Prep Matters – AACTE blog

JTE Highlights Teacher Residencies in New Call for Manuscripts 

Call for Applications: JTE-Holmes Co-Editorship Second Cohort

Webinars to Highlight Critical Role of Holmes Programs, Partnerships

Call for Applications: Journal of Teacher Education Holmes Fellowship 

JTE’s Special Issue on Family and Community Engagement: Insights from NAFSCE’s Innovation Collaboratives

More blog entries

For details about manuscript submission, subscriptions, and advertising, visit the journal’s web site at  journals.sagepub.com/home/jte .

Download JTE flyer

The Journal of Teacher Education (JTE) 75th Anniversary Calls and Submissions

2024 Holmes Scholar Co-Editor Opportunity

This opportunity is specifically for Holmes Scholars who would like to learn how to write and publish a piece of quality scholarship in a high-impact academic journal. The JTE leadership team will accept applications until  5:00 p.m. CST on October 15 .

Call for Manuscripts

The Journal aims to stimulate discussion and reflection about issues related to teacher education for pre- and in-service teachers. Manuscripts submitted for consideration should be research/empirical reports and analyses or conceptual essays. The deadline to submit is December 1 , by 11:59 p.m. EST .

Call for Proposals

To celebrate its 75th anniversary, the Journal of Teacher Education ( JTE ) is seeking proposals for a special issue on Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) for Volume 76, issue three. The call closed on June 15.

JTE turns 75 in 2025

About the jte editorial team.

• Mission and Scopes
• Editorial Review Board
• Top JTE Reviewers

In January 2021, AACTE named Texas A&M University’s College of Education and Human Development as the incoming editorial host of the Journal of Teacher Education. The journal is led by two coeditors – Cheryl Craig and Valerie Hill-Jackson. Punya Mishra (Arizona State University) serves as the current Editor in Residence, preceded by Lin A Goodwin (2023), Marilyn Cochran-Smith (2022) and Gloria Ladson-Billings (2021). The team is supported by:

Cheryl Craig

Valerie Hill-Jackson

Editor in Residence

Punya Mishra

Managing Editor

John Williams III

Associate Editors

Courtney Baker

Heidi Hallman

Andrew Kwok

Rafael Lara-Alecio

Bugrahan Yalvac

Diane Yendol-Hoppey

Assistant Editors

Contact the editors by e-mail at [email protected] and at Journal of Teacher Education, MS 4222, 540 Ross Street, Harrington Tower College of Education and Human Development, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-4222. E-mail is their preferred method of communication.

JTE Editorial Aims and Scopes

The editors aim to achieve a strategic balance among the areas of preservice and in-service teacher education practice, policy, and research, bringing those areas to bear on one another in challenging and productive ways. They offer a forum for diverse work of teacher education researchers (university and non-university based), teacher education practitioners (e.g., university, state, district, community college), and policy makers at all levels. Linking research and practice is paramount in their vision for the  JTE .

The mission of the  Journal of Teacher Education , the flagship journal of AACTE, is to serve as a research forum for a diverse group of scholars who are invested in the preparation and continued support of teachers and who can have a significant voice in discussions and decision-making around issues of teacher education. One of the fundamental goals of the journal is the use of evidence from rigorous investigation to identify and address the increasingly complex issues confronting teacher education at the national and global levels. These issues include but are not limited to preparing teachers to effectively address the needs of marginalized youth, their families and communities; program design and impact; selection, recruitment, and retention of teachers from underrepresented groups; local and national policy; accountability; and routes to certification.

JTE  does not publish book reviews, program evaluations, or articles solely describing programs, program components, courses, or personal experiences.

JTE Editorial Review Board

• Trudy Cardinal, University of Alberta, Canada
• Charalambos Charalambous, University of Cyprus, Cyprus
• Ruth Chung Wei, Envision Learning Partners, USA
• Marilyn Cochran-Smith, Boston College, USA
• Julie Cohen, University of Virginia, USA
• Christopher Day, University of Nottingham, UK
• Paige Evans, University of Houston, USA
• Ralph Ferretti, University of Delaware, USA
• Nancy Fichtman Dana, University of Florida, Gainesville, USA
• Janet Gaffney, University of Auckland, New Zealand
• Kristin Gansle, Old Dominon University, USA
• Lynsey Gibbons, Boston University, USA
• Drew Gitomer, Rutgers University, USA
• Thomas Good, University of Arizona,USA
• Gary Henry, University of Delaware, USA
• Cody Huie, Raise Your Hand Texas, USA
• Amanda Jansen, University of Delaware, USA
• Rita Kohli, University of California, Riverside, USA
• Okhee Lee, New York University, USA
• Catherine Lewis, Mills College, USA
• Thomas Luschei, Claremont Graduate University, USA
• Jennifer Mueller, St. Cloud State University, USA
• Megan Madigan Peercy, University of Maryland, USA
• Thomas Philip, University of California, Berkeley
• Rachel Pinnow, University of Missouri
• Bethanie Pletcher, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, USA
• Judi Randi, University of New Haven, USA
• Rossella Santagata, University of California Irvine, USA
• Deborah Schussler, The Pennsylvania State University, USA
• Jessica Singer, Early Arizona State University, USA
• Peter Smagorinsky, University of Georgia, USA
• Jennifer Lynn Snow, Boise State University, USA
• Nathan Stevenson, Kent State University, USA
• Jeremy Stoddard, College of William and Mary, USA
• Maria Tatto, Arizona State University, USA
• Roddy Theobald, American Institutes for Research, USA
• Katina Thomas, Prairie View A&M University, USA
• Rebecca West Burns, University of South Florida, USA
• Karl Wheatley, Cleveland State University, USA
• Suzanne Wilson, University of Connecticut, USA
• Theo Wubbels, Utrecht University, Netherlands
• Barbara Ybarra, Bryan Independent School District, USA
• Jemimah Young, Texas A&M University of Education and Human Development, USA
• Peter Youngs, University of Virginia, USA
• Beverly Sande, Prairie View A&M University, USA
• James O’Meara, Texas A&M International University, USA

