Growing up, Eric Osborne never considered a career in the technology industry. "The message we got in school was that it just wasn't something African-American people thought about or did" Osborne says. Besides, computer science classes didn't exist in the Florida schools where he grew up and there were no mentors pushing Osborne toward STEM […]
Equity in K12 education doesn't mean the same thing as equality. In fact, achieving true equity often requires providing lower-income schools and students with more resources than are given others in the same district, says Joel Boyd, superintendent of Santa Fe Public Schools in New Mexico. "Fair student funding means some students are funded at […]
Like many teachers, I've been grateful throughout my life for the professionals I've called upon for vital services and expert guidance. Similarly, students and parents rely on me every day. Yet many teachers find themselves isolated in classrooms without the right training or support. Others receive only one or two afternoons of PD per year. […]
Media specialist Samantha Edwards wants noise in her library—and she hears it. Last fall, Edwards, the librarian at Fogelsville Elementary School in Parkland School District in Pennsylvania, opened a modest self-publishing center in the library outfitted with an iMac, a printer and a machine to bind books. She noticed how excited her students were to […]
More than five years after many states implemented Common Core, the impact on student achievement remains unclear—though some states show small academic gains, with persistent achievement gaps. "Common Core is alive and well" says Adam Ezring, policy director of the Collaborative For Student Success, a nonprofit that supports use of the standards. "While it's still […]
Few teachers receive individualized professional development, though many are expected to personalize learning for students. Microcredentials—digital badges that teachers earn by learning a skill and demonstrating mastery through student results—offer a PD pathway designed to be highly differentiated and engaging. The microcredentialing process starts with teachers choosing a skill they want to develop. They take […]
Beth Schiavino-Narvaez has led Hartford Public Schools in Connecticut for two years. But it's been two decades since a landmark state court case—Sheff vs. O'Neill—ruled that Hartford schools had violated the U.S. Constitution by isolating children based on race and socioeconomics. And despite new budget woes, Schiavino-Narvaez continues to fight for better schools. The school […]
What do teachers think of their profession? How do they feel about government intrusion into what they teach and how they conduct themselves in the classroom? A report by the Washington, D.C.-based Center on Education Policy is meant to put a spotlight on their opinions. Titled, "Listen to Us: Teacher Views and Voices" the survey […]
Literacy changes taking hold in schools recognize the subject's expansion from traditional textbooks to online readings, images and audio. New learning standards ask students to read more closely and write more analytically, meaning teachers must adapt curriculum to get students reading earlier, says Jennifer Serravallo, International Literacy Association speaker and author of The Reading Strategies […]
Starting fresh with a new math curriculum was the goal for Gloucester Township Public Schools in fall 2013. The K-8 district, which is located 14 miles southeast of Philadelphia in New Jersey and serves 6,400 students, had a new curriculum and instruction department team charged with the task of updating outdated materials. "We did not […]
