In Where Teachers Thrive, Susan Moore Johnson outlines a powerful argument about the importance of the school as an organization in nurturing high-quality teaching. Based on case studies conducted in fourteen high-poverty, urban schools, the book examines why some schools failed to make progress, while others achieved remarkable results. It explores the challenges that administrators Read more about What Makes Teachers Thrive?[…]
Digital Promise has released a new report exploring micro-credentials for educators. Over the last several years, micro-credentials—a way for teachers and administrators to demonstrate their teaching and leadership skills—have generated growing interest among policymakers and practitioners alike for at least three reasons: The internet provides increasing accessibility and rapid development of multitudes of online resources Read more about Micro-credentials and Education Policy in the United States[…]
Researchers from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine in Washington, D.C. have released a new report, “The Promise of Adolescence: Realizing Opportunity for All Youth.” Adolescents—young people ages 10 to 25—make up nearly one-fourth of the U.S. population. Drawing upon recent scientific advances, the report finds ample evidence that adolescence offers great promise: Read more about The Promise of Adolescence: Realizing Opportunity for All Youth[…]
The Path to Instructional Excellence and Equitable Outcomes explores District of Columbia Public Schools’ innovative approach to supporting teaching instruction, called Learning Together to Advance our Practice, or LEAP. LEAP is based on research that has found the most effective professional learning is school-based and content-specific, grounded in the instructional materials and strategies that teachers Read more about The Path to Instructional Excellence and Equitable Outcomes[…]
The Learning Policy Institute and Bank Street Graduate School of Education have announced the launch of Educator Preparation Laboratory (EdPrepLab), an initiative to help educator preparation programs ensure that new teachers and leaders are able to provide K-12 students with education that helps them develop skills like critical thinking, collaboration, communication, and being able to Read more about EdPrepLab Will Help Educators Develop the Knowledge, Skills and Dispositions to Support All Students in Learning Deeply[…]
In 2013, The Center for the Future of Teaching & Learning at WestEd collaborated with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to launch the Teacher Practice Network (TPN) initiative, which supports a vast national network of teacher leaders who mentor and coach their peers. By providing high-quality standards-aligned resources and ongoing professional learning led by Read more about Teachers Learning from Teachers: Dynamic Initiative Taps into Educators’ Expertise[…]
McREL’s CEO Bryan Goodwin has teamed up with ASCD authors Pete Hall and Alisa Simeral in this white paper to tackle a question of urgent interest to teachers at all career stages: Can professional learning be better? It can, they argue, if the profession recognizes that PD must begin with teachers’ problems of practice, develop Read more about Personalizing Professional Development: How Empowered Teachers Can Take Charge of Professional Learning and Growth[…]
Recently, Bryan Goodwin of McREL International and William J. Slotnik of the Community Training and Assistance Center partnered up to write a piece for Phi Delta Kappan exploring the myth that teachers peak as professionals early in their careers and then reach a performance plateau. Excerpts from their piece appear below: There is a belief, Read more about Debunking the Myth of the Teacher Performance Plateau[…]
A new report from Educators for Excellence New York outlines the importance of teacher preparation and offers recommendations for increasing teacher diversity. Ready for Day One and Beyond is a new paper written by teachers on the Educators for Excellence New York Policy Team. The paper starts with two important questions: 1. What Read more about Recommendations to Strengthen Teacher Preparation & Diversity[…]
Education Evolving has launched a new blog series focused on the growing problem of teacher turnover, and telling the stories of schools, strategies, programs, and leaders that buck the trend. Teachers have long been identified as the number one in-school factor that influences student outcomes. Conversely, teacher turnover is correlated with lower student outcomes and Read more about Retaining Teachers: Fostering Conditions Where Talent Thrives[…]
In the February 2019 issue of Language Magazine, Pam Allyn, Senior Vice President, Innovation & Development, Scholastic Education, and Dr. Carol Chanter, Senior Vice President, Professional Learning Services, Scholastic Education, outlined four ways to cultivate learning experiences for educators that are both effective and enjoyable. 1. Blend it A mix of face-to-face learning with online Read more about Four Ways to Transform the Professional Learning Experience[…]
Stephanie Hirsh, who will be retiring from Learning Forward this June, has laid out four critical elements for educators to ensure professional learning improves results for all students. 4 Cornerstones of Professional Learning, centered on a foundation of the Standards for Professional Learning, shares research, evidence from practice, and reflections from Stephanie Hirsh’s career at Read more about 4 Cornerstones of Professional Learning[…]
Rates of childhood trauma in the United States are alarmingly high, with exposure to potentially traumatic forms of violence, such as abuse, assault, or family or community violence particularly common. Traumatic experiences and chronic stress can overwhelm a child’s system and negatively impact development and learning. As educators, however, we can help students recover from Read more about February Issue Brief: Trauma-Informed Teaching[…]
iNACOL has released a new report, Moving Toward Mastery: Growing, Developing and Sustaining Educators for Competency-Based Education. The publication re-envisions professional practice, learning and development for educators in competency-based education. As school districts transition to new, more powerful student-centered learning models, it is critical that educators leading the transformative practice are equipped for their new Read more about Strategies to Support Teachers of Competency-Based Education[…]
School systems—and the challenges they face—are often complex and diverse; effectively addressing these challenges may require a leadership approach that moves beyond traditional teacher and administrator roles. Teacher leadership is one strategy many states and districts are pursuing to facilitate meaningful change and support better outcomes for their students. To support these efforts, the Teacher Read more about Teacher Leadership Toolkit: Strategies to Build, Support and Sustain Teacher Leadership Opportunities[…]
Learning Forward has released a special open-access issue of The Learning Professional. It builds on a vital topic for educators: the use of high-quality instructional materials. All students deserve access to high-quality content, and all teachers deserve support to implement it well. The message from research is straightforward: instructional materials matter. Good materials in the Read more about The Importance of High-Quality Instructional Materials[…]