For the past two years, leaders at Muhlenberg South Middle School in Greenville, Kentucky, have been working to decrease the number of teacher absences as part of a wider effort to improve school culture. Although this has occurred during a financial crisis in which all Muhlenberg County School District staff took a 10 percent pay […]
The New School Rules: 6 Vital Practices for Thriving and Responsive Schools Corwin Administrators can learn organizational and management strategies in this book about pursuing education reform. The New School Rules describes effective ways to build team trust and to lead faculty without micromanaging. Authors talk about positive decision-making practices and discuss the importance of […]
Paraeducators constitute more than one-quarter of the instructional staff in U.S. schools and districts. They play a critical role, from providing behavior support to teaching both academic and social and emotional skills to students. Despite their important work, training opportunities for paraeducators are limited. Due to reduced contract hours, paraeducators are not often included in […]
Nestled in America's Heartland is a public school where two of our nation's most defining mottos, "The Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave" and "The Land of Opportunity" intersect daily for military-connected students. At Knob Noster Public Schools in Missouri, we keep these thoughts in mind every day as we educate […]
Managing and keeping track of the many hours of professional development required for a district's non-instructional staff may be one of an administrator's more underappreciated responsibilities. "There are a lot of different employees within the system who can easily be left out of the loop if you're not mindful of the two types of training […]
Two years ago, the Mehlville School District in suburban St. Louis passed a tax levy that included dedicated funding for professional development and strategic plans focusing on middle school STEM programs. For Tina Plummer, assistant superintendent for teaching and learning in Mehlville, that meant implementing the STEM Innovator program with Discovery Education, where staff had […]
While innovations typically involve a high degree of novelty and a paradigm shift, tried-and-true best practices often serve as their launch pad and rocket fuel. In designing and selecting professional development opportunities that harness and reflect best practices in education, there are four key elements for a high-quality experience: authenticity, contextual learning, a creative climate, […]
Two years ago, Elizabeth Rincon was seeking to end the last-minute scramble to cull professional development for approximately 125 special education paraprofessionals on days when teachers had preplanned PD. "Principals had to either swiftly get something together for paraprofessionals in terms of PD or they would email me and I would have to quickly plan […]
In schools across this country, staff and students are experiencing increased levels of anxiety and stress. As a result, many schools are seeing increased levels of bullying, aggression, disruption, and violence in classrooms, hallways, and other school spaces. If these concerns are not effectively addressed, as this school year continues, there is increased potential for […]
