Personalized Learning Through Co-Teaching, Team Teaching, and Collaboration

Posted on June 27, 2018June 24, 2018 by coreeducation

Writing for The 74, Thomas Arnett and Bryan Hassel summarize ways innovative schools are utilizing novel staffing structures to facilitate personalized learning. Excerpts from their piece appear below: By adding personalized learning to teachers’ workloads without changing how schools are organized, schools face a great risk that their attempts to personalize learning will fall short Read more about Personalized Learning Through Co-Teaching, Team Teaching, and Collaboration[…]

Teacher Leadership Works

Posted on March 22, 2018March 16, 2018 by coreeducation

Candice McQueen and Charla Hurt recently shared the progress of a Tennessee initiative to engage effective teachers as teacher leaders for The 74. Excerpts of their piece appear below: The idea seemed like common sense: Engage the most effective teachers, ask them to come up with ideas for improving schools, and share what they know Read more about Teacher Leadership Works[…]

‘No-Excuses’ Charter Schools Could Close the Achievement Gap

Posted on March 8, 2018March 1, 2018 by coreeducation

A new survey of research into charter school effectiveness has linked so-called no-excuses practices in urban charter schools to sizable academic gains. Published in the Winter 2018 edition of The Future of Children, a journal jointly published by Princeton University and the Brookings Institution, the survey found that spending three years in one of these Read more about ‘No-Excuses’ Charter Schools Could Close the Achievement Gap[…]

Building Systems Knowledge for Continuous Improvement

Posted on February 12, 2018February 9, 2018 by coreeducation

In California, recent policy shifts have created a high degree of local control with the expectation that school districts will think differently about school and district improvement. However, many districts lack the individual expertise and organizational capacity to support these changes at scale. In large part, this is due to a lack of a shared Read more about Building Systems Knowledge for Continuous Improvement[…]

The Elements of Success: 10 Million Speak on Schools that Work

Posted on February 7, 2018March 3, 2020 by coreeducation

Based on a review of seminal documents from the Learning First Alliance member organizations, the Alliance has identified six elements around which successful schools are organized, whether formally or informally, that each impact several important aspects of schooling. These elements are: Focus on the Total Child Successful schools support all students’ needs, inside and outside Read more about The Elements of Success: 10 Million Speak on Schools that Work[…]

How School Buildings Affect Teacher Collaboration

Posted on January 22, 2018January 19, 2018 by coreeducation

Writing for Education Next, researchers James P. Spillane and Matthew Shirrell describe the findings of a four-year study of a midwestern suburban district, where they analyzed collaboration patterns among teachers and teased out the impact of teacher proximity to one another, shared workspace, and school design. Their analysis finds that physical proximity predicts staff interactions, Read more about How School Buildings Affect Teacher Collaboration[…]

Walking Together: A Practical Guide for Strengthening Partnerships Between Schools, Families, and Communities

Posted on November 6, 2017November 4, 2017 by coreeducation

Imagine this: A community comes together to set a vision for its public schools. In local libraries, neighborhood associations, school cafeterias, and places of worship, families sit down together and share their hopes and dreams for their children. They think about what schools need to do to better equip students for college, career, entrepreneurship, and Read more about Walking Together: A Practical Guide for Strengthening Partnerships Between Schools, Families, and Communities[…]

Personalization, Individualization and Differentiation

Posted on September 29, 2017March 3, 2020 by coreeducation

eSchool News recently published articles by Amanda Stedke and Gene Kerns, discussing the definitions and differences among personalization, individualization, and differentiation. The pieces cut right to the heart of the issue by noting that most of us struggle to clearly delineate differentiation, individualization, and personalization. This struggle for a definition poses a larger question: If Read more about Personalization, Individualization and Differentiation[…]

New Report Provides Education Leaders with School Interventions that Work

Posted on August 2, 2017July 29, 2017 by coreeducation

As state, district, and school leaders begin work under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) to identify and intervene in low-performing schools and among under-achieving groups of students, a new report by the Alliance for Excellent Education offers action steps and research-backed solutions to guide their work. The report, School Interventions That Work: Targeted Support Read more about New Report Provides Education Leaders with School Interventions that Work[…]

The Shortcomings of Efficiency in Education

Posted on May 26, 2017March 3, 2020 by coreeducation

Andy Smarick, writing for AEI, has penned a piece on the shortcomings of efficiency as an educational goal. Excerpts from his article appear below: There are very good reasons to resist (or at least be skeptical of) efforts to drive “efficiency” in public education. One of the biggest reasons is that any attempt to maximize Read more about The Shortcomings of Efficiency in Education[…]

Leverage Points

Posted on March 22, 2017March 16, 2017 by coreeducation

Results for America and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) recently released Leverage Points, a new report that spotlights 13 opportunities for states to accelerate their use of data and evidence to improve K-12 schools. The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) requires in some parts (and encourages in others) the use of evidence-based Read more about Leverage Points[…]

“It Turns Out Spending More Probably Does Improve Education”

Posted on January 17, 2017January 13, 2017 by coreeducation

If you spend more on education, will students do better? For many years, research on the relationship between spending and student learning has been surprisingly inconclusive. Many other factors, including student poverty, parental education and the way schools are organized, contribute to educational results. Teasing out the specific effect of money spent is methodologically difficult. Read more about “It Turns Out Spending More Probably Does Improve Education”[…]

Advancing Equity through ESSA: Strategies for State Leaders

Posted on November 10, 2016October 28, 2016 by coreeducation

The Aspen Institute’s Education & Society Program and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) have released a new report, Advancing Equity through ESSA: Strategies for State Leaders. This framework is designed to help states make the most of the opportunities provided in ESSA to advance eight equity priorities that states already are pursuing. Read more about Advancing Equity through ESSA: Strategies for State Leaders[…]

Most Likely to Succeed

Posted on July 1, 2016September 12, 2020 by coreeducation

David Brooks, an op-ed writer for the New York Times, examines the new documentary, Most Likely to Succeed and analyzes the claims it makes about the current state of the American Education system: Greg Whiteley’s documentary, Most Likely to Succeed, argues that the American school system is ultimately built on a Prussian model designed over Read more about Most Likely to Succeed[…]

Through a Student’s Eyes

Posted on June 14, 2016June 14, 2016 by coreeducation

Do teachers really know what students go through? To find out, one teacher followed two students for two days and was amazed at what she found. Her report appeared on the blog of Grant Wiggins, the co-author of Understanding by Design and the author of Educative Assessment. Alexis Wiggins’ article is excerpted Read more about Through a Student’s Eyes[…]

Making the Grade: A 50 State Analysis of Accountability Systems

Posted on June 1, 2016June 1, 2016 by coreeducation

Over the past 15 years, a national consensus has slowly coalesced around one of the most enduring and contentious debates in education circles: how to hold schools and districts accountable for improving outcomes. The Every Student Succeeds Act, or ESSA, is in many ways the culmination of the movement towards more sophisticated accountability systems and Read more about Making the Grade: A 50 State Analysis of Accountability Systems[…]