Teacher Mindsets: How Educators’ Perspectives Shape Student Success

Research increasingly points to the importance of social and emotional learning to student success. Teachers play a central role in these dimensions of learning, particularly in helping students feel connected to school and have a positive sense of themselves as learners. Through the messages they send and the experiences they provide in classrooms, teachers shape Read more about Teacher Mindsets: How Educators’ Perspectives Shape Student Success[…]

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Alignment Matters: A Framework for Advancing Student Learning and Promoting Equity

What do high performing schools have in common? Among other things, they have rigorous academic standards, rich curriculum, and high-quality assessments. They also have well-trained educators who have regular access to accurate and useful data. And they have a culture of equity that undergirds their work. All of these reinforce one another to drive student Read more about Alignment Matters: A Framework for Advancing Student Learning and Promoting Equity[…]

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To Promote Success in Schools, Focus on Teacher Well-being

Writing for the Brookings Institute, Amy Roberts and Helyn Kim explore the importance of teacher well-being for student success. Excerpts of the piece appear below: Without question, teachers are central to student success. Anyone who has taught knows how rewarding it is to witness student learning. Teaching can also be one of the most stressful, Read more about To Promote Success in Schools, Focus on Teacher Well-being[…]

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What social and emotional learning needs to succeed and survive

Writing for AEI, Chester E. Finn, Jr. and Frederick M. Hess explore what is needed to make social and emotional learning (SEL) thrive in today’s schools. The report offers seven suggestions for SEL advocates and funders as they seek to deliver on SEL’s promise and avoid its pitfalls. Suggestions include: Slow down and focus on Read more about What social and emotional learning needs to succeed and survive[…]

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Anxiety and Depression as this Generation’s Major Problem

Most teens see anxiety and depression as “major problems” among their peers, according to a new survey conducted by the Pew Research Center. It suggests that 7 in 10 teens ages 13 to 17 think those issues are more prevalent than bullying, drug addiction, drinking alcohol, poverty, teen pregnancy and gangs. Concern about mental health Read more about Anxiety and Depression as this Generation’s Major Problem[…]

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Retaining Teachers: Fostering Conditions Where Talent Thrives

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[…]

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Measuring the Social and Emotional Sides of Student Success

The intensifying interest among education policymakers in the social and emotional dimensions of student success is encouraging news. By complementing the important work in recent years to raise standards and strengthen instruction, the increasing focus on school climate and students’ relationships to their peers and their schools is a potentially powerful catalyst for school improvement Read more about Measuring the Social and Emotional Sides of Student Success[…]

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February Issue Brief: Trauma-Informed Teaching

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[…]

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How Do You Build Continuously Improving Systems of Schools?

Over the last 20 years, eight U.S. cities have seen more students attending more effective schools at a faster pace than other urban areas. In Oakland, D.C., Denver, New Orleans, New York City, Newark, Camden, and Chicago, education leaders have increased the number of high-performing schools and set up systems that continuously improve. Bellwether Education’s Read more about How Do You Build Continuously Improving Systems of Schools?[…]

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CASEL Releases Comprehensive Guide to Help Schools Implement SEL

The Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL) launched The CASEL Guide to Schoolwide SEL that provides an interactive planner, step-by-step guidance, field-tested tools, and continuous improvement processes to help educators implement social and emotional learning (SEL) in their schools. The free, online resource helps school teams coordinate and build on their evidence-based practices Read more about CASEL Releases Comprehensive Guide to Help Schools Implement SEL[…]

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Having Just One Black Teacher Can Up Black Students’ Chances of Going to College

Recently, in Education Week, Madeline Will summarized a new study from Johns Hopkins University that finds that if a Black student has just one or two Black teachers in elementary school, that student is significantly more likely to enroll in college. Black students who had just one Black teacher by 3rd grade were 13 percent Read more about Having Just One Black Teacher Can Up Black Students’ Chances of Going to College[…]

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Restorative Justice: An Alternative to Traditional Punishment

Restorative justice is the focus of a series of reports authored by the WestEd Justice and Prevention Research Center, through funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The reports include: What Further Research is Needed on Restorative Justice in Schools? Restorative Justice in U.S. Schools: Summary Findings from Interviews with Experts Restorative Justice in U.S. Read more about Restorative Justice: An Alternative to Traditional Punishment[…]

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Teachers at Work: Designing Schools Where Teachers and Students Thrive

Schools are the engines of economic and social mobility, where the virtues required for citizenship are wrestled with and practiced, and where the foundations of a robust and dynamic citizenship, democracy, and economy are nurtured. Teachers are the heart, soul, and muscle of our schools. Research has pointed time and time again to teachers as Read more about Teachers at Work: Designing Schools Where Teachers and Students Thrive[…]

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Leading Trauma-Sensitive Schools

Schools play a significant role in supporting the health and well-being of children and youth, including those affected by traumatic experiences. In a trauma-sensitive school, all aspects of the educational environment—from workforce training to engagement with students and families to procedures and policies—are grounded in an understanding of trauma and its impact and are designed Read more about Leading Trauma-Sensitive Schools[…]

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Video: How Schools can Support Students who have Experienced Trauma

In the latest video from Turnaround partner Digital Promise’s Research@Work series, Turnaround for Children Founder and Senior Science Advisor Pamela Cantor, M.D.explains how childhood trauma impacts the developing brain, learning and development. Dr. Cantor shares that while traumatic experiences and prolonged stress can have harmful effects, because the brain is malleable, there are many opportunities Read more about Video: How Schools can Support Students who have Experienced Trauma[…]

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Teachers of Color: In High Demand and Short Supply

The Learning Policy Institute has examined national data and recent research on the barriers teachers of color face to both entering and staying in the profession. Their new report, Diversifying the Teaching Profession: How to Recruit and Retain Teachers of Color, includes recommendations intended to help policymakers increase teacher workforce diversity-an especially important strategy to Read more about Teachers of Color: In High Demand and Short Supply[…]

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