From the Editorial Board

As I began my dissertation research, I returned to teaching as a high school social studies teacher in the Arkansas Delta. Apart from the reality of teaching in the Delta – high unemployment and poverty – my teaching situation is nearly perfect. I have small classes, supplies, administrative support, and motivated students. I control my curriculum. I have taken students on a college visit day, led a field trip to a research library, and read Howard Zinn with them. Yet the transition from student and researcher back to teacher has not been easy. I certainly have new knowledge that I have gained through graduate school and from reading journals like this one. But there is still a disconnection between what I have learned and how I put it into action in my own classroom. I wonder now if the reason that teachers do not read research, as they are so often implored to do, is because it is hard to translate it to classrooms.

In this issue, Jennifer Job points out in her historical survey of the High School Journal that this journal has in the past been geared for high school teachers, professors, and administrators. I would like to think our intent has always been about the communication between practitioners and researchers even if it has not been as explicitly stated as it was then. The current editorial board is working towards increasing the depth and breadth of the articles we get, while also trying to increase the communication between practitioners and researchers. I think that we have found a nice balance in this issue.

As we move forward, we hope to continue to think about high schools particularly through new sections that highlight student art and essays about teaching and learning. We have also begun to turn to social media to help us accomplish increased communication between practitioners and researchers. We hope that you will take time to join our conversation in ‘real time’ via Facebook and Twitter (hsjournal). We are also excited to rollout Scholar One to streamline the process of receiving, reviewing, and accepting articles.

Though I am several hundred miles away from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where I attended graduate school and where this journal is published, technology such as this (and Skype!) helps me to remain connected and to keep abreast of new ideas in high school teaching. Returning to teaching gives me a new perspective on what we do at the High School Journal; I hope that as we move forward we can meet the needs of both practitioners and researchers so that there is a greater dialogue between the two.