Many schools are using a simultaneous learning approach, where teachers work with all students, both in person and online, at the same time. However, writes The 74 contributor Beth Rabbitt, despite hard work and good intentions, full-time, simultaneous learning is not a best practice. Online models are least effective when teachers try to engage learners Read more about Overcoming Challenges of Concurrent Learning[…]
School leaders mustn’t lose sight of the need for student agency and student engagement as they contend with the myriad challenges posed by COVID-19. In fact, they must reimagine what agency and engagement can look like in cases when students are learning virtually and also when they are unable to connect. Mere Engagement: Reflections about Read more about Mere Engagement: Reflections about the Connections Between Online Learning, Student Agency, and Student Engagement[…]
Recently in The Hill, Thomas Toch and Lynn Olson, both of FutureEd, reflected on staffing innovations that are emerging as promising practices amid the pandemic. Excerpts from the piece appear below: One reason distance learning has been such a harrowing experience during the pandemic is that most schools merely shifted the traditional teaching model to Read more about Staffing Innovations from the Pandemic[…]
Recently in The 74, Nat Damon, a 25-year educator and author of Time to Teach: Time to Reach reflected on how to put the nuance into virtual teaching. Excerpts of the piece appear below: Remote teaching does not feel like teaching. This is not the same as saying remote teaching is not teaching. It absolutely Read more about A Teacher’s View: Remote Teaching Doesn’t Feel Like Teaching. Six Steps Toward Putting the Nuance Back Into Classroom Interactions[…]
During the current COVID-19 global health crisis and shift to distance learning, students are being asked to do more independent work—reading, writing, and problem solving—outside of their time in class. School and district leaders in the West have expressed a need for teachers to have access to user-friendly, research-based guidance on effective ways to design Read more about REL West Resources on Independent Learning[…]
Launched by a diverse community of education experts and scholars from around the country, the National Student Support Accelerator is building a comprehensive set of tools and resources for tutoring organizations, schools, and districts that will make it possible to implement high-impact tutoring at scale. Research shows that high-impact tutoring — tutoring delivered three or Read more about National Student Support Accelerator Offers Website, Toolkit for High-Impact Tutoring[…]
For teachers, the development of habits is a necessary concession to the unpredictable nature of their job. Morning assignments, class transitions, even behavior management need to be governed by routines that are as predictable for kids as they are effective for adults. But according to new research, these habits may be responsible for the slowing Read more about Study Finds that Habit Formation Could Block Teacher Improvement[…]
Writing for K-12 Dive, Katie Navarra recently reviewed new trends emerging for K-12 educator professional learning. Excerpts from the piece appear below: The coronavirus has required teachers, like their students, to shift how they receive training and support. Even when schools can return to “normal,” these forced changes may result in long-term benefits. Following are Read more about K-12 Professional Development Trends to Watch in 2021[…]
The start of the second semester offers an opportunity to pause and assess your school or district needs—which is particularly valuable now in the face of continued challenges. CASEL has released a brief titled Refocus on the SEL Roadmap: Actions for a Successful Semester. Adapted from CASEL’s SEL Roadmap, this brief focuses on three core Read more about Refocus on SEL[…]
McREL researchers Samantha Holquist and Marisa Crowder collaborated with members of student voice organizations in Oregon and Kentucky to provide us with a deeper level of understanding about what may be shaping students’ engagement in the school community. Their research report is comprehensive, offering many insights from the students’ perspective and proposing a framework for Read more about The “Silent Epidemic” Finds Its Voice: Demystifying How Students View Engagement in Their Learning[…]
Every year, local and state governments spend billions of dollars on economic development incentives, but even though corporations regularly say that a skilled or educated workforce is more important to them than almost any other factor — including tax incentives — few state legislatures focus on the training of those who develop that workforce: teachers. Read more about How Do Teacher Preparation Programs Affect a State’s Economy?[…]
Science tells us that learning is not a byproduct of natural intelligence, but a process dependent on skills like focusing and centering your attention, planning and sticking to a program, and tenacity. The precise process or method used for learning has been shown to consistently predict success. Depending on which learning process students used, scientists Read more about Six Steps to an Effective Learning Process[…]
Schools across the nation are embracing social and emotional learning (SEL) to help students build skills like setting goals, working together, and making good decisions. But what do teachers think about the SEL-related efforts in their districts and schools? How do they see these efforts affecting their students and themselves? Do they feel they are Read more about Supports for SEL in American Schools and Classrooms: Findings from the American Teacher Panel[…]
A new report by Carnegie Corporation of New York calls for transforming teaching and student learning by anchoring professional learning in high-quality curriculum materials. Teachers’ jobs are changing in real time. Over the past decade, new academic standards have dramatically shifted expectations for student learning. It’s no longer enough to raise a hand and give Read more about The Elements: Transforming Teaching through Curriculum-Based Professional Learning[…]
The recent report Are Students Ready to Thrive in an Interconnected World? from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), explores students’ ability to examine issues of local, global and cultural significance; understand and appreciate the perspectives and worldviews of others; engage in open, appropriate and effective interactions across cultures; and take action for Read more about Are Students Ready to Thrive in an Interconnected World?[…]
A recent study from Brown University’s Matthew A. Kraft and John P. Papay and Harvard’s Olivia L. Chi uses nine years of administrative data from Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools in North Carolina to examine teacher improvement through the lens of principal evaluations. Although teachers were evaluated on eight domains (e.g., Management of Instructional Time, Management of Student Read more about Teacher Improvement during the First Ten Years[…]