Welcome to UnBoxed, the journal of adult learning in schools. In this issue we feature two educators who take hopeful and visionary perspectives on schooling and society. Gunter Pauli offers inspiring examples of how young people can devise solutions to our most pressing social and environmentalproblems. Sam Seidel explores the creativity and resourcefulness of hip-hop culture and considers implications for teaching and learning.

We also introduce a new genre to UnBoxed—the opinion piece. Ben Daley critically examines the term “performance data” and proposes an alternate set of measures to indicate student and school performance. In a companion piece, Edrick Macalagium describes the impact of standardized testing on his teaching, his students, and the culture of his school. We invite you to respond to these pieces on our website’s blog and to submit your own opinions for future issues.

Macalagium’s account is one of several articles about teaching practice and teacher action research. Randy Scherer describes his efforts to link school and work in the HTH internship curriculum. Samantha Gladwell describes her work with math learning stations in her fourth grade classroom. Jenny Pieratt considers her approach to writing instruction against the backdrop of John Dewey’s notions of a child-centered curriculum. Paul Lopez offers a compelling account of his first evening of teaching at a local junior college.

HTMMA middle school students pose for a photo on the Great Wall of China. Four articles and our photo essay touch on middle school practice. Zoe Randall shares images from her students’ participation in the National Veterans Storytelling project. Cady Staff describes her quest to provide personalized feedback to each student. Linda Libby points out instructive similarities between project management and theater production. Sarah Barnes offers lessons from a “crazy” trip to China with 37 middle school students.Mike Strong shares reflections and questions about the power of choice in a project-based environment.

Our set of UnBoxed cards offers quick, concrete glimpses of student and teacher work at High Tech High schools. These are intended as tools and bits of inspiration, to be shared with colleagues and community members.

We invite readers from across the country to join us in conversations about purpose, policy and practice in education. Read, enjoy, and contribute!