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] Read more
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 Read more
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 Read more
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 Read more
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 Read more
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, Read more
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 Read more
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 Read more
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 Read more
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 Read more
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 Read more
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 Read more
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 Read more
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) Read more
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, Read more
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 Read more