The PTA at an elementary school on New York's Upper East Side raised nearly $1 million in one school year—about $1,260 per student. In a wealthy suburb of Boston, an elementary school PTA brought in $1,680 per student that same year, while a Washington, D.C., school's PTA intake totaled $2,220 per student. These extreme cases […]
Public educators find themselves in something of a Catch-22 situation these days. When we celebrate the great things that are going on in our schools, we are told that we are simply slaves to the status quo who don't recognize the struggles that our system is facing. When we articulate the challenges that our schools […]
Sensory rooms not only help students with special needs feel more comfortable and empowered in the classroom, they may also keep them in their neighborhood schools, according to K12 administrators. The carefully designed rooms may include dim lights to help students who are sensitive to light, weighted blankets to give them comfort or a swing […]
More than a decade after Response-to-Intervention and Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) took root on school campuses across the country, multi-tier strategies have become the standard for identifying and assisting struggling students. Yet, the way educators use these and similar systems continues to evolve. Educators now understand far more about the neuroscience of learning […]
Leo Brehm, learning evolution officer at Central Massachusetts Collaborative, has identified four components of the agile start-up mentality required for innovation: Teaming: Identify essential people for a project and quickly determine one another’s expertise so the team can work together productively. Psychological safety: Create an environment where people feel comfortable that they can share ideas […]
Before this new school year started, the Hartford Union High School District in Wisconsin wanted to hire a tech expert to oversee the district's network. But a well-qualified candidate, who had been working for a healthcare company, wanted $20,000 more in salary than the district was willing to pay. "It took my breath away" says […]
When Gary Brantley began his career as an IT leader 14 years ago, he primarily provided technical support and made sure the hardware was running. "It had everything to do with techy stuff" he says. Since then, Brantley's role as chief information officer at DeKalb County Schools in Georgia has expanded significantly. He now spends […]
Disruptive Classroom Technologies: A Framework for Innovation in Education Sage Publications Ltd. Schools continuously fund technology for classrooms but not always with a clear plan. This book lays out a framework for the T3 system, which categorizes technology as "translational" to help educators perform tasks more efficiently, "transformational" as a way of reinventing old tasks […]
Evidence-based best practice is a hot topic in education, especially in regard to the proposed ESSA accountability system. It means that schools tailor their action plans to meet their individual student and school needs based on objective- and research-based models. This process provides for an internal accountability system and enhanced professional learning communities. During a […]
Districts devote nearly 80 percent of their budgets to personnel costs—leaving little wiggle room for administrators tasked with maintaining fiscal responsibility and boosting the quality of education in a time of nearly stagnant funding. John Hutchison, chief financial and operations officer at Olathe Public Schools in Kansas, began budgetary planning for the 2017-18 school year […]
