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| | LATEST NEWS FOR PRINCIPALS |
NPR
Growing up in a hungry household in the first couple of years of life can hurt how well a child performs in school years later, according to a new study. An estimated 13.1 million children live in homes with insufficient food, according to the most recent figures from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Many of those children experience hunger during their first few years of life, or their parents are hungry and stressed out about food during those years — the most crucial time for a child's development.
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The Atlantic
For more than a decade, standardized-test scores have been the dominant metric for measuring what public-school students know and are able to do. No Child Left Behind, the sweeping federal education law enacted in 2002, ushered in a new era of student testing and school compliance. And in the years that followed—to meet targets and avoid sanctions — education leaders at the local and state levels have sought a variety of ways to boost students' performance on tests, including extending the school day and giving bonus pay to teachers based on students' test scores. Even less conventional methods, such as banning cell phones and offering yoga-like exercises, emerged as school administrators pursued the holy grail of high standardized-test scores.
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By: Susan Winebrenner (commentary)
 Can you visualize a bell curve that illustrates the achievement of students at at a particular grade level? The curve shows average students represented in the middle, struggling students to the left, and gifted or advanced learners to the right. Please make a guess about which group of students is most likely to make the least forward academic progress in any given school year. Does the knowledge that the correct answer is "students in the top 15-plus percent" seem shocking to you?
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Psychology Today
Many children who do not have trouble learning how to read do have trouble understanding what they read. Yet surprisingly, comprehension instruction did not receive much attention from reading professionals until the 1970s, with the arrival of the cognitive revolution. Having renounced behaviorism, psychology's new cognitive paradigm defined mental activity in terms of information processing and viewed comprehension as the integration of information from a wide variety of sources.
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Edutopia (commentary)
If you're assigning the same homework to all of your students, you may not be helping them reach their full potential. Consider this scenario: Marly and Evan are in the same math class, but they're having very different experiences with homework. Marly completes most of her work in a few minutes. After all, she already knows how to divide fractions. Evan, however, spends an hour and a half struggling through work he doesn't understand.
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UltraKey® Online is the latest generation of the teacher’s favorite typing tutor with all-new interfacing, the delightful new Game Zone™ with challenging language activities, voice-supported instruction, and a powerful management system perfect for small, medium and large districts. For your live preview, call 1-800-465-6428 or visit: www.bytesoflearning.com
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Education Week
One potential benefit of having the majority of states using the same standards (and most states still are using the Common Core State Standards, despite the public controversy about the standards and a number of states' decisions drop the standards) is that teachers and states might be able to share information or resources. But seven years after states began adopting the common core, there's not a lot of information about what resources states endorse or share with educators, or about how much different sets of resources have in common.
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Michigan State University via Science Daily
"Why do I have to learn this?" It's a common question among youth, but new research suggests students perform much better academically when the answer is provided by their peers rather than their teachers.
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MindShift
Math teachers of older students sometimes struggle to get students to explain their thinking with evidence. It's hard to get kids in the habit of talking about how they are thinking about a problem when they've had many years of instruction that focused on getting the "right answer." That's why educators are now trying to get students in the habit of explaining their thinking at a young age.
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Education Week
Amid a steady drumbeat of reports on cyber-espionage and election-related hackings, lawmakers are wrestling with questions of how to best protect the country from digital threats and address a severe shortage of skilled cybersecurity workers. That means new attention for nascent efforts to support cybersecurity education, including in K-12 schools. The National Governors Association, eight different federal agencies, and a national commission established by President Barack Obama are among those supporting a wide assortment of cybersecurity-related education and workforce-development initiatives.
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Benchmark Advance and Adelante build K-6 literary and content-area knowledge through close reading and collaborative conversations. Foundational skills, writing to sources, and use of text evidence are seamlessly integrated, as are resources for ELs that amplify meaning without simplifying language. Fully equitable Spanish edition also available. FREE sampler.
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The Washington Post
Fixing schools is slow. Superintendents and principals come up with plans. Guidelines are issued. Families are informed. Teachers introduce new lessons. Students follow as best they can, while years pass without big results. Yet one category of change is much faster, often not in a good way. School districts have been experimenting with changes in rules to reduce the number of children sent home for bad behavior. They do that, and boom! Out-of-school suspension rates plummet, usually producing not applause but bitter disputes over racial differences and renewed disruption.
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Scrap the sticky notes and shred the spreadsheets. Create fair, first-class classes with Class Composer. Where does it hurt? When it comes to assigning elementary school students to their classes, it’s the knees, the back and the head. Why?
Read more: http://www.classcomposer.com/news
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eSchool News
No technology can replace high-quality teachers. But what happens when high-quality STEM teachers become hard to find, and what happens when STEM teacher applicant pools dry up? And how can the U.S. extend critical STEM learning opportunities to its youngest students? Students today need more STEM learning opportunities inside classrooms and outside of school. Those opportunities can occur across content areas. But there are barriers to this learning, including teacher recruitment and training, the way STEM learning is structured in some schools, and existing policies.
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[Istation]
Educators share eight ways to save time and reduce testing fatigue. Learn how to get a clear picture of student progress with a FREE e-book that explores the benefits of data-driven instruction.
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The New York Times
Sit still. It's the mantra of every classroom. But that is changing as evidence builds that taking brief activity breaks during the day helps children learn and be more attentive in class, and a growing number of programs designed to promote movement are being adopted in schools.
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| | FEDERAL ADVOCACY AND POLICY |
Education Week
U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos said in a video interview that it should be up to states and districts to decide how frequently to test their students. "It's really a matter for states and locales to determine how much testing is actually necessary for measuring what students are learning," DeVos said. "I think it's important to know and understand, however, what they are learning, and it's important for parents to have that information, so that they can be assured that their students are in the right place.
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By: Howard Margolis (commentary)
 Throughout the country, parents of children with disabilities and advocates are celebrating the Supreme Court's unanimous Endrew F. v. Douglas County decision. And they have every right to do so. The promise of this decision might even be transformative. However, a "promise" without a clear plan of action is unlikely to substantially benefit struggling learners. Children will only benefit if parents, advocates and school personnel fully understand how to develop IEPs.
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The Texas Tribune
After little debate, the Senate Education Committee voted 7-3 to pass legislation that would create two public programs subsidizing private school tuition and homeschooling expenses. Senate Bill 3, a priority for Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, now heads to the full Senate, where it's also expected to pass. Corresponding bills have not been taken up by the House Public Education Committee.
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NAESP
The 2017 NAESP Vice President Election is open from March 29 – April 11. On March 29, eligible voters will receive an email with a customized link to cast their vote. The process is simple: Check your email on March 29 for the link to your online ballot. Click on the link and vote for the next NAESP Vice President. No username or login is required. You will receive a confirmation email after you have voted. Click here for more information on voting and candidates.
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NAESP
All principals face space and money issues. Having worked for different schools and districts of all shapes, sizes, and levels, we've had to get creative. We have learned that some staff members will complain if they don't receive new tech toys or equipment directly. Oftentimes this equipment goes unused and is not accessible to all students. According to Sharon Watkins, an education research specialist at The Ohio State University, "The reality is, with the exception of early adopters, most technology integration takes time, ongoing coaching, and professional modeling in order for regular use to become the norm."
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Designed for kids ages 5 to 12, Smart Play: Venti packs 20 exciting activities into its compact size.
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