A focus on teaching social-emotional skills—persistence, resilience, communication and other non-cognitive abilities—has led to an obvious jump in reading and math scores in Nevada’s Washoe County School District. Washoe’s students are now “less likely to be suspended, more likely to attend school, and they graduate at a much higher rate than students who didn’t have […]
In a perfect world, every child would have access to food, shelter and clothing. They would have loving, attentive parents. They would arrive at school eager, focused and ready to learn. Unfortunately, our pre-K through 5 school, like a growing number of U.S. public schools, does not reside in that world. At Highland View Elementary […]
Illinois Sen. Kimberly Lightford sponsored a new state law that eliminates zero-tolerance discipline policies in schools. Designed to reduce the number of days students are restricted from classrooms for certain offenses, the legislation requires schools to explore other disciplinary options, such as counseling and extracurricular programs, before a student can be suspended more than three […]
When Christopher Marczak joined Maury County Public Schools in Tennessee as superintendent in fall 2015, he quickly realized that while every school in his district of 12,000 students was doing the best job possible, each had a vastly different approach to teaching literacy. “There were no systemic solutions” says Marczak. “Yet I wanted to get […]
Using tablets, apps and YouTube videos, students at Greenwood Elementary School in the Wayzata Public Schools in Minnesota have added new virtual elements to paintings and other artwork, so their masterpieces include videos that not only get them engaged, but also help them better understand ideas behind the art itself. It’s a technology called augmented […]
When the Clark County School District in Las Vegas, Nevada, wants to turn around elementary schools, it looks to Principal John Haynal. He’s already improved outcomes at two elementary schools in this, the country’s fifth largest school district. In Clark County’s Franchise School program, principals who have demonstrated academic growth supervise an additional school using […]
When only 13 percent of sophomores at the Grandview School District in Washington passed the state math exams six years ago, administrators decided to develop their own curriculum. For instance, leaders had concluded the textbooks they purchased didn’t adequately teach fractions and integers, leading to gaps in student learning. Grandview spent about $200,000 to hire […]
Social emotional learning helps students learn the coping skills critical for dealing with themselves, other people and their schoolwork. While SEL has become more mainstream over the past few years, you have been researching it since the mid-1970s. What piqued your early interest? In those years, we did a lot of work with at-risk populations. […]
The elementary school principal position in any district is an important role that all employees and students of the school rely on. Elementary schools differ in many ways—even within the same district—but new principals can follow leadership practices in keeping the focus on teaching and learning every school day. Have an open-door policy Make sure […]
In less than a generation, schools have entered a complex new world of security concerns. They have gone from a focus on fire drills to “hardening” against intruders to deter the rising threat of shootings and copycat violence across the nation. With 74 school shootings since the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre, money is being […]
