5 Ways to Help Students Focus on Learning Rather Than Grades

When teachers give retakes and shift the way they talk about grades, students concentrate on the skills they’re gaining—not their scores.

Especially now, after a difficult year, strategies rooted in the science of learning can help middle and high school students more effectively retain what they’re learning.

When PBL is personal to students, it can provide more than just content knowledge—it can also foster important connections.

High school students can apply lessons from science, technology, engineering, and math classes to a local issue they’re interested in.

With some simple supports, students in grades 3 to 8 can take the wheel and assume some responsibility for their learning journey.

Built-in tools can help students stay focused on their assignments and free teachers up to focus on individualized feedback.

Virtual gatherings for professional learning are convenient and likely to continue, but they should be designed differently than in-person gatherings.

Open-ended questions guide students to participate and to think mathematically, which cements their learning.

Modeling how to disagree on political issues of interest to middle and high school students boosts their critical thinking and literacy skills.

These students may appear to be bilingual but still have gaps in comprehension, and there are ways to keep them moving forward.