When Rio Grande City Consolidated ISD introduced a digital reading program two years ago, some teachers balked at student assessments being performed by a computer. Those concerns abated as teachers saw increased proficiency for the 4,100 students using Istation Reading and Istation Espa±ol, says Serapio Trillayes, executive director for curriculum and instruction for the district, […]
Better Together: How to Leverage School Networks for Smarter Personalized and Project-Based Learning Jossey-Bass This book profiles more than a dozen formal and informal school networks wherein district leaders, principals and teachers have worked together to implement personalized and project-based learning. Educators can find out about transforming schools and navigating these new instructional dynamics with […]
Play is not a luxury; it is a necessity. In many districts across the United States, recess in elementary school is being questioned, reduced and even eliminated to increase instructional time. Students need ample time for recess and brain breaks to help them to develop social competencies and attention to learning.
Developers of equity programs offer the following tips for success: You need it first—Equity PD gets the best results when leaders—from superintendents to school board members to principals—are trained before their staff. Dialogue, collaboration and role-play—Kids don't love PowerPoints or lectures, and neither do educators. PD that gets teachers talking, collaborating and even role-playing seems […]
North Clackamas School District Superintendent Matthew Utterback minds the gap. That is, the gap between white students and everyone else. That's why the 2017 National School Superintendent of the Year takes special pride in the details of his Oregon district's 18 percent graduation rate increase. "There's now no gap between graduation rates for students of […]
Pizitz Middle School, located in a suburb of Birmingham, Alabama, committed to raise enough money to build a well in Uganda. Working with a local nonprofit, school leaders kicked off the project during the first week of school in 2017 and spent the year connecting classroom instruction to this service goal. "We needed to raise […]
A1,100-student school district in Minnesota had been purchasing food supplies through a buying group of five other school systems—but it wasn't efficient. "We would have to meet quite often" says Director of Food Service Sandie Rentz of Wadena-Deer Creek Public Schools. "We wrote our own bids and market basket. Then we would go out for […]
Advocates of design thinking in education know what you've heard. "Its hard to look at design thinking and not see it as a buzzword" says Ryan Bretag, director of instructional innovation at Glenbrook High Schools District 225 outside Chicago. "When we narrow down design thinking to just a bunch of steps that you can follow […]
