The end of the year is a time of lists…shopping lists, of course, but also top 10 lists: top 10 movies, top 10 books and so on. To celebrate the first year of the Wallace blog, we’re counting down a list of our own: These are the posts you’ve visited the most since the launch of the blog in March 2018, and we think they give a nice taste of our work this year.
Happy New Year to all and to all a good read.
10) “Summer Books, Research and Beloved Pigs of Children’s Literature” A chat with Harvard’s James Kim about READS for Summer Learning, a school-run, home-based program Kim developed over the course of 10-plus years of research and experimentation.
9) “Talking to Parents about Social and Emotional Learning” Bibb Hubbard, founder of the nonprofit Learning Heroes, talks to Wallace about a report aimed at helping schools and organizations communicate with parents about social and emotional learning.
8) “High-Quality ‘Arts Integration’ Programs Can Benefit Learning in Core Subjects” A brief look at a study by the American Institutes for Research, which shows that high-quality programs that incorporate music, theater or other arts into core subjects such as English and math can make a difference in learning.
7) “Students’ Mental and Emotional Health Top Concerns for Elementary Principals” Run-down of a survey of elementary and middle school principals, which finds that their priorities have shifted dramatically over the past 10 years, with students’ mental and emotional issues now leading their list of concerns.
6) “Research and Self-Reflection Help Strengthen Community Ties” A guest post from social psychologist and statistician Bob Harlow about efforts by the Fleisher Art Memorial to connect with newly arrived immigrants in its South Philadelphia community.
5) “Showing Young People They Belong at the Ballet” Harlow discusses the Pacific Northwest Ballet’s work to attract 20-to-40-year-olds.
4) “How Principals Can Improve Student Success”: A look back at How Leadership Influences Student Learning, a landmark Wallace report from 2004 that helped bring to light the importance of an overlooked factor in education—the role of the school principal.
3) “Want Stronger Communities? Create a Bridge to the Arts”: Our communications director, Lucas Held, reflects on a Knight Foundation report, which finds that art and culture help people develop a sense of attachment to their community.
2) “The Elements of Social and Emotional Learning”: An excerpt from an interview with Harvard researcher Stephanie Jones, in which she relates her own personal experience with social and emotional learning and explains why educators should care about it.
1) “Your Top Picks and Ours”: OK, so we posted this one before the official launch of the blog in March. It’s a round-up of Wallace’s most-downloaded publications of 2017. It just goes to show, everybody loves a good list!
