English language learners (ELLs) perform better academically and achieve greater language proficiency when they have high-quality English language instruction, according to a 2014 study in the American Educational Research Journal. These extra programs require additional funding above the average per-student amount. The federal government provides grant funding to states through Title III to help ELLs […]

Close reading is a popular term today in elementary literacy classrooms and a requirement in the Common Core ELA standards in order to ensure students are college- and career- ready. It enables students to independently comprehend increasingly challenging texts. Students need to develop the habits of mind and the skills necessary to unpack the deep, […]

For a number of years, an aging student information system (SIS) plagued Bethlehem Central Schools, located near Albany, New York. By spring 2013, it was apparent new software was needed to maintain the data about the district’s 4,900 students. “We correctly predicted our SIS would soon be considered end-of-life and would no longer be supported,” […]

Murky state policies leave administrators in the lurch as more parents opt their children out of Common Core testing, according to a March report from the Education Commission of the States. In many states, education departments remain silent on how districts should handle parent requests for opting students out of PARCC or Smarter Balanced testing, […]