Pat Skorkowsky, superintendent of Clark County School District in Nevada, has expanded a franchise principal concept in which successful principals take over management of multiple schools, replicating the same educational approach in each. Following a successful pilot last year with two principals, the initiative involves training a core of administrative leaders who can continue to […]
A leading gifted-and-talented expert once believed the number of students who performed above grade level was between 5 and 15 percent. But a new study shows the number is much higher, says the expert, Jonathan Plucker, a National Association for Gifted Children board member. The analysis, conducted by researchers at Johns Hopkins University, revealed that […]
Educators in Virginia's Fairfax County Public Schools intend to remove the obstacles that prevent students who have severe social anxiety from attending school, a phenomenon known as "school refusal behavior." The initiative, called Aspire, is housed at Quander Road School, a small district-run-and-funded therapeutic day program designed as an alternative setting for high school students […]
Facing a ballooning teacher shortage in recent years, Clark County School District in Nevada launched a social media and email recruiting strategy, sending messages to self-identified school teachers over LinkedIn and reaching more than 2.5 million on Facebook. "When you have a staffing crisis, you have to come up with something different to do" says […]
These days, McKenna Smith is back in the classroom. She's a high school student in Missouri's Nixa Public Schools, but had been unable to attend classes since elementary school because of chemotherapy treatment. But Smith didn't miss as much interaction with teachers and classmates as she could have because she connected with them remotely—via robot. […]
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 […]
DA's Districts of Distinction program, which honors innovative projects in America's public school districts, will be showcased in a special annual edition of the magazine each July, starting in 2017. "Districts of Distinction will become the centerpiece of our July edition, which we think will serve as a reference guide for school district leaders across […]
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 […]
Public support for the Common Core standards is plummeting—but that doesn't mean much to K12. Half of the general population approves of the standards—that's down from 83 percent just three years ago. Support among teachers has fallen to only 44 percent, according to the latest Education Next survey Public support for the Common Core standards […]
