Time to Help Teachers Be Advocates for Students, Not Their Judge and Jury

A recent article by Michael Horn of the Christensen Institute reviews the problem with teachers being both evaluators and facilitators of student learning. Excerpts from the piece appear below: In her bestselling book “Mindset: The New Psychology of Success,” Stanford professor Carol Dweck wrote, “When teachers are judging [students], [they] will sabotage the teacher by Read more about Time to Help Teachers Be Advocates for Students, Not Their Judge and Jury[…]

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10 Inevitable Education Evolutions Educators Can Lead

Recently in Getting Smart, Michael Niehoff wrote about 10 transformational practices that educators can lead. Excerpts of the piece appear below: If educators allow politicians, researchers and pundits to take charge of the evolution in education, it will be delayed and implemented with less clarity. It’s time for teachers to be change agents, thus owning Read more about 10 Inevitable Education Evolutions Educators Can Lead[…]

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Everything we Know about Effective Teachers

Recently on the Education Gadfly show, Dan Goldhaber, the director of CALDER, joined Mike Petrilli, David Griffith, and Amber Northern to discuss what rigorous research says about identifying, developing, and retaining effective teachers. The discussion focused on three main questions: Are there any indicators that can help us to predict which teaching candidates will be Read more about Everything we Know about Effective Teachers[…]

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Preparing School Leaders for Success

A growing body of research points to the ways in which principals influence teachers, classrooms, and, ultimately, student achievement. A new study by RAND examines the New Leaders Aspiring Principals program. Aspiring Principals has three core features: selective recruitment and admission, training and endorsement, and support for principals early in their tenure. RAND’s report is Read more about Preparing School Leaders for Success[…]

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Instructional Coaches: The Heroes of the Golden Age of Educational Practice

Recently in the Fordham Flypaper, Michael Petrilli wrote about the practice and promise of instructional coaches. Excerpts from the piece appear below: Whether initiated from the bottom-up or the top-down, any effort to help educators align their practice with the best evidence is going to succeed or fail on the strength of its implementation. This Read more about Instructional Coaches: The Heroes of the Golden Age of Educational Practice[…]

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Rethinking the way we Coach, Evaluate, and Appreciate Teachers

Over five decades as a teacher, central office administrator, principal, leadership coach, and research reader, Kim Marshall has honed a system for  supervising, coaching, and evaluating teachers. Here are the key elements: Short, frequent, unannounced classroom visits—at least ten a year for each teacher—replacing traditional formal observations; A humble, curious, low-tech approach to visits: observing Read more about Rethinking the way we Coach, Evaluate, and Appreciate Teachers[…]

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The Impact of Faculty Attitudes About Intelligence

A new study suggests that faculty members’ attitudes about intelligence can have a major impact on the success of students in science, mathematics and technology courses. Students see more achievement when their instructors believe in a “growth mind-set” about intelligence than they do learning from those who believe intelligence is fixed. The impact was found Read more about The Impact of Faculty Attitudes About Intelligence[…]

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Four Ways to Transform the Professional Learning Experience

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[…]

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Thinking About Classroom Practice: Five Ideas for Education Reformers

Recently in Fordham’s Flypaper, Robert Pondiscio reflected a new direction for education reform: a focus on instructional practice. He writes: Shifting ed reform’s focus to improving practice is an acknowledgment that underperformance is not a failure of will, but a lack of capacity. It’s a talent-development and human capital-strategy, not an accountability play. Forcing changes Read more about Thinking About Classroom Practice: Five Ideas for Education Reformers[…]

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

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[…]

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NCTQ Releases Strategic Teacher Compensation Databurst

NCTQ’s Strategic Teacher Compensation Databurst, a study of states’ strategic teacher compensation policies, includes a snapshot of all 50 states’ and the District of Columbia’s teacher compensation policies as they relate to providing additional compensation for effective teacher performance, teaching in high-need schools and subjects, and relevant, prior non-teaching work experience. In addition to comprehensive Read more about NCTQ Releases Strategic Teacher Compensation Databurst[…]

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State Mentoring Policies Key to Supporting Novice Teachers

The National Association of State Boards of Education has released a policy brief exploring state mentoring policies related to the support of novice teachers and the research on effective mentoring programs. Policy recommendations as well as state exemplar programs are offered. The brief finds that although there is evidence that formal induction programs lasting at Read more about State Mentoring Policies Key to Supporting Novice Teachers[…]

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State Education Policy Tracking

The Education Commission of the States is out with policy snapshots of enacted state legislation related to teachers. Each snapshot covers all teacher legislation in 2017 as well as select 2018 introduced legislation and details various state approaches to attracting and retaining a high-quality teacher workforce. Access the snapshots at the following links: Teacher Evaluations: Read more about State Education Policy Tracking[…]

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Key Strategies to Promote Educator Effectiveness

According to a new evaluation brief from National Center for Education Evaluation (NCEE), providing educators with performance feedback and offering pay-for-performance bonuses can improve student achievement. The evaluation brief synthesizes two recent NCEE impact studies, which evaluated key strategies that can be funded through the federal Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF) grants and its successor program, Read more about Key Strategies to Promote Educator Effectiveness[…]

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Teacher Leadership Works

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[…]

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Study Finds Feedback to Teachers and Principals Can Improve Student Achievement in Math

A study conducted by American Institutes for Research (AIR) for the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) shows that even small amounts of the right kind of feedback to teachers and principals can have a positive effect on student achievement in math. These findings are important for states and districts looking for ways to boost educator Read more about Study Finds Feedback to Teachers and Principals Can Improve Student Achievement in Math[…]

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