Education Week’s photo staff presents our favorite images from 2016.
A 2nd grade class at Solar Prep lines up before a nature walk around the Dallas campus. The all-girls school opened this school year as part of the district’s expanded choice program. —Brandon Thibodeaux for Education Week Read story
Second grader Zeinab Ahmed watches her classmates play a game in gym class at Discovery Community School in St. Cloud, Minn. The school serves a growing number of Somali students. —Swikar Patel/Education Week Read story
Assistant Principal Alexandra Escobar hugs 2nd grader Analise Rivera, during recess at R. H. Lee Elementary School in Chicago. Escobar is leaving the school, located in a predominantly Hispanic neighborhood on the city’s West Side, for a job in a suburban district. –Alyssa Schukar for Education Week Read story
Kindergarten students at Fallsmead Elementary School in Rockville, Md., rotate among classes in their first week of school as teachers get to know them. –Erin Irwin/Education Week Read story
Preschool students play at Best Academy in Minneapolis, Minn. –Ackerman + Gruber for Education Week Read story
Nicole Williams, Native American Interpreter at Calcedeaver Elementary School, reviews the Choctaw dances for the 5th grade girls at the school in Mount Vernon, Ala. . –Jeff and Meggan Haller/Keyhole Photo for Education Week Read story
Former teacher Judy Hopper talks to Garon Rayburn in Oklahoma City, Okla, about her candidacy as he waters his front yard. Dozens of educators elected to run for office this year after growing frustrated with the Oklahoma Legislature’s education stance. –Shane Bevel for Education Week Read story
Erick Ramos, second from right, a senior at Mission Early College High School in El Paso, has a laugh with friends at his school. The group belongs to the Smash Club, where they play Super Smash Bros. on a television they bring from home. Ramos has already earned enough credits through the school’s dual-credit program to be a junior at the University of Texas at El Paso. –Ivan Pierre for Education Week Read story
“I have never been soft,” says New York City Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña. “If anything, I know what I want, I know how I want it, but I know that sometimes you take a step backward before you go three steps forward. And how you create the climate to make those difficult decisions is very, very important.” —Victoria Will for Education Week Read story
Alicia Long, a 4th grade student at Jere Whitson Elementary School, follows along during a lesson on reading comprehension. The school, in Cookeville, Tenn., is part of a district that’s experimenting with new ways of using federal funds to teach reading and literacy. –Shawn Poynter for Education Week Read story
Kindergartner Dallas Webb tests herself in a reading lab on software designed to even out gaps in knowledge. Her school, Jere Whitson Elementary, in Cookeville, Tenn., is part of a district experimenting with new ways of using federal funds to teach reading and literacy. –Shawn Poynter for Education Week Read story
Fourth grade student Jaren Bludworth participates in a brain break during a social and emotional learning lesson at Lemmon Valley Elementary School made in Reno, Nevada. —Carl Costas for Education Week Read story
Trey Clayton, 19, sits on his porch in Sarah, Miss. A school paddling in 2011 led to serious injuries for Clayton. –Yalonda M. James for Education Week Read story
Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump arrives at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland for the second night of the 2016 Republican National Convention. –Swikar Patel/Education Week Read story
Chrissell Rhone casts a look at a student after the youth mentioned how many times he had been placed under house arrest. —Edmund D. Fountain for Education Week Read story
Zeineb Ouerghi, a high school student at Elkef Pioneer Secondary School in Tunisia, hugs Joy Stevenson, CEO of Catch Them Young, Inc., during a TechGirls service day volunteer event at the Grand Oaks Assisted Living Center. Catch Them Young, a Washington, D.C.-based organization, hosts TechGirls participants as a part of an effort to expose them to community-service activities. Inspired by the organization’s mission, Ouerghi Stevenson that she would like to start a branch of Catch Them Young in her home country of Tunisia. —Erin Irwin for Education Week Read story
A street scene reflected in a storefront window in downtown Mount Airy, N.C., also known as Mayberry in the Andy Griffith television show. Mount Airy is a cultural center in Surry County. –Justin Cook/Redux for Education Week Read story
Ayat Husseini, right, a Lebanese immigrant from New York, hangs out with Nina Milligan, a fellow freshman, in Ayat’s dorm room at Lafayette College in Easton, Pa. A year ago, Ayat was still working to persuade her parents to let her leave home to enroll at Lafayette. —Mark Abramson for Education Week Read story
Josue, 18, is a junior at Erwin High School in Asheville, N.C. An immigrant from El Salvador, Josue faces an uncertain future in the United States—an anxiety he says is heightened by the Trump campaign. —Jacob Biba for Education Week Read story
Sophomore Miguel D’Agostino looks down the hallway before the start of a learning support class at Coatesville High School in Coatesville, Pa. –Charles Mostoller for Education Week Read story
Science teacher Andrea Froburg, math teacher Jessica Cutliffe, and special educator Aimee Hall, from left to right, review a student’s file in a Building Assets-Reducing Risks meeting at Noble High School in North Berwick, Maine. Noble is testing the BARR program with i3 funding. –Sarah Rice for Education Week Read story
Students arrive for classes at Alliance Collins Family College-Ready High School, a public charter school in Huntington Park, Calif. —Patrick T. Fallon for Education Week Read story
Ehlena Fry, 12, is helped down the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court by her mother, Stacy Fry; Michael J. Steinberg, ACLU of Michigan legal director; and her dog, Wonder. The high court heard arguments in a case involving Ehlena, who has cerebral palsy and who, at age 5, was banned from bringing her service dog to school. —Molly Riley/AP Read story
Edwin Lopez (No. 1) stands while most of his teammates kneel during the national anthem before Woodrow Wilson High School’s home game against Highland High School in Camden, N.J. Colin Kaepernick’s protest against social injustices has sparked debate on a national level about patriotism and free speech. —Yong Kim/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP Read story
The Barren County High School band performs inside Mammoth Cave National Park’s Rafinesque Hall in Mammoth Cave, Ky. — Bac Totrong/Daily News via AP
Ramsey Itani, 7, a first-grade student at Sunnyside Elementary in Pullman, Wash., wears a Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy device while listening to his teacher’s instructions during a field trip to the Washington State University neurocognition science lab. —Jerome Pollos for Education Week Read story
Kyaira Donald, 6, gets her finger poked to test her blood for lead levels, at Freeman Elementary School in Flint, Mich. –Jake May/The Flint Journal-Mlive.com/AP Read story
Cameron Sterling, 15, is comforted at a vigil outside the store in Baton Rouge, La., where police shot and killed his father Alton Sterling last July. —Gerald Herbert/AP Read story
Amity Elementary 5th graders Sam Carlisle, left, and Malikai Parker spend time on the Happify platform, a digital teaching tool that emphasizes character development. —Pat McDonogh for Education Week Read story
Students Angelique Little, right, and Tia Sparks enjoy a “spa night” in their residence hall. The school is the nation’s oldest public boarding school for gifted students. –Justin Cook for Education Week Read story