AACTE would like to acknowledge the top 5% of JTE peer reviewers, including those with 5+ annual reviews, high R scores or two consecutive years of service. These individuals are listed below. Individuals interested in becoming a JTE reviewer are encouraged to complete this brief form .

• Adrienne Johnson, Missouri Western State University
• Alexander Büssing, Leibniz University Hannover
• Ali Karakas, Burdur Mehmet Akif Ersoy University
• Andrew Whalen, Ohio State University
• Angela Kraemer-Holland, National-Louis University
• Anne Cash, University of North Carolina- Charlotte
• Anne Durst, University of Wisconsin
• Anne Fairbrother, State University of New York- Oswego
• Ashley Dallacqua, University of New Mexico
• Beatrice Avalos, University of Chile- Sanriago
• Benita Bruster, Austin Peay State University
• Boris Krichevsky, University of Washington
• Bryan Hains, University of Kentucky
• Bryant Jensen, Brigham Young University
• Caitlin Criss, Georgia Southern University
• Carla Tanguay, Georgia State University
• Carol Donovan, University of Alabama
• Catherine Lewis, Mills College
• Charalambos Charalambous, University of Cyprus
• Charlene Martin, Oral Roberts University
• Charles Ogundimu, Columbia University
• Chelsea Cole, Texas A&M University
• Chloë Lancaster, University of South Florida
• Christa Haverly, Michigan State University
• Christi Edge, Northern Michigan University
• Christina Alston, Rice University
• Christine Ogren, University of Iowa
• Christopher Redding, University of Florida
• Christopher Wagner, Queens College of the City University of New York
• Christy Howard, East Carolina University
• Claire Collins, University of Texas- Austin
• Corey Palermo, North Carolina State University
• Cristina Worley, Texas A&M University
• David Boote, University of Central Florida
• David Bruce, University of Buffalo
• David Cassels Johnson, University of Iowa
• David Marshall, Auburn University
• Delfín Ortega Sánchez, Universidad de Burgos
• Denisse Hinojosa, Michigan State University
• Derek Anderson, Northern Michigan University
• Earl Aguillera, California State University-Fresno
• Edmund Adjapong, Seton Hall University
• Ekaterina Koubek, James Madison University
• Elizabeth Brown, George Mason University
• Elizabeth Labone, The University of Notre Dame Australia
• Elizabeth Skinner, Illinois State University
• Ellen Abakah, University of Ghana
• Eric Richter, University of Potsdam
• Frances Rust, New York University
• Hailey Love, University of Wisconsin- Madison
• Hannah Carter, Boise State University
• Haylen Perines, Universidad Internacional de Valencia, España.
• Heather Camp, Minnesota State University
• Hilary Conklin, DePaul University
• Hilary Dack, University of North Carolina- Charlotte
• Íris Susana Pereira, University of Minho
• Isaac Kola, University of Limpopo
• Jamie Utt, University of Arizona
• Janet Decker, Indiana State University
• Janice Anderson, University of North Carolina- Chapel Hill
• Jeanne Peter, Vanderbilt University
• Jeffrey Bakken, Bradley University
• Jeffrey Carpenter, Elon University
• Jeffrey Keese, Mercer University
• Jennifer Gardner, Lewis-Clark State College
• Jennifer Jacobs, University of South Florida
• Jennifer Snow, Boise State University
• Jeremy Stoddard, University of Wisconsin- Madison
• Jian Wang, Texas Tech University
• John Bogan, Texas A&M University
• Jori Beck, Old Dominion University
• Jose Martinez Hinestroza, Texas State University
• Julia Atiles, Oklahoma State University
• Kai Cortina, University of Michigan
• Karen Burgard, Texas A&M University
• Karin Lohwasser, University of California- Santa Barbara
• Katayoon Afzali, Sheikhbahaee University
• Katherine Frankel, Boston University
• Kathryn Anderson-Levitt, University of California- Los Angeles
• Kathryn Bauserman, Indiana State University
• Keith Graham, National Taiwan Normal University
• Kelli Paquette, Indiana University of Pennsylvania
• Kelly Chandler-Olcott, Syracuse University
• Kent Divoll, University of Houston- Clear Lake
• Kevin Graziano, Nevada State College
• Kristen Gregory, East Carolina University
• Kristina Rouech, Central Michigan University
• Kristy Brugar, University of Oklahoma
• Lauri Heikonen, University of Helsinki
• Leonardo Abella, Universidad Distrital Francisco Jose de
• Mingyu Li, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
• Linda Blanton, Florida International University
• Logan Rutten, Penn State University
• Lorelei Coddington, Biola University
• Lucy Spence, University of South Carolina
• Lynsey Gibbons, University of Delaware
• Madhuvanti Anantharajan, Stanford University
• Malba Barahona,Universidad Católica de Chile
• Manu Sharma, University of Wisconsin River Falls
• Manuela Jimenez, Arizona State University
• Marissa Filderman, University of Alabama
• Marlene Zepeda, California State University- LA
• Marlynn Griffin, Georgia Southern University
• Martha Canipe, Northern Arizona University
• Mary Neville, New Mexico State University
• Masoud Monjezie, Petroleum University of Technology
• Matthew McConn, Binghamton University
• Melanie Hundley, Vanderbilt University
• Melinda Butler, University of Maine
• Melissa Mosley, University of Texas- Austin
• Mindy Kalchman, DePaul University
• Nesreen Alzhrani, KAU University
• Nicholas Bell, University of Delaware
• Nicola Warren-Lee, University of Bristol
• Nicole Mancevice, University of California- Los Angeles
• Nicole Ralston, University of Portland
• Oi-Man Kwok, Texas A&M University
• Pamela Wesely, University of Iowa
• Phillip Wilder, Clemson University
• Radhika Viruru, Texas A&M University
• Rebecca Burns, University of North Florida
• Richard Osguthorpe, Brigham Young University
• Robin Franklin, Charleston Southern University
• Roderick Carey, University of Delaware
• Salma Ali, Texas A&M University
• Samuel Tanner, Penn State University
• Sarah Clark, Brigham Young University
• Sarah Lupo, James Madison University
• Scott Gibbons, University of Cincinnati
• Şeyda Çimen, Muğla Sıtkı Koçman University
• Sharon Matthews, Texas A&M University
• Sherry Southerland, Florida State University
• Shih-Chieh Chien, University of California- San Diego
• So Yoon Yoon, University of Cincinnati
• Sonja Lutovac, University of Oulu
• Sümer Aktan, Balıkesir University
• Sunshine Sullivan, Houghton University
• Susan Adler, University of Missouri- Kansas City
• Susan Barnes, James Madison University
• Suzanne Wilson, University of Connecticut
• Talya Drescher, California State University- Channel Islands
• Tea Pavin Ivanec, University of Zagreb
• Terrie Galanti, University of North Florida
• Theo Wubbels, University Utrecht
• Theresa Deeney, University of Rhode Island
• Thilo Kleickmann, Kiel University
• Thomas Levine, University of Connecticut
• Trace Lahey, Manhattan College
• Wei Liao, Beijing Normal University
• William Davis, Southern Utah University
• Youb Kim, University of Northern Colorado
• Zaline Roy-Campbell, Syracuse University

