This message was sent to ##Email##
|
|
|
|
|
| | LATEST NEWS FOR PRINCIPALS |
District Administration Magazine
Many district administrators seem to agree that teenagers need more sleep. A new study released in February indicates that attendance and graduation rates may match the science, too. Published in Sleep Health, the journal of the National Sleep Foundation, the study includes data for 30,000 students in 29 high schools from eight districts across seven states. Two years after a delayed start was implemented at these high schools, average attendance rates increased from 90 percent to 94 percent, and graduation rates increased from 79 percent to 88 percent.
READ MORE
eSchool News
One in four educators participating in a recent survey said their schools are "very traditional," and findings indicate that these traditional approaches could be holding students and teachers back from more innovative experiences. The Schools of Hope survey, from learning experience design firm MeTEOR Education, queried more than 7,000 educators. Twenty-nine percent of surveyed educators indicated their schools are just beginning to integrate project-based, real-world learning approaches.
READ MORE
By: Brian Stack (commentary)
 For more than a decade, states have published grades and ranks of their schools as part of the requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act, a federal mandate first signed into law by President George W. Bush in 2002. Since that time, many states have developed a system that uses common measures such as standardized test scores and graduation rates to generate letter-grade report cards for schools, similar to the ones that students are issued.
READ MORE
|
Promoted by
|
|
|
|
 |
Education Week
Teachers have been using the free, open language arts and math materials from EngageNY at impressive rates, as I wrote earlier this week. The site, hosted by the New York state education department, has had more than 17 million users and 66 million downloads since the resources went online six years ago. A relatively new organization, Open Up Resources, is seeking to build on the appetite for using free, open curricula as an alternative to traditional textbooks.
READ MORE
EdSource
Some students in California don't have to take field trips to parks or national forests for environmental education — they just open their classroom door. To supplement their science and environmental curricula, hundreds of schools across the state have busted up their asphalt play yards and replaced them with wood chips, trees, flowers, shrubs and vegetables. The new gardens don't just add greenery to the schoolyard; they help teachers implement California's new science standards, which emphasize hands-on learning and crossover between scientific disciplines.
READ MORE
 |
|
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
|
|
Education World
There has been a flood of research pointing to the advantages of social and emotional learning and its benefits for developing the whole child — and even specifically their academic skills and ability to make good choices. But what about its connection to leadership? According to the Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning, good SEL skills can be developed in schools and classrooms in a number of ways, including through leadership opportunities. That comes at a time when leaders in education and the business community don't think we are doing enough to teach kids leadership lessons.
READ MORE
Edutopia (commentary)
Teachers have mandated content to cover, but also seek to develop skills that students will use long after they have forgotten rote facts.
READ MORE
The Conversation
Issues around children learning to read are rarely out of the news. Which is hardly surprising — becoming a successful reader is of paramount importance in improving a child's life chances. Nor is it surprising that reading creates a virtuous circle: the more you read the better you become. But what may come as a surprise is that reading to dogs is gaining popularity as a way of addressing concerns about children's reading. There is a lot of research evidence indicating that children who read extensively have greater academic success. The U.K. Department for Education's Reading for Pleasure report, published in 2012, highlights this widely established link.
READ MORE
EdSurge (commentary)
Ann Whitehair, a contributor for EdSurge, writes: "As an English teacher with 24 years of experience, I often feel I've explored every possible avenue to help my students grow as writers. That is truer today than ever as new technology has increased the instructional possibilities, and evidence-based, on-demand testing has forced me to get creative. But while the educational landscape has shifted, my core values as a teacher have remained the same: to ensure engagement, growth and the retention of learning — 'stickiness' — for each student."
READ MORE
EdTech Magazine
Microsoft's Windows 10 has more granular management controls than any other operating system, but that can make it hard to know where to begin. Many of the tools for deploying, securing and configuring Windows 10 can be downloaded for free, but others need to be licensed. To get the most of this trove of tools, it's important to understand which technologies are best suited to your environment.
READ MORE
The Atlantic
At a Berlin day-care center, the children packed away all the toys: the cars, the tiny plastic animals, the blocks and Legos, even the board games and most of the art materials. They then stood in the empty classroom and looked at their two instructors. "What should I do now?" my son, then 5, asked. He did not get an answer to this question for a long time. His day-care center, or kita, was starting a toy-free kindergarten project. For several weeks, the toys would disappear and the teachers wouldn't tell the children what to play. While this practice may seem harsh, the project has an important pedagogic goal: to improve the children's life skills to strengthen them against addictive behaviors in the future.
