Embodied within games are powerful models of learning. Educators have hypothesized that these may also be useful in helping students develop academic literacies, such as in specialized academic languages or mathematics, but to date few “educational” games have employed the learning principles embodied within contemporary computer and videogames in a robust fashion. A suite of games coming from The Department of Education’s STAR Schools program seeks to bridge this gap — while also working within the constraints of traditional schooling and simultaneously while building evaluation models that will communicate the effectiveness of these programs to the broader public. Sound like a tall order? It is… and in this interactive session, participants will share war stories and discuss best practices in trying to use game-based pedagogies in classrooms.