Event Planner

Events Registration

Learning Center

Membership Directory

Online Community

PEDS: Professional Education Data System

Profile Manager

Submission Center

Voting System

The 7 best educational blogs every teacher should read

Discover the 7 best educational blogs every teacher should read! From tech hacks to classroom strategies, these blogs offer fresh ideas to inspire your education.

Let’s face it: being an educator is like being the ringmaster of a circus, except instead of plates, you’re juggling lesson plans, a troupe of students, and the endless mystery of why your permanent markers keep disappearing. And just when you think you’ve got everything under control, your principal announces a new teaching strategy that you’re somehow expected to implement yesterday . 

Fun, right?

Well, instead of pulling your hair out (or Googling "how to become a yoga instructor"), why not crowd-source some advice from other educators who’ve learned the hard way?

The question is, with a million educational blogs out there, which ones are actually worth your precious time? 

Never fear! We’ve rounded up the 7 best educational blogs every teacher should read. (Or professor, tutor, instructor, or even parent: the advice applies to anyone in education.)

No corporate gruel dished up by faceless salesmen who haven’t taught a day in their life. All of these blogs feature practical, realistic tips from real educators , helping you become the classroom superhero you were always meant to be. 

Here they are! (In no particular order…)

Best educational blog # 1: ‘Cult of Pedagogy’

If you haven’t heard of Cult of Pedagogy , you’re in for a treat. This blog, run by former teacher Jennifer Gonzalez, brings a realistic approach to pedagogical concepts, reflecting her background in training pre-service teachers. Covering everything from lesson planning to classroom management , Cult of Pedagogy is your go-to for no-nonsense advice that actually works.

What sets this teachers’ blog apart is its practical focus . Gonzalez dives into topics like:

• Creating engaging lessons ( Connecting Students in a Disconnected World ), 
• Using technology effectively ( How to Use ChatGPT as an Example Machine ), and 
• How to manage your classroom like a pro ( Creating a Welcoming Classroom for Students with Special Needs )

And all in a tone that feels like a conversation with a wise mentor (who actually gets what it’s like).

Want some real talk on the challenges of teaching? Cult of Pedagogy doesn’t sugarcoat the tough stuff but offers positive, actionable solutions .

Best educational blog # 2: ‘Edutopia’ (for K-12)

Edutopia is the brainchild of the George Lucas Educational Foundation.

Yes, the Star Wars guy.

While it lacks lightsabers and podracers, Edutopia is still a powerful tool in any teacher’s arsenal. The blog is dedicated to improving K-12 education by sharing evidence- and research-based practices.

One of the best things about Edutopia is its broad range of topics, covering:

• Project-based learning ( Connecting Across Disciplines in PBL )
• Social-emotional learning ( Implicit SEL Strategies That Support Academics )
• Using technology in your classroom ( Getting Students to Read Digital Texts More Deeply )

Plus, their articles feature plenty of real-life examples, making it easier to see how you can implement these strategies in your own classroom.

Bonus points: Edutopia has a great collection of resources for student engagement and teacher well-being . They’ve even got tips for balancing your work life so you don’t burn out by mid-semester (or week).

