Being adequately informed is a democratic duty, just as the vote is a democratic right. A misinformed electorate, voting without knowledge, is not a true democracy. -- Jay Griffiths

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I recommend the following articles for discussion with parents and colleagues.

Child Development and Parenting

• Adrian Peterson Didn't Just "Go Too Far" — Research Shows It's Never Okay to Hit a Child
• Hard Knocks: I Was Hit by a Teacher in an East Texas Public School. It Taught Me Nothing.
• Playing with Children: Should You, and If So, How?
• Children Need Free Play, but Are ‘Unschoolers’ Giving Them Too Much?
• Parental Disappointment on Display
• Trophy Children
• How Finland Keeps Kids Focused Through Free Play
• 12 Conversation Starters on What Parents Want You (Teachers) to Know
• Don't Send Your Kid to the Ivy League
• Sending Mixed Message: Do Parents Value Kids’ Achievement Over Empathy?
• How Exercise Can Boost the Brain
• School Should Be More Like Camp
• Teacher Visits Hit Home
• The Danger of Back to School
• Why So Many Kids Can't Sit Still in School Today
• Study Finds Reading to Children of All Ages Grooms Them to Read More on Their Own
• Study: Nagging Parents to Help Their Kids Learn to Read Works
• Pediatrics Group to Recommend Reading Aloud to Children from Birth
• Talk Talk Talk to Your Kids
• Parent-Teacher Interviews Without a Gradebook
• Study Finds Reading to Children of All Ages Grooms Them to Read More on Their Own
• Families May Differ, But They Share Common Values on Parenting
• A Conversation with Meredith Rowe About How to Lay the Groundwork for Your Child's Vocabulary Growth
• Is Kindergarten the New First Grade?
• The Problem with Cute Kids
• Let ‘Em Out! The Many Benefits of Outdoor Play in Kindergarten
• Recess for High School Students
• Opt-Out Parents Have a Point
• Attention Parents: Your Neighborhood Matters More Than You Do
• Early Academic Training Produces Long-Term Harm
• A Brief History of the Bizarre and Sadistic Presidential Fitness Test
• Push, Don’t Crush, the Students
• Can a 5-Year-Old's Parents Know He's Transgender? Yes.
• Rebellious Kids Grow Up to Out-Earn Rule-Followers
• What If Everything You Knew About Disciplining Kids Was Wrong?
• ‘How to Raise an Adult,’ by Julie Lythcott-Haims
• How to Be a Better Parent
• Things We Say to Kids That Sound Positive but Can Be Detrimental
• Kids of Helicopter Parents Are Sputtering Out
• Most Parenting Advice Is Worthless. So Here's Some Parenting Advice.
• Parents Sure Are Keen on Their Kids Becoming Pro Athletes

Children's Rights and Equity Issues

• Watch Obama Break Down Gender Stereotypes
• A Summer Job Isn't What It Used to Be
• This Is Why Men Need Feminism
• US Attorneys Office Reveals Civil Rights Investigation at Rikers Island
• Lands' End Announces Science-Themed Tees For Girls After Mom's Letter Goes Viral
• Powerful Ad Shows What A Little Girl Hears When You Tell Her She's Pretty
• Students in Maryland Test Civic Participation and Win the Right to Vote
• Victory! A.C.L.U. Wins 11-Year-Old's Right to Protest Without Paying for Police detail
• Scotland Let 16-Year-Olds Vote. The U.S. Should Try It too.
• Controversial Colorado History Plan Still Alive
• Discussion Between Mark Oppenheimer and Dan Greenberg
• Helping the Poor in Education: The Power of a Simple Nudge
• Students in Maryland Test Civic Participation and Win Right to Vote
• Black Girls Are Suspended from School 6 Times More Often Than White Girls
• Experts Worry Suspensions Create School-to-Prison Pipeline
• Why Are Toys So Gendered?
• Toys Are More Divided by Gender Now Than They Were 50 Years Ago
• Who Runs the World? Finnish Girls
• Voting at 16 in S.F.? Supervisor Says the Time Has Come
• The Civics Teacher Who Turned His Arrest into a Classroom Lesson
• I Never Noticed How Racist So Many Children’s Books Are Until I Started Reading to My Kids
• LEGO Adds More Women in Science to Its Lineup
• 8% of California Households Dependent on Smartphones
• Target to Remove Gender-Based Signs
• Picture Books Where the Girls Kick Butt
• On Seeing Children as "Cute"
• Parable of the Polygons
• Why Trust Is a Crucial Ingredient in Shaping Independent Learners​

Classroom and School Design

• On the Clock
• This School Has Bikes Instead of Desks — and It Turns Out That's a Better Way to Learn
• Standing Desks Are Coming to Schools, to Cure Obesity and Increase Attention Spans
• Improv Activities for Design Thinking
• Creating Learning Environments
• A Former Google Exec Reinvents Elementary Education by Putting an R&D Lab in School
• This Is What a Student-Designed School Looks Like
• Elementary Schools Start Using Standing Desks for Students
• Letting Kids Move in Class Isn't a Break from Learning. It IS the Learning.
• A Group of Schools in Sweden Is Abandoning Classrooms Entirely

