The power of the bright side

As we worked on this issue over the summer, it seemed like every day brought a new headline about how terrible things are in U.S. schools. Test scores are down, parents are angry, youth mental health is at a crisis point, teachers are quitting. The idea of publishing an issue about good news in schools seemed preposterous, possibly even irresponsible. Are we turning a blind eye to real problems? Perhaps that’s what some of you are thinking as you pick up this issue.

This issue won’t provide a grand counternarrative to those daunting headlines. We’re not here to tell you that the problems aren’t real. There are no big findings in this issue indicating that scores are rising, parents have stopped protesting, the kids are all right, and schools are fully staffed.

The PDK Poll provides some encouragement with the findings that the public wants teachers to have more say over curricula than state legislatures and that a majority of Americans would support increasing teacher salaries, even if that means higher property taxes. But most of the good news in this issue is about individual teachers, schools, and districts tackling problems and succeeding. They aren’t making change on a grand scale, but they are changing students’ lives. And sharing their stories might inspire other teachers, administrators, and district leaders to try something new to solve a problem. Or maybe their stories will help other educators recognize the successes already happening around them.