More than half of state departments of education lack key security and privacy protections for users, according to a recent state-by-state survey by EdTech Strategies, a technology consulting firm. 12 states offer no HTTPS—or secure site—support 3 states have errors in certificates that guarantee website connection security Link to main story: Real-world projects guide magnet […]
Principal retention is a national issue. According to The School Leaders Network, "25,000 principals (one-quarter of all principals) leave their schools each year, leaving millions of children's lives adversely affected. Fifty percent of new principals quit during their third year in the role." In New York City, the nation's largest school system, addressing principal turnover […]
Going digital is easier and much cheaper than printing the old school newspaper, and it lets student journalists reach more readers. Aided by social media, these budding reporters have also been making impacts beyond their communities. For example, in April 2017 a Kansas high school principal had to resign after the school's student journalists questioned […]
Finding innovative ways to make math matter to students is key to improving competency in all grades. At Ridgewood Community High School outside Chicago, students are building a home on campus. The project, part of a Geometry and Construction class, reflects administrators' efforts to make math relevant through real-world applications. "Our thought was, 'It's not […]
The next generation of IT infrastructure, hyperconvergence is a framework that combines computing, storage and networking into a single, simplified, automated and easy-to-use system. It's a perfect fit for school districts, which have limited budgets and few staff members to maintain and operate their IT systems. In fact, hyperconverged IT infrastructures—even in large and complex […]
Professional reading has long been a practice of leaders in many disciplines. Education is no exception. However, to be truly innovative, educational leaders can discover amazing professional insights in the areas of business, politics, psychology, sociology, technology and the military. Here is a list of non-education books that today's educational leaders recommend to their peers: […]
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 […]
Our education system is like a giant embedded rock, says Grant Lichtman. In his book, Moving the Rock, the former administrator outlines seven "levers" that schools or districts can use to begin to pry that rock free and introduce a "deeper learning" model that truly prepares students for the future. The levers, which include changing […]
The new Fordham Institute report, Is There a Gifted Gap?, gave me a lot of food for thought this week. Let's start with some important positives: Although gifted education research is in many ways thriving, attention to policy research has been woefully underdeveloped, and this study is a major contribution to filling that void. I've also […]
Two years ago, the Mehlville School District in suburban St. Louis passed a tax levy that included dedicated funding for professional development and strategic plans focusing on middle school STEM programs. For Tina Plummer, assistant superintendent for teaching and learning in Mehlville, that meant implementing the STEM Innovator program with Discovery Education, where staff had […]
