Quick, name five male historic role models for kids thinking about STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) careers. Now name just three women from history who could serve as a STEM role model for girls. It’s easy enough to come up with names on the...

Linda Samuels has a rare psychological condition. She doesn't hear the word no. It's not that people haven't said no to her. They have. Many times. She just turns it into an opportunity to re-invent herself. As a young woman growing up in Mansfield, Ohio, she had the...

A whirlwind of facts, research data, opinions and arguments has developed around testing practices in our schools. The headlines “Nationwide Test Shows Dip in Students’ Math Abilities,” and “Study: Kids Take 100-Plus Required Tests Through 12th Grade,” add fuel to the...

Standing at the door, that’s where you are when you graduate from high school. The door is both an exit door from public school education and an entry door to higher education, whether it is private university, community college, apprenticeship, or trade school. And...

When I was a kid, summer camp was in our backyard, interspersed with field trips to the beach and an occasional movie. I don’t recall feeling deprived, but back then everything was different. Both parents didn’t have to hold down full-time jobs and the neighborhood...

”She’s a good sport.” It’s something you might say about a person who makes the best of a bad situation, a person who works well with others, or someone who believes in fair play. Not surprisingly, these qualities and other important psychosocial developments in young...

It is time to take a load off. Several years have passed since we first heard warnings about the effects of heavy, incorrectly adjusted backpacks on young spines. Studies have shown that about 90% of kids worldwide carry backpacks. A child’s rapidly developing spine...

Back to school time is here. If you're the main "mover and shaker" of the family and you have the opportunity and the time, do what you can to ease the family into the new schedule. If it has already begun, there are still steps that can be taken to make mornings run...

Summer is almost over and for a teenager it has probably gone one of three ways. For some, an apparently growing number, summer has been filled with a checklist of college resumé building experiences. Full or part-time internships; summer classes to prepare for...

After several decades of teaching science at Dana Hall School for Girls in Wellesley, MA, I have come to realize some basic truths about education in America. To be successful as an educator in a girls’ school, I had to overcome the obstacles to learning science that...