Best educational blog # 3: the Brainscape Teachers Academy (science-backed tips)

The Brainscape Teachers Academy shows educators how to optimize their teaching strategies—and their students’ learning—with scientifically-backed learning tactics , from how to double knowledge retention to harnessing the learning power of spaced repetition .

The best part? The Brainscape Teachers Academy doesn’t just dish out advice—it’s backed up with proven, peer-reviewed cognitive science. Whether you're new to teaching or a seasoned veteran, you’ll find a ton of practical tips for using games to develop cognition , understanding learning styles , and making the most of technology in education .

Brainscape also has a ton of free resources like free study planners , guides to building SMART goals , and strategies to boost student motivation . This is not even to mention their flashcard study app that allows students to create flashcards for any subject (for free) or to find flashcards made by other students and educators.

Flashcards are the perfect vehicle for spaced repetition and other learning tactics like active recall and metacognition, making it a powerful study tool for your learners. Learn more here .

For even more great stuff from Brainscape, check out their YouTube playlist for teachers . Here’s the first video from that playlist…

Best educational blog # 4: ‘Free Technology for Teachers’ (no frills)

Once upon a time, the greatest advance in educational technology was removing the substance in whiteboard markers that made you high. Now, it seems like every day brings with it a tsunami of tech tools that promise to transform student engagement, halve your workload, and bring about world peace.

The sheer overload of novel technology causes technostress , which has been shown to reduce a teacher’s work performance .

Enter Free Technology for Teachers . Created by Richard Byrne and updated by TeacherMade’s CEO Laura Bresko, this blog does exactly what it says on the tin: offers free tech tools that teachers can use in their classrooms.

What makes this blog stand out is its simplicity. Each post is a bite-sized nugget of useful information about a tool, app, or website that can make your teaching life easier .

Whether it’s creating quizzes, interactive lessons, or helping students collaborate on projects, Byrne’s recommendations are always free (because who has spare cash for expensive software?) and easy to implement.

If you’re constantly searching for new ways to integrate tech into your classroom , Free Technology for Teachers is a must-read.

Best educational blog # 5: ‘Truth for Teachers’ (avoiding burnout)

As teachers, we know the culture of taking pride in being overworked. Whatever it takes for the students, right? But educator burnout does more than just exhaust us; it also leads to negative outcomes for students , such as poor academic results to a lack of motivation.

For teachers looking to find a little more balance, Truth for Teachers (previously known as The Cornerstone for Teachers ) by Angela Watson is a lifesaver. Watson, a veteran educator and instructional coach, focuses on helping teachers improve their work-life balance while maintaining an exceptional standard of instruction.

Her blog offers practical tips on classroom management, organization, and lesson planning—but with a focus on cutting down your working hours. Watson is big on helping teachers avoid burnout , and her blog is full of productivity hacks ( 5 tips to get out the door at contract time ) and self-care strategies ( How to keep teaching when your personal life is falling apart ).

If you can’t remember the last time you clocked off before sunset, check out her “40-Hour Teacher Workweek” program. It offers practical strategies to help teachers to streamline their workflow, eliminate unnecessary tasks, and enjoy that mythical thing that other jobs call a weekend .

Best educational blog # 6: ‘MindShift’ (future-focused)

MindShift by KQED is an innovative blog that explores the future of education. Focusing on the intersection of technology and culture , MindShift is perfect for teachers who want to stay ahead of the curve and bring fresh ideas into their classrooms.

What sets MindShift apart is its focus on deeper learning and social-emotional education . The blog tackles everything from growth mindset to personalized learning, providing insights on how to create an environment where students don’t just learn, but thrive. 

From cases where an AI tutor helped students to times when it hindered them , to the role of science classrooms in fighting climate change , its forward-focused approach also presents great insights on incorporating technology and innovation into the classroom.

If you’re passionate about pushing the boundaries of traditional education and exploring new ways to engage students, MindShift is the blog for you.

Best educational blog # 7: ‘TeachThought’ (micro lessons)

Rounding out our list is TeachThought , a blog pushes educators to think outside the box . This blog alternates between practical strategies to try out in the classroom and educational theories and taxonomies .

Whether you’re interested in project-based learning, inquiry-based teaching , or simply want to bring more creativity into your classroom, TeachThought provides thought-provoking content that’ll get your gears turning. Plus, their focus on lifelong learning makes it a perfect resource for teachers who are also passionate about their own development.

TeachThought is especially valuable for teachers looking to inspire more critical thinking and problem-solving in their students, preparing them for the challenges of the future.

Final thoughts: your new educational resource toolkit

Teaching isn’t just about juggling all the plates.

It’s also about constantly learning new tricks to keep those plates spinning. And what better way to do that than by soaking up the wisdom from these top educational blogs?

From the Brainscape Teachers Academy to TeachThought, these blogs are more than just websites—they’re communities of passionate educators who are all working toward the same goal: helping students succeed . And, together, they’ll help you become the tech guru of your school, tame the wild world of classroom management, and find a way to have a life outside of work (yes, it’s possible).

So bookmark your favorites, grab your reading beverage of choice, and dive into a smorgasbord of fresh ideas and strategies (with a side order of “you’ve got this!”)

Happy reading, and here’s to making your classroom the best it can be !

• Li, L., & Wang, X. (2020). Technostress inhibitors and creators and their impacts on university teachers’ work performance in Higher Education. Cognition, Technology & Work , 23 (2), 315–330. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10111-020-00625-0
• Madigan, D. J., & Kim, L. E. (2021). Does teacher Burnout affect students? A systematic review of its association with academic achievement and student-reported outcomes. International Journal of Educational Research , 105 , 101714. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijer.2020.101714 

Flashcards for serious learners .

