When I realized I couldn't answer the questions posed about two of my own poems on the Texas state assessment tests (STAAR Test), I had a flash of panic — oh, no! Not smart enough. Such a dunce. My ...

In an age dominated by fleeting content, poetry emerges as a quiet force with profound cognitive benefits. Recent research reveals that reading verse can sharpen associative thinking, boost mental ...

Poet Sara Holbrook, who often writes humorous verse for kids, had some harsh words for the Texas Education Agency after she discovered she couldn’t answer questions about poems on the its standardized ...

Badly worded or poorly conceived questions on standardized tests are not uncommon (remember the question about a “talking pineapple” on a New York test in 2012?). But here’s something new: The author ...

Poet laureate of the United States Tracy K. Smith. Credit: Shawn Miller/flickr/CC BY 2.0 Read excerpts of Tracy K. Smith’s poems, “My God, It’s Full of Stars” and “Watershed.” Read excerpts of Rafael ...

For each of the 12 days of Christmas, here’s something to beguile, distract – and leave you with questions for the year ahead Simon Barraclough dons a bright yellow jacket, orange Ray Bans, and ...