If you've visited a classroom lately, you've likely noticed a remarkable difference in how teaching and learning happens. Computers and devices are staples in most classrooms, and you're far more likely to find students working in groups than a teacher at the front of the room lecturing. Though the teacher continues to play a crucial […]
Managing and keeping track of the many hours of professional development required for a district's non-instructional staff may be one of an administrator's more underappreciated responsibilities. "There are a lot of different employees within the system who can easily be left out of the loop if you're not mindful of the two types of training […]
How can district administrators make more efficient, effective and strategic decisions? There is data available to support many of the decisions that school administrators make every day. Often though, it takes time to manually gather and model that data. If a project uses 80 percent of its timeline to gather and model data, that leaves […]
In school districts across the country, administrators and teachers unions are increasingly working together to address challenges. Districts are seeking help from unions on pressing political issues, including how to address Dreamer students who are concerned about deportation after the Trump administration rescinded the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. This has brought the […]
What should happen and what will happen in various areas of education over the next few years elicits different answers from educators and from other experts. For example, one expert on teaching believes districts should be supported with the funding to retain their best teachers. However, this expert believes state policymakers will continue to lower […]
At four elementary schools in Idaho's Boise School District, families in need can go to specially designated community rooms to pick up food, clothing and other necessities.
Many states and districts are facing unprecedented teacher shortages. As a result, many have implemented or are expanding existing programs that offer alternative routes to licensure or certification for those seeking to become teachers from another career. The Clark County School District (CCSD) in Nevada has designed an Alternative Routes to Licensure (ARL) Program to […]
Fourteen teachers in Utah's Ogden School District reached the classroom via a nontraditional, perhaps looser route. Rather than attend a teaching college and earning the standard credentials, they leveraged their bachelor's degrees and professional expertise. The new state rule that allows this—called Academic Pathway to Teaching—mimics new policies a handful of other states have passed […]
Gone are the days when a mechanic can pop the hood of a car, take a look around and figure out what to do. Today's auto shop graduates use diagnostic software to determine a vehicle's problem, and then must explain the solution coherently, in a way that all customers will understand. Vocational education used to […]
One month before the beginning of the 2017-18 school year, Turlock USD was still short five speech-language pathologists. The salary offered by the Central California district was high by area standards, but even so, the positions remained unfilled. In fact, no one had even applied. Alice Solis, Turlock's director of special education, struggled to hire […]