Classroom Q&A

With larry ferlazzo.

In this EdWeek blog, an experiment in knowledge-gathering, Ferlazzo will address readers’ questions on classroom management, ELL instruction, lesson planning, and other issues facing teachers. Send your questions to [email protected]. Read more from this blog.

Research Studies That Teachers Can Get Behind

• Share article

Today’s post is the latest in a series on research findings that could be useful to teachers.

Reading Motivation

Julia B. Lindsey is a foundational literacy expert and the author of the Scholastic title, Reading Above the Fray: Reliable, Research-based Routines for Developing Decoding Skills :

Lately, I’ve noticed that many conversations about children’s foundational reading skills are disconnected from conversations about children’s motivation to read. When foundational skills and reading are mentioned together, there seem to be two very different positions: Either, there’s a concern that motivation will get in the way of teaching skills, or a concern that focusing on skills will harm children’s motivation.

The simple fact is that these shouldn’t be either-or conversations, and many of us worry about both foundational skills and long-term reading motivation. So, what should educators focus on the most in the early years? Just like many areas of reading instruction, we can look to the research to understand more about the relationship between foundational skills and reading motivation.

A recent meta-analysis of motivation and reading achievement found that, on average across over 132 studies, early reading was a stronger predictor of later motivation than early motivation was of later reading (Toste et al., 2020). In other words, children’s skill in reading is likely to help drive their motivation over time, but their motivation may not drive their growth in skill to the same level over time. Highly motivated young readers need knowledge and skills, not only motivation, to drive their continued growth in reading.

This idea has recently been confirmed and extended. Just last year, researchers published a study investigating the literacy skills over time of several thousand twins (van Bergen et al., 2022). Among other findings, researchers found that early literacy skills impacted later literacy enjoyment, but early enjoyment did not impact skill. Strong, early skills are likely to lead to motivation and enjoyment over time. But, motivation without support to develop children’s skills is unlikely to lead to long-term skill or enjoyment.

How can we navigate conversations about foundational skills and reading motivation? We can acknowledge these critical research findings that tell us supporting young readers in acquiring excellent skills is likely a powerful way to support their long-term motivation. Though we can certainly continue to address children’s motivation in other research-based ways throughout their reading lives, it is critical to know: Skills are not a motivation killer; they are a motivation driver!

Teaching ELLs

Irina McGrath, Ph.D., is an assistant principal at Newcomer Academy in the Jefferson County district in Kentucky and the president of KYTESOL. She is also an adjunct professor at the University of Louisville, Indiana University Southeast, and Bellarmine University. She is a co-creator of the ELL2.0 site that offers free resources for teachers of English learners:

The topic of retaining new learning in a second language deserves greater attention than it has received so far. Retention refers to one’s ability to remember learning over time and recall it when necessary, which can be difficult. Humans tend to forget information easily.

German psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus discovered in the 1880s that information is quickly forgotten without any reinforcement or connections to prior knowledge. In just one hour, people can forget about 56 percent of the information, approximately 66 percent after one day, and as much as 75 percent after six days. Various factors influence these percentages, including one’s prior knowledge of the topic, the difficulty of the material, the initial degree of learning, and the learning strategies used.

The learning process in a second language can be a challenging task, as students not only have to comprehend new concepts and ideas but also do so in a non-native language, which adds an additional layer of difficulty to retaining information.

Fortunately, researchers are making progress in identifying ways to support English learners in retaining and recalling information in their second or third language. An increasing number of studies are now focusing on specific strategies to enhance retention among ELs. One such effective strategy is the use of mnemonic devices, which have been found to improve ELs’ vocabulary retention by an average of 9 percent (Hill, 2022).

A 2021 study by Karatas, Özemir, and Ullman demonstrated that when students studied vocabulary words in their second language and utilized memory-enhancement techniques like spacing and retrieval practice, they experienced significant improvements in both learning and retention of the new vocabulary words.

Spacing allows learners to study across multiple sessions instead of cramming information into a single session, facilitating continuous built-in review and reducing the risk of learning burnout. On the other hand, retrieval practice involves active recall of information rather than passive engagement, such as quietly reviewing or rereading learned materials.

Recognizing the power of research-based strategies that promote retention of new learning in English learners is key to ensuring that valuable instructional time is not wasted and information does not fade away into the depths of forgetfulness.

Supporting Student Home Languages

Stephanie Dewing, Ph.D., is an associate professor of clinical education and the chair of the bilingual authorization program at the University of Southern California’s Rossier School of Education. A former classroom teacher in Ecuador and the United States, Stephanie specializes in language and literacy development and dual-language instruction, with an emphasis on newcomers :

Did you know that multilingualism can delay the onset of Alzheimers and dementia by up to five years?! This is just one of the many benefits associated with having a bilingual or multilingual brain . As a language teacher, I often get asked by other educators and multilingual families if it is best to use English only at home and in school so students do not get “confused” between the different languages. Thanks to decades of research, we more confidently know the answer to this question: no. It’s best to maintain the home language(s)! The brain is an amazing organ that, over time, will figure out which language is most appropriate to use with which person and in which context. ¿Increíble, no?

