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An Educator’s Summer

Classroom with an educator presenting a lesson.

  While students are away from school this summer, many educators will become students. They will participate in various learning opportunities offered through their district or other educational institutions over the next few months. This time will allow them to become familiar with their curriculum and tools and build community support. Last week, my district […]

New Curriculum: Supporting Innovation in Schools and Districts 

Classroom Notes on a note pad and pencil.

The summer allows educators to recharge, reflect, and innovate their practices with students and colleagues. I find this annually recurring phase of the profession to be an essential aspect of the field. Moreover, the summer is also an ideal time to design and prepare to implement new curriculum features. This includes instructional and assessment items, […]

Moving Up The Ladder Together: Thoughts on How to Prevent Summer Slide

Budget planning on a computer.

Summer slide is the tendency for students, especially those from low-income families, to lose some of the achievement gains they made during the previous school year. Research indicates that 2.5 months of reading and 2.5 months of math skills are lost over a summer. Are there exceptions? Of course. Is summer slide” typical? Absolutely. The […]

Prevention of Summer Slide

Teresa Marchant As students hang up their backpacks and head into Summer, educators worry about how their students will spend this time away from school. We fear that our students that have made progress during the school year will return to school in the fall without retaining all skills from the prior year. Knowing that […]

How to prevent the “Summer Slide”

Is Summer Slide avoidable? During my twelve years of teaching secondary social studies, I would voice an opinion that was usually a very unpopular one with my colleagues. My sentiment was “summer break is too long.”  I am not sure how well this position had aged, but why I held it is still very clear […]

Social-Emotional Learning and Data that Matters

Professional looking at data.

COVID 19 has pushed into the spotlight one aspect of education focuses on student well-being. That this has always been an important, necessary topic to devote time and resources to goes without saying. But, COVID 19, as significant events tend to do, elevated what was on the margins of our attention and made Social Emotional […]

Consistency is Key

Consistency is Key Life can get pretty monotonous, but the routines that we have to provide structure and purpose to our lives. They give us a foundation, ground us, and keep us focused on our goals.  What is consistency? Consistency is being intentional about your routines and expectations. It is building habits through everyday actions […]

Using Data Wisely in the Education Market

Data on a computer screen.

Using Data Wisely in the Education Market Generally, school administrators look for the overall school performance, class information, and individual students’ scores to help determine the implementation of new programs, allocate resources, and staffing all by using data wisely. As learning standards are revised on a state and local level, it becomes necessary to review […]

Renewing Assessment and Rethinking Data Collecting: An Educational Renaissance

Whiteboard planning by two professionals.

This month some colleagues and I came to an exciting conclusion about our profession. After discussing the use of data and shifting priorities, we agreed that education is experiencing an assessment renaissance.    We also agreed that the reasons for the shifts originate from multiple sources, including state, district, and school-based policies and practices. Most […]

Using Data To Create A Positive School Culture

Students interacting at a table as a group.

Data from testing alone is not always adequate. We need to know our students, and most teachers do. Our students are more than a test score; so are our teachers. However, our emphasis on testing has muted individual strengths and success. We need to use our data wisely, not just to rank schools or students […]

The Value of Stability

By now, a large number of educators have returned to their classrooms. But have we returned to normal? Not really. The toll on students’ and educators’ mental health and social-emotional needs continues to grow. Burnout and coronavirus anxiety are still surging after a high-stress year of virtual learning. At the same time, districts face shortages […]

School Climate

Books stacked up.

Improving the School Experience for All Students When the American learning environment looks different than any of us expected, what can educators and staff do to improve the school climate? What is the school climate? Like other kinds of environments, a school climate is all the elements that make up the learning environment. The concept […]

Supporting Student Well-Being

One of my roles in my district is to serve as a sponsor and facilitator for a student advisory committee to the superintendent to support student well-being. Each high school selects a delegation to represent the voice of their school’s student body on topics of interest identified by district leadership. Students do their best to […]

Challenges and Recovery: Loss and Opportunities

For over a year, the feeling of loss has run rampant across the educational landscape. The shifts in learning environments, hiring shortages, and unexpected staff exits from the profession ultimately impact the ways teachers teach and students learn. Compounded with irregularities in time and schedules, one can conclude that the future of education can no […]

Crossing the Bridge from Learning Loss to Learning Gains & The Future

Learning Loss

Many schools, in many places, are still struggling with the question: how do we catch up? There’s not an easy answer to this; we know that. However, if we’re going to make sure students find success, it’s essential to take a closer look at both learning loss and learning gains.  Like many other regions, the […]

Learning Loss and Recovery

Learning Loss and Recovery

Challenges from getting along with others on the playground to holding a pencil are everyday occurrences that teachers are facing. Keeping students engaged has been a constant struggle these past few years. School districts need to be creative when it comes to addressing the learning loss of their students. Schedule Having a flexible schedule has […]

Problem Solving Technology for K-12 Schools

Problem Solving Technology

Problem Solving Technology for K-12 Schools Education + Technology = The Future. We’ve seen this equation come to life and evolve over the last two years, as virtual learning has become necessary for teachers and students everywhere. Technology cannot only bring learning and text to life for students, but it also can solve some of […]

Real World Classroom Tech Issues

Real World Classroom Tech Issues

Title 1, Large district, Urban, 9-12 Happy 2022! Before our winter break, I received an email to upgrade an application on my school-issued laptop. This seemed suspicious since updates had happened automatically for the last five years when I connected to our network. Rereading the email, I visualized a decision map and contemplated my course […]

Virtual Learning is Here to Stay

Virtual Learning

Meredith Biesinger Title 1, Small district, Rural/Town district, K-12 Of course, there was an overwhelming response for schools to return to in-person learning last year, even more so this year. However, many students and their families opt to continue with virtual school when given a chance. From a survey of 1,000 parents of K–12 students, 45 percent […]

The Digital Divide

Digital Divide

Teresa Marchant Title 1, Medium district, Suburban, K-6 D-Devices These include computers, hot spots, training, and support for students and parents is vital for student success. In our district, parents and students can check them out for short-term or long-term use. I- Integrating Using technology in a classroom ensures that educators and students are ready […]

How Timing and Ed. Tech Made Teaching and Learning Better

By Craig Perrier Title 1, Large district, Urban, 9-12 It had been just 20 months after laptops were introduced to each student and those pre-COVID years seem nostalgic. The pre 1:1 experience, however, seems like a century ago. This is largely because what was perceived as a radical change in teaching and learning or something […]

The Decisions and Impacts of School Choice 2021

Impacts of school choice

Meredith Biesinger Title 1, Small district, Rural/Town district, K-12 Once upon a time, there used to be limited K-12 education options for students and their families. However, so many options are available that it can be overwhelming for families to decide on the best fit for their child. It can also be equally overwhelming for […]

School Choice Enrollment

School Choice Enrollment

Teresa Marchant Title 1, Medium district, Suburban, K-6 Why this Topic is Important Parents who homeschool are not public education’s enemies. However, there needs to be an open discussion of its impact on schools. The loss of enrollment means failing state and federal dollars for schools. Those funds are essential to run programs, pay for […]

Seeing Now as a way to Better

Seeing Now as a way to Better

Craig Perrier Title 1, Large district, Urban, 9-12 About a month into this school year, a colleague shared clarifying and jarring sentiments. He said, “it feels like we are acting as if everything is normal again.” His comment gave me immediate pause. And as I mentally scanned the current landscape of our school system – […]

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