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[…]
Three years ago, TNTP set out to understand how so many students could graduate from high school unprepared for the lives they want to lead. To find out, they followed nearly 4,000 students in three large urban districts, one small rural district, and one charter network with three schools in separate cities to view school Read more about What Students Can Show Us About How School Is Letting Them Down-and How to Fix It[…]
If students are going to get the most out of school, they need to be engaged. Research shows, for example, that disengaged students are more likely to suffer a range of bad consequences, such as failing a course, repeating a grade, and dropping out. Yet however much rhetoric we may hear about building a “student-centered” Read more about How High School Teachers can Better Engage their Students, according to Teens[…]
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[…]
For the past two years, Education First has facilitated a community of practice of five teacher preparation technical assistance centers–Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, National Center for Teacher Residencies, TeacherSquared, TeachingWorks and University-School Partnerships for the Renewal of Educator Prep–working to reimagine the way teachers are prepared for the classroom. As part of Read more about New Tools and Resources for Reimagining Teacher Preparation[…]
Recently in Education Week, Madeline Will wrote about the challenges that the CAEP standards have faced in the past five years and the goal of strengthening teacher preparation. Excerpts of the piece appear below: The Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation, which was created by a 2010 merger between two national accrediting bodies, officially Read more about CAEP: A Bold Set of Teacher Preparation Standards Faces Challenges[…]
Another student gets good grades, graduates from high school, and earns admission to a public university, but realizes too late that high school coursework did not provide the academic preparation needed for college and must be repeated- this time costing college tuition. All students deserve the opportunity to take courses that prepare them to enter Read more about Why do high school expectations matter?[…]
Recently in The 74, Kate Walsh wrote about the power of school districts to fix their own teacher pipeline, including the portion of the pipeline coming from traditional teacher preparation programs. Excerpts from the piece appear below: A growing number of school districts are embracing the teacher residency model as a solution to their shortage Read more about District Power to Fix the Student Teacher Pipeline[…]
Teacher mentoring has proven to be an effective form of professional learning that has positive results on student performance. But too often, mentoring programs are loosely designed and fall short of desired outcomes. In Core Education’s September issue brief, we explore teacher mentoring and coaching, including the research base for this form of professional development, Read more about September Issue Brief: Teacher Mentoring[…]
Education Commission of the States recently released a new report exploring the design and impact of Creative Youth Development (CYD) programs and providing policy considerations regarding CYD for states looking for ways to narrow the achievement gap and support student success. In CYD programs, young people create original work through arts experiences and apply their Read more about How Creative Youth Development (CYD) Programs Support Student Success[…]
The Fordham Institute has been a staunch supporter of the Common Core standards. But reviewers there have noted specific improvements that a few enterprising states have made to the standards, as well as some other areas where improvement is clearly possible. Their recommendations include the following: Recommendations for English language arts Further develop the disciplinary Read more about Recommendations to Improve on the Common Core[…]
To close achievement gaps, education leaders must adopt more complete approaches to outstanding learning for all, secure and healthy learners, and a culture of equity within low- and moderate-poverty schools. A shortfall in any of these three areas within a school magnifies the impact of unequal access to resources-educational, personal, and sociopolitical-outside of school. In Read more about Outstanding Learning for All, Secure & Healthy Learners, and Culture of Equity[…]
Most states have been struggling to address teacher shortages for several years now, often filling the vacuum with underprepared teachers who aren’t able to give children the high-quality learning they need and who leave at two to three times the rate of well-prepared teachers. Most often, these teachers are hired in schools serving students of Read more about State Efforts to Solve Teacher Shortages by Strengthening the Profession[…]
Michael Hansen and Diana Quintero, writing in a Teacher Diversity in America series for the Brown Center on Education Policy, recently explored the distribution of teachers of color and find that teachers in the US are even more segregated than students. As we know, an increasing amount of evidence shows that alignment in the racial Read more about Teachers in the US Are Even More Segregated than Students[…]
Writing for New America, Melissa Tooley and Taylor White highlight how the policies undergirding most states’ licensure renewal systems not only conflict with what is known about best practices in adult learning, but that “whether a teacher grows considerably while fulfilling her state’s renewal requirements or does not improve at all is of no consequence Read more about Promoting Professional Learning Through Teacher Licensure Renewal Policies[…]
The PDK Poll of the Public’s Attitudes Toward the Public Schools is the most trusted source of public opinion about K-12 education. This poll queried U.S. adults about a range of issues confronting education, including teacher pay and the teaching profession, school security, options for improving the public schools, perceptions of opportunities for different groups Read more about 2018 PDK Poll of the Public’s Attitude Toward the Public Schools[…]