As founder of Research for Better Teaching— an organization dedicated to improving instruction and leadership— Jon Saphier says underperforming students need to believe that "smart is something you can get." As founder of Research for Better Teaching— an organization dedicated to improving instruction and leadership— Jon Saphier says underperforming students need to believe that "smart is something […]
Andrew Smith, chief strategy officer in North Carolina's Rowan-Salisbury School System, is leading a digital-first initiative that three years ago aimed to give an iPad or a MacBook Air to all students—and their teachers—from grades 3 through 12. Rowan-Salisbury became 1-to-1 by the 2014-15 school year. Three years into a digital-first initiative, Andrew Smith, chief strategy […]
In some districts, the principal's office may as well have a revolving door for its high turnover rate. According to one report, more than half of principals leave after three years, especially in urban areas. In 2011, the philanthropic Wallace Foundation launched a $75 million initiative to help six urban school districts cultivate effective school […]
In 1896, researcher H.E. Krazt asked 2,400 students in grades 2 through 8 to describe the attributes of an effective teacher. Krazt believed that by identifying the desirable characteristics of a teacher, he could establish a benchmark upon which teachers could be evaluated. With qualities of "helpfulness" and "physical appearance" topping the list, the results […]
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 […]
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 […]
As one of today's most promising models for instruction, blended learning is growing rapidly across the country. But what really is blended learning, and how can educators use it to improve student outcomes? In a blended learning environment, students learn through a combination of online instruction—with some element of student control over time, place, path […]
Teachers who have taken on school leadership roles across New York state gathered this past June for the first time to refine initiatives designed to improve their schools. Twenty teacher teams participated in the inaugural New York Teacher Leadership Summit, which was hosted in New York City by Teach to Lead, a project of the […]
At Napa Valley USD in northern California, classroom technology integration has been a priority since 1997, when the district opened the country's first New Technology High School. So bringing in digital books in order to provide easily accessible content to the 18,000 students and faculty in 34 schools was a natural—and important—step. "The challenge was […]
Upon receiving a special School Improvement Grant to implement a Tennessee-approved turnaround model in 2013, leaders for Shelby County Schools in Memphis selected seven sites to transform. These schools, designated by the district as i-Zone schools, fall in the bottom 5 percent in the state. Douglass K8 Optional School is one of the selected schools. […]
