The teacher says my son sometimes has trouble focusing, but it’s only in one class, and when he describes the class, it sounds like there are a lot of distractions outside his control. My question is: Are students always to blame for lack of attention, or does it sometimes fall on teachers?

It sometimes falls on teachers. No teacher can force an unfocused student to pay attention, but there’s a lot teachers can do to create a classroom environment that fosters focus.

One of the most effective starting points is seating arrangement. If the goal is independent learning, rows are far better than tables or clusters. This isn’t just Stallings 101 — it’s backed by research. A study in Educational Psychology found that on-task behavior doubled from 35 to 70 percent when classrooms switched from

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