Several studies have found that the development of the first language, or L1, is beneficial to the development of English and other subsequent languages. For example, Umanksky and Reardon (2014) did a longitudinal study over 12 years that looked at the reclassification patterns of Latino English learners. Reclassification is when students who are identified as English learners demonstrate proficiency in English based on state exams and other bodies of evidence. What they found was that those who were enrolled in dual-language programs tended to reclassify a bit slower at the elementary level, but by the end of high school, they had a higher likelihood of becoming proficient in English and reclassifying (Umansky & Reardon, 2014).

The benefits of focusing on L1 acquisition in the early grades was undeniable. Riches and Genesee (2006) also argued for the importance of early literacy experiences and found through their research that those who develop literacy in their first language(s) develop skills that transfer to literacy development in English (or other additional languages). In fact, English learners who had developed literacy in their L1 were found to progress more quickly and successfully in English literacy development than those who had no prior L1 literacy.

One study even found that L1 reading abilities was the best predictor of L2, or second language, reading achievement in later grades (Riches & Genesee, 2006). Having bilingual or multilingual repertoires from which to draw is an asset, which means that whenever the opportunity presents itself, we should encourage families to maintain their home languages and engage in literacy-based activities in those languages.

Knowing which resources are available, such as print resources in different languages at local libraries, multilingual apps or websites, audiobooks in other languages, etc., can empower educators and families to reach this goal.

Finally, it is important to note the role that time plays in these studies. Language development takes time, and our patience and support is essential. When we give this incredible process the time, attention, and recognition it deserves (and start early!), we are not only setting our multilingual learners up for greater success, but we are helping to shape a more global, multilingual world, which is something to celebrate!

Thanks to Julia, Irina, and Stephanie for contributing their thoughts!

Today’s post answered this question:

What are one to three research findings that you think teachers should know about but that you also think that many of them do not?

Part One in this series featured responses from Ron Berger, Wendi Pillars, and Marina Rodriguez.

In Part Two , Erica Silva, Min Oh, and Marilyn Chu contributed their answers.

Consider contributing a question to be answered in a future post. You can send one to me at [email protected] . When you send it in, let me know if I can use your real name if it’s selected or if you’d prefer remaining anonymous and have a pseudonym in mind.

You can also contact me on Twitter at @Larryferlazzo .

Just a reminder; you can subscribe and receive updates from this blog via email . And if you missed any of the highlights from the first 12 years of this blog, you can see a categorized list here .

The opinions expressed in Classroom Q&A With Larry Ferlazzo are strictly those of the author(s) and do not reflect the opinions or endorsement of Editorial Projects in Education, or any of its publications.

Sign Up for EdWeek Update

Edweek top school jobs.

Sign Up & Sign In

More From Forbes

To fix u.s. education, free our teachers.

• Share to Facebook
• Share to Twitter
• Share to Linkedin

Teachers are the least empowered, most disrespected, stressed and burned-out of all professions in ... [+] the U.S.

If your goal was to create a miserable work environment where employees are stressed, burned out, disrespected and given no say in their job just look to U.S. schools for inspiration. They are our ‘best practice of miserable workplaces.’ And if you were looking for one major fix to education in America, you’d do everything in your power to ensure teachers are empowered.

Teacher engagement and empowerment may be the single most important national objective for improving education. Yet years of failed education policy combined with maligned attitudes about teaching have rendered teachers as among the least empowered and most disrespected professions in the country. This is a tragedy of unimaginable proportions. After all, teachers are the gateways to every profession because they are the ones we have tasked with teaching and motivating every young person in the country.

U.S. teachers are dead last among all occupational groups and professions in feeling their opinions count at work , that their supervisor creates an open and trusting environment and that they are treated with respect each day. Teachers are also the highest of all professions in experiencing burn-out and stress . And it’s no wonder why half of all teachers are currently looking for a new job and missing 2.3 million days of work each year. These are sickening data and indeed suggest that the school workplace is making teachers sick.

Student engagement rises and falls with teacher engagement. And given the state of education for teachers, it should not be a surprise to see waning student engagement with education. In fact, we are losing student enrollments and attendance at alarming, unprecedented rates – all signs of a growing discontent with American education. If we don’t fix things fast, we risk losing a generation of talent and America’s position as the world’s super power. The stakes are massive.

We need to free our teachers to do what they do best – to teach and inspire. Well-intentioned yet failed education policies that have overemphasized standardized testing and driven national and state-level ‘standardized’ curriculum have led to teacher disempowerment. These efforts have left us with an excessive number of school days being devoted to test taking and preparation while also wresting control over classroom time and creativity in lesson planning from teachers. We have effectively rendered teachers increasingly powerless at the same time we expect them to do more than ever.

Harris Says She Will ‘Go After’ Companies Engaged In ‘Price Gouging,’ In First Solo Interview As Democratic Nominee

Today’s nyt mini crossword clues and answers for thursday, september 26, madden 25 patch notes: multiple gameplay and presentation updates.

Teachers need more autonomy, not less. This, in turn, creates more autonomy for students. In the time it takes to create and implement new state or federal curriculum standards (hint: years), they are already ‘outdated.’ We have created an education bureaucracy second-to-none – trapped in a quagmire of federal and state agencies and school boards. There is no immediate or even medium-term fix to this quagmire. Unless we just get out of the way of teachers.

The choice, fundamentally, is between giving teachers more autonomy at the risk some may not be ‘up to standards’ versus putting more guardrails around teachers at the risk of losing creativity and engagement. No federal standards or state-level curriculum will ever keep up with the pace of change that’s taking place. Fast movers in the private sector can’t even keep up with the constant need for upskilling and reskilling of employees in their workplaces. Freeing teachers up at the classroom level is our most promising path to ensuring the relevance of education.

