Many things threaten to keep a public education leader up at night. With some issues, it's because they stir excitement and inspiration; but with others, not so much. To bring the persistent, insomnia-inducing challenges into clearer focus, the 2018 installment of DA's annual Outlook issue gives prominence to the voices of educators and experts who […]
Districts are increasingly tasked with providing options for at-risk and underserved student populations to address persistent achievement gaps. While nationwide gains in closing achievement gaps have been made, research shows that underserved student populations still achieve at lower rates than their peers in many areas. Black and Hispanic students graduate at lower rates than white […]
Until recently, the quality of classroom instruction relied almost entirely on a teacher's resourcefulness, motivation and intelligence. Soon, it will also depend on artificial intelligence—with lessons based more on what students need to learn than on traditional methods of instruction. "Even with PCs, projectors and the internet, the way students are taught hasn't changed that […]
Giftedness is not just a test score. How many students have we seen who did not have a test score to qualify for a gifted program but became an expert in an area of passion and interest? This broader definition of giftedness is one I learned from Joseph Renzulli, a longtime professor of educational psychology […]
K12 STEM programs are evolving, incorporating new tools and technologies to better prepare students for rapidly changing college and career environments. Makerspaces, drones, coding and robotics are all part of this next generation of STEM learning that is just beginning to have an impact in districts. This web seminar focused on incorporating these new tools. […]
Educators in a school district that conducts well-designed formative assessments should be able to accurately predict how students will perform on midterms, finals and high-stakes exams. A growing number of experts and administrators insist that if a district excels at formative assessment, its students shouldn't have to sit through so many high-stakes tests. "We don't […]
Three chronically underperforming Baltimore City Public Schools are now getting intensive, hands-on guidance from educators at a fourth district school, Commodore John Rodgers, that has achieved a dramatic turnaround. Educators at the struggling elementary and middle schools—Harford Heights, James McHenry and Mary E. Rodman—won't just follow a set of guidelines. Rodgers' principal, Marc Martin, has […]
More than a decade after Response-to-Intervention and Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) took root on school campuses across the country, multi-tier strategies have become the standard for identifying and assisting struggling students. Yet, the way educators use these and similar systems continues to evolve. Educators now understand far more about the neuroscience of learning […]
Every K12 IT manager wants all school software to work together seamlessly, but incompatible programs often prevent the sharing of key data. From notebooks unable to run the most popular software to communication failures between learning management systems and key learning programs, incompatibility can result in a mess where expensive technology designed to revolutionize instruction […]
Across the country, thousands of school districts are building and publicizing summer meal programs, components of a 48-year-old, federally funded effort to keep low-income children from suffering the health and cognitive effects of summer hunger. Wichita Public Schools worked hard last summer to sell children on free food. Those attending the first week of the […]
