In most of the developed world, high-stakes tests make or break a student’s future, sometimes before the age of 12. Many countries use national benchmarks to assess students, and construct tests to gauge understanding of the core curriculum. This was an original goal of the Common Core, but in the U.S., standardized tests have become […]
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.
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 […]
During Noel Petrosky’s 12 years at different Saint Marys Area School District elementary schools, she saw assessment data accurately predict student performance on state tests and inform instruction that led to student growth. That wasn’t the case at Saint Marys Area Middle School when she became principal two years ago. “I thought, ‘I can’t go […]
An externship program run by the Oklahoma State Department of Education expanded this summer, allowing K12 teachers to gain professional STEM experiences they can bring back to the classroom. During the pilot last year, teachers tested soil samples and worked in a concrete-making lab, among other activities, during a paid two-week externship at an Oklahoma […]
Dan Hamlin, a postdoctoral fellow in the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, and Paul E. Petersen have examined data to see what impact states lowering the bar on academic proficiency have had on student achievement. When they were created, the Common Core standards were intended as consistent benchmarks for student learning across the country. But public opinion […]
Teachers in the Susquehanna Township School District are finding success with their new curriculum mapping program using Chalk. With it, they can easily locate and align state standards with lesson plans, and if they have any questions, they can get live technical assistance through “Mr. Chalk” an online chat feature operated by company employees. Mr. […]
Looking to illustrate an abstract concept from a novel she’d read, an Oklahoma high school student turned to her building-level school librarian. Then, with the school librarian’s encouragement to tinker in the makerspace, the girl sculpted a clay model of a kneeling woman balancing a 3D-printed replica of the earth on her back. “She was […]
The process to select a new elementary math program for Columbia Public Schools began four years ago. K12 Math Coordinator Dana Hibbard located the highest-performing schools in Missouri and selected their top two math programs for piloting in her district of 18,555 students. It’s been barely a year that Everyday Mathematics 4 has been in […]