We can either put our faith in the bureaucracy of the education system or in the hands of our teachers. Our choice, America.

• Editorial Standards
• Reprints & Permissions

Join The Conversation

One Community. Many Voices. Create a free account to share your thoughts. 

Forbes Community Guidelines

Our community is about connecting people through open and thoughtful conversations. We want our readers to share their views and exchange ideas and facts in a safe space.

In order to do so, please follow the posting rules in our site's  Terms of Service.   We've summarized some of those key rules below. Simply put, keep it civil.

Your post will be rejected if we notice that it seems to contain:

• False or intentionally out-of-context or misleading information
• Insults, profanity, incoherent, obscene or inflammatory language or threats of any kind
• Attacks on the identity of other commenters or the article's author
• Content that otherwise violates our site's  terms.

User accounts will be blocked if we notice or believe that users are engaged in:

• Continuous attempts to re-post comments that have been previously moderated/rejected
• Racist, sexist, homophobic or other discriminatory comments
• Attempts or tactics that put the site security at risk
• Actions that otherwise violate our site's  terms.

So, how can you be a power user?

• Stay on topic and share your insights
• Feel free to be clear and thoughtful to get your point across
• ‘Like’ or ‘Dislike’ to show your point of view.
• Protect your community.
• Use the report tool to alert us when someone breaks the rules.

Thanks for reading our community guidelines. Please read the full list of posting rules found in our site's  Terms of Service.

America's Education News Source

Copyright 2024 The 74 Media, Inc

• EDlection 2024
• Future of High School
• Artificial Intelligence
• science of reading

Crowdfunding Sites Serve As Critical Lifeline for Teachers

Rising prices and tighter budgets have made fundraising on sites like gofundme and adoptaclassroom.org an even more critical lifeline for teachers..

Sharpen Up!

Sign up for our free newsletter and start your day with in-depth reporting on the latest topics in education.

74 Million Reasons to Give

Support The 74’s year-end campaign with a tax-exempt donation and invest in our future.

Most Popular

What happens when a 48k-student district commits to the ‘science of learning’, exclusive: study finds covid harmed cognitive skills of students — and teachers, texas jews say state’s new bible-influenced curriculum is ‘wildly problematic’, “they’re going to get a lot of backlash” – families, teachers react to la unified’s looming cell phone ban, moms for liberty has lost ground at the polls, but it still wields influence.

Get stories like these delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for The 74 Newsletter

Crowdfunding has long helped teachers afford the school supplies they need for their classrooms. But as prices rise and budgets get further constrained, these fundraising efforts have become an even more critical lifeline.

According to a survey of more than 3,000 teachers conducted by AdoptAClassroom.org, a nonprofit crowdfunding platform, teachers received a median classroom school supply budget of $200 last school year – an amount that 93% of the respondents said was not enough to cover their in-class needs.

Many teachers choose to subsidize the remainder of the costs, but it comes at a steep price. Out-of-pocket spending among teachers has increased by 44% since 2015, the survey found, with teachers reporting that they spent an average of $860 of their own money on supplies and other expenses during the 2022-2023 school year.

“Teachers spend their classroom supply budget fast,” Melissa Hruza, Vice President, Marketing & Development at AdoptAClassroom.org, told The 74. “Even though they are willing to provide basic items like food and supplies for their students, their ability to pay for it is decreasing.”

One big reason: teacher pay has failed to keep up with the sky high rate of inflation in recent years. Adjusted for inflation, teachers are making $3,644 less than they did a decade ago, according to the National Education Association.

Communities and parents appear to be recognizing the challenges teachers face. AdoptAClassroom.org said its site has received more donations to teachers for the 2024-2025 back-to-school season than last year.

“Comparing July and August 2024 to the same period in 2023, the number of contributions to educators on AdoptAClassroom.org is currently up 13% from 2023 to 2024 so far this year,” Hruza said. “There’s also been a 9% increase in the number of both new fundraisers and total number of teachers with active campaigns.”

GoFundMe has seen a similar bump. So far this year, more than $12 million has been raised for K-12 education on the crowdfunding platform. In 2023, total funds raised for educators reached over $24 million — a 7% increase from the previous year.

“[P]eople don’t always see the hidden costs that end up on teachers’ hands, like providing additional resources for students who can’t afford small items like pencils,” Shawn An, a first-year earth and environmental science teacher at Julius L. Chambers High School in Charlotte, North Carolina, told The 74.

To ensure he and his students were fully prepared for this school year, An launched a GoFundMe campaign called A Classroom for Future Scientists, with a goal to raise $1,000. He ended up receiving $1,045 in donations.

“What this funding created is the opportunity for me to bring the basic necessities into the classroom I need to succeed, like organizers and writing utensils to grade with,” An said. “It’s helped me create a space where I can be efficient and to find resources for students to engage in the work we’re asking them to do.”

Lightening the load

To help teachers afford the supplies they need, GoFundMe launched its own fundraising initiative called the Education Opportunity Fund. Since the fund’s launch in 2020, GoFundMe has raised more than $240,000 and has distributed more than 550 grants to teachers in order to help them afford classroom supplies and other educational resources, Leigh Lehman, GoFundMe director of communications, told The 74.

“The grants were an additional step to offer help to educators and lighten their load a bit, and there are still grants available for teachers who are in need,” Lehman said.

Grants of up to $500 can be put toward common classroom items like school supplies, books and class decorations. Funds can also be used for other educational resources or items like field trips, playground equipment, updated technology and extracurricular activities.