Deeper Learning and Project-Based Learning

• The Pygmalion Effect: Communicating High Expectations
• Helping Students Find Purpose and Appreciation for School
• Make a Difference: Show Students You Care
• Encouraging Passion: The Discovery of What Curiosity Can Do for Children’s Exploration and Knowledge
• Time and Space to Learn and Reflect
• Turn Genius Hour into Genius Year
• Helping Students See Themselves as Thinkers
• Hit the Reset Button in Your Brain
• The Character Factory
• The Secret of Effective Motivation
• How Do We Increase Empathy?
• Teaching Students How to Talk Less, and Think More
• Tony Wagner: All Students Need Digital Portfolios
• The Real Stuff of Schooling: How to Teach Students to Apply Knowledge
• Deeper Learning: Highlighting Student Work
• Reflect on Learning with a Portfolio Defense
• 'Most Likely to Succeed': Schools Should Teach Kids to Think, Not Memorize
• The Role of Advisory in Personalizing the Secondary Experience
• Student-Led Conference Faculty Handbook
• The Critical Skills Program
• West Virginia Study of PBL Impacts
• Projects That Soar​

Inspiration

• A 12-Year-Old Football Fan Asked Every NFL Team Why He Should Root for Them -- And He Got Responses
• Boy, 13, Builds Braille Printer with Legos, Starts Company
• Creative Father Colors in His Kids’ Sketches During His Work Trips
• Teacher Keeps Promise to Mail Thousands of Former Students Letters Written by Their Past Selves
• Stop Trying to Be Creative

Math Instruction

• Video Games & Making Math More Like Things Students Like
• “You Have to Create the Itch Before You Scratch It.”
• [Confab] Tiny Math Games
• Fluency Without Fear
• Why Do Americans Stink at Math?
• Building a Better Worksheet
• Should We Stop Making Kids Memorize Times Tables?
• Math Programs: How They Rate on Common-Core Alignment
• John Urschel Talks About Why More Young Kids Don't Love Math
• An Advocate of Explicit Instruction Experiences the Limits of Explicit Instruction​

Professional Development and Teaching Practice

• 8 Ways to Energize Your Next Meeting
• Why People Didn't Like Your Conference Presentation
• Connected Educator Month Starter Kit
• How to Showcase Teacher Effectiveness
• DIY Professional Development Resources
• The Daily Routines of 26 of HIstory's Most Creative Minds
• Self-Proclaimed ‘Experts’ More Likely to Fall for Made-Up Facts, Study Finds
• What If We Had Genius Hour for Teachers?
• Dipsticks: Efficient Ways to Check for Understanding
• Back to School: Preparing for Day One
• Does Group Work... Work?
• Four Ways to Spot a Great Teacher
• The Pygmalion Effect: Communicating High Expectations
• Should Teachers Be Allowed to Touch Students?
• Teaching: What Do Great College Professors Have in Common?
• Impromptu Twitter Master Class on Homework Strategies​

Reading Instruction

• One More Really Big Reason to Read Stories to Children
• Why Kids Should Choose Their Own Books to Read in School
• Report: Requiring Kindergartners to Read — as Common Core Does — May Harm Some
• Reading in School​

Social Studies Instruction

• 50 Ways to Teach Current Events
• 9/11 Anniversary 2015 Education Conundrum: How Should Teachers Discuss Terrorist Attacks in Schools?​

Teaching Profession

• Why Journalists Hate to Write About Education
• Teacher Certifications Decline as New York State Uses Tougher Exams
• Rick Bobrick: Why Not Legal Protection for Teachers Who Are Conscientious Objectors?
• Jack Schneider: Education is HARDER Than Rocket Science
• U.S. Public Schools Are Better Than They've Ever Been
• Will Millennials Stay? Examining Teacher Retention from a Generational Perspective
• Teacher Wars and Teaching Machines
• Go with the Flow
• Teach for America Has Faced Criticism for Years. Now It’s Listening — and Changing.
• Teaching Is Not a Business
• My First Year Teaching in Finland
• South Korea's Education System Hurts Students
• Should Teachers Have Tenure? Should Anybody?
• To Close the Achievement Gap, We Need to Close the Teaching Gap
• Why Teachers Have a Tougher Job Than Doctors
• A Guide to No Child Left Behind as Congress Tries to Rewrite the Law
• Why So Many Teachers Feel So Bad So Much of the Time
• What Americans Keep Ignoring About Finland's School Success
• Liberal's Don't Homeschool Your Kids
• Why Homeschooling Is a Boon to a Liberal Society
• Why Teaching Is More Like Basketball Than Baseball -- and Why Does It Matter?
• Teacher stress is killing my profession
• Teach for Finland? Why It Won’t Happen.
• The Mismeasure of Teaching Time
• How to Get People to Pitch In
• How Students with Top Test Scores Actually Hurt a Teacher's Evaluation
• Ebola Doctor Kent Brantly Tells Grads Why He Didn't Feel Like a Failure When He Lost Patients
• Elon Musk’s Ex-Wife on What It Takes to Be a Mogul
• What Should Educators Have in Our Heads?
• Is Silicon Valley Driving Teachers Out?
• ​Teachers as Designers​

Technology in Schools

• Machine Learning and Teaching
• Grooming Students for a Lifetime of Surveillance
• L.A. Unified Survey Finds Little Use of iPads' Curriculum
• High School Football Gets Its Own Technological Revolution
• 10 Things Every Teacher Should Be Able to Do on Google Docs
• Helping Students Develop Digital Literacy
• Smartphones Don’t Make Us Dumb
• Can Students Have Too Much Tech?
• Edutopia
• Our Schools All Have a Tragic Flaw; Silicon Valley Thinks It Has the Answer​

Writing Instruction

• Why an English Teacher Introduced Her Class to the World
• The Writing Revolution
• Cursive Handwriting Is Useless, but Politicians Want Students to Learn It Anyway
• High School Teachers Guide Students Into Self-Publishing