Research Wednesday

Challenging Misunderstandings About Student Assessment

A properly done assessment can be a powerful tool to improve student learning and help teachers refine lessons and feedback to students. The key challenge for teachers and school leaders is addressing some of the most common misconceptions about assessment and creating better understanding of the proper use of assessment to improve performance. Let’s dive into some of the misconceptions and how we can turn those around.

The Enduring Value of Changing One’s Mind

In Research Wednesdays, I have always quoted others rather than myself. I hope that readers will allow me an exception in this case.

Differentiation, Depth of Knowledge, and Artificial Intelligence: Integrating Frameworks for Rigorous and Responsive Instruction
Guest Contributor – Peter Noonan

Effective differentiation remains one of the most powerful yet challenging practices in contemporary classrooms. Grounded in the principle that instruction should be adapted to students’ readiness, interests, and learning profiles, differentiation ensures that all learners engage meaningfully in the pursuit of shared academic goals (Tomlinson, 2014). The integration of Webb’s Depth of Knowledge (DOK) framework with adaptive technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) offers a promising approach to achieving this goal by balancing cognitive complexity with accessibility. 

This interesting article in New Approaches in Educational Research, published in August 2025, describes new ways to predict student academic performance using AI. The goal of the research is to help avoid student dropouts.  

Agency: The New Literacy
Guest Research Wednesday by Jessyca Lucero-Flores

When we talk about preparing students for the future, we often focus on what they should know. But the most powerful shift in education today isn’t just about knowledge, it’s about agency: the ability to act with purpose, reflection, and confidence in a changing world.

The Missing Variable in the Childhood Attention Crisis: Parents

In this challenging article from the University of Virginia, Professor Dan Willingham requires us to reconsider the vilification of electronic devices as the source of the decline in attention and focus among today’s students.

Reconsidering the Causes for the Decline in NAEP Scores

NAEP scores have fallen in two consecutive administrations of “The Nation’s Report Card,” as NAEP is sometimes called. There are many speculations about the reason for the decline in NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress).

Reconsidering Trauma

I have written in the past about my concern that when I heard that “everybody is traumatized,” a generalization that risks trivializing the genuine need for trauma care.

Now is the Time for Courage

In this thoughtful article by Harvard Business School Professor Ranjay Gulati, now is the time for leaders at every level, from the classroom to the boardroom, to demonstrate courage in the face of adversity. This is from the September/October 2025 issue of Harvard Business Review.

What is Rigor?

In this thoughtful article (August 25, 2025) by Doug Fisher and Nancy Frey, “Rigor is misunderstood,” the authors say. 

The Power of Super-Facilitators for PLC Teams 

Guest Research Wednesday article by Allyson Apsey 

In the September–October 2025 edition of Harvard Business Review, author and Harvard professor Jamil Zaki makes a compelling case for developing “Super-Facilitators” to drive team growth and performance.