Similar to GoFundMe’s grant initiative, AdoptAClassroom.org provides funding through their Spotlight Fund Grants program. This program targets classroom initiatives that address things like social-emotional wellness, Indigenous language, arts, STEM education and racial equity. Eligible teachers can apply for grants of $750 or more on AdoptAClassroom.org.

“People all around the country want to find ways to help more teachers,” GoFundMe’s Lehman said. “They understand there is a gap in funding and that teachers are incredibly stressed.”

Keeping kids engaged

Hana Syed Khan, a fourth grade teacher in New Jersey’s South River Public Schools district, started her own GoFundMe campaign, A Classroom Built on Kindness, in August to support her efforts to make her classroom “as useful, accessible and hands-on as possible.”

Entering her fifth year of teaching at a new school in a new district, Syed Khan knew she had to be more creative with the amount of classroom space she has, materials needed and the resources available.

Her campaign raised $1,920 in funds, which she used to purchase a spin-the-wheel device, a carpet for reading time, books for the classroom library and the classroom staple Better Than Paper.

“The [kids] want to touch everything, and they should be able to. It’s their room,” Syed Khan told The 74.

Through sharing via family group chats, her husband’s LinkedIn account, word-of-mouth and other social media platforms, like Instagram and TikTok , Syed Khan said she “feels fortunate to have set up the fundraiser and leverage community support for her classroom.”

She plans to keep her fundraiser open to donations so she can continue to afford classroom activities and incentives with hopes to keep students engaged through the year.

“Students in this district suffer from chronic absenteeism, which may stem from lack of transportation, parents’ schedule or a lack of motivation for themselves,” Syed Khan said. “Classroom incentives, like parties at the end of the month, are a really big part of what I want to use the funds for next.”

Drawing from his own school experience, An said he understands that many of his students face challenges outside of the classroom. Bringing smaller tools and supplies like writing utensils and paper to class is not the first thing on their mind.

“That can be a real barrier for students to access what teachers are asking them to do,” An said. “Using the donations to directly address those barriers helps students stay engaged to do their best in the classroom.”

He used a portion of the donations he has raised to purchase a rolling cart that allows for easy access to classroom supplies.

An and Syed Khan hope their efforts inspire other teachers to overcome the fear of asking for help. For Syed Khan, it was difficult to find the right words for the campaign and the video she included to go along with it. She wanted to ensure her classroom needs were as clear as possible to potential donors.

“Trying to figure out what to say to grab people’s attention was the most challenging part,” Syed Khan said.

“It definitely wasn’t easy,” she said. “But when people see someone speaking and explaining what the funds will be used for, it can attract many people because they see a real human.”

An experienced similar doubts about asking for help. He credits his family for providing feedback on his campaign narrative and helping him to frame his message.

“My family and I went through a co-writing process to get the point across that this was me, just as a person, asking a personal favor of people who were available,” An said.

GoFundMe currently hosts webinars for educators and education-related organizations to help them learn how to effectively fundraise. They’ve also updated their resource page with tips for teachers to share their campaign and keep communities engaged.

“Seeing more teachers turn to external sources of funding to help support their students’ needs is definitely eye-opening,” An said. “It highlights the fact that not as much care is funneled into education as I think it should be.”

Trinity Alicia is a digital producer at The 74.

• AdoptAClassroom.org
• back to school
• budget cuts
• Charlotte-Mecklenburg
• Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools
• crowdfunding
• education funding
• Education Opportunity Fund
• fundraising
• North Carolina
• rising prices
• school funding
• school money
• School Supplies
• social media
• South River
• STEM education
• student funding
• teacher pay
• teacher salary
• The Big Picture

We want our stories to be shared as widely as possible — for free.

Please view The 74's republishing terms.

By Trinity Alicia

This story first appeared at The 74 , a nonprofit news site covering education. Sign up for free newsletters from The 74 to get more like this in your inbox.

On The 74 Today

• Grades 6-12
• School Leaders

Get our mega Halloween worksheets bundle! 👻

Free Printable Electoral College Worksheet Bundle

Follow along to teach about every aspect of the Electoral College.

The Electoral College is always an interesting topic to discuss in your social studies classroom. And during an election year, the Electoral College process is not only interesting, it’s essential! The process through which Americans vote for president and vice president has been used for centuries, but it is often misunderstood by students (as well as adults). Check out our Electoral College worksheet bundle to help you clarify the Electoral College system for your students, while encouraging them to think critically about this voting system developed by our Founding Fathers.

Electoral College Worksheet Bundle

Background Reading

Use this reading to provide your students with a strong foundation of the what, how, and why of the Electoral College process. 

Mapping the Electoral College

After learning about how the Electoral College works, share this activity with your students to provide them with real-world examples of the system in action.

Electoral vs. Popular Vote

While the electoral and popular votes almost always lean the same way, we have two examples in American history where the numbers didn’t match up. Use this resource with your students to discuss why the electoral votes and popular votes are sometimes in conflict.

The Future of the Electoral College

Whether or not we should continue to use the Electoral College is always a great debate. Use this resource to encourage students to use their new knowledge of the Electoral College to either support or oppose its continued use.

Get your free printable Electoral College Worksheet Bundle!

Fill out the form on this page to snag the worksheet bundle for free.

Be sure to  subscribe to our newsletters  for more articles like this!

Copyright © 2024. All rights reserved. 5335 Gate Parkway, Jacksonville, FL 32256