READ MORE
 |
|
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.
|
|
Education Week
Advocates for children with disabilities are cheering a recent decision by the U.S. Supreme Court as a clear win that establishes more-ambitious academic standards for special education students. Representatives for some educational groups and districts, on the other hand, have a more measured response. They say that the March 22 decision in Endrew F. v. Douglas County School District sets forth a standard for the level of benefit required under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act that most school districts were exceeding already.
READ MORE
Romper
During her confirmation hearing, Betsy Devos — Secretary of Education under President Donald Trump — struggled to answer a number of pertinent questions about the past, present, and future of the U.S. education system. DeVos has been a controversial pick since she was tapped by Trump for the role, in large part because of her lack of experience. Parents and teachers are particularly worried about DeVos' opinions (and often lack thereof) on early childhood education. How would Betsy DeVos change kindergarten? Her stance on early childhood education is still unclear.
READ MORE
Edutopia (commentary)
Chris Ward's fifth graders have been practicing long division for most of the period. While some understand it well, others are still struggling. Tomorrow, Chris wants to offer appropriate choices to enable students to practice what they need, so today she'll use a quick check-in — a simple formative assessment — to determine those choices.
READ MORE
 |
|
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
|
|
Education Week
Under both the No Child Left Behind Act's school improvement sanctions and the Obama-era school improvement grants, school closure has been promoted as a key way to move students to a better education. But new research suggests it may leave some students and communities in the lurch. In the decade from 2003-2004 to 2013-2014, about 2 percent of public schools nationwide closed, turning out about 200,000 students, according to a new study of school closures by the Urban Institute.
READ MORE
NPR
We are in the midst of a quiet revolution in school discipline. In the past five years, 27 states have revised their laws with the intention of reducing suspensions and expulsions. And, more than 50 of America's largest school districts have also reformed their discipline policies — changes which collectively affect more than 6.35 million students. A new paper from Max Eden, a senior fellow at the conservative-leaning Manhattan Institute, argues that this is all too much, too soon. In New York City, for example, suspensions have fallen by half since 2011.
READ MORE
[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.
READ MORE
Penn State via Science Daily
Diversity in schools is important for students' experiences and outcomes in schools and beyond, reducing prejudices and ensuring the likelihood of living and working in integrated environments as adults. Now researchers are exploring how school choice is affecting racial composition and segregation in Pennsylvania schools.
READ MORE
By: Judith Villarreal (commentary)
 From after-school sports to your child's daycare playground, artificial grass has quickly become the preferred material surface for schools, sports fields and recreational parks because it is low-maintenance and cost-efficient. While there may be huge monetary savings to be found in using artificial turf over real grass, one major component used to create the fields and playgrounds has some worried about the health hazards for children who spend a great deal of time on the playing surface.
READ MORE
| | FEDERAL ADVOCACY AND POLICY |
Education Week
On April 3, states will begin officially submitting their plans for the Every Student Succeeds Act to the U.S. Department of Education. And then comes the, umm ... fun part. Those plans will be examined through a wonky-but-important process known as "peer review," in which a team of educators and experts essentially takes a close look at a state's vision, to see if it complies with the law. On April 4, the Education Department — now controlled by Team Trump — released guidance spelling out exactly what those reviewers should be looking for.
READ MORE
PBS Newshour
The Supreme Court recently ruled unanimously in favor of providing more educational opportunities for students with disabilities, a move that could set the bar higher for more than six million students. Lisa Stark of Education Week joins John Yang to discuss the court's ruling and what it means for the classroom.
READ MORE
The Sacramento Bee
Every so often, "clackers," as teachers at Hiram Johnson High call them, will visit Mary Rodríguez's class to watch her teach and make recommendations. These administrators, she said, wear shoes that aren't ideal for Hiram Johnson's floors, making it easy to hear them coming. A lot of them roam the halls these days: Sacramento City Unified has increased spending on administrators during the last several years while cutting spending on teachers. "We are just putting our noses to the grindstone and trying to teach the kids, and it becomes exhausting," Rodríguez said.
READ MORE
The Texas Tribune
After weeks of debating how to prevent school districts from becoming financial losers, the House Public Education Committee voted 10-1 to adopt its leading school finance bill, which would inject an extra $1.6 billion into the state public education system. Committee Chairman Dan Huberty, the author of House Bill 21, praised the committee for building legislation that would boost per-student funding for almost every school district and charter in the state. He also acknowledged the losses some school districts would have to face: "I know that we didn't help everybody. And we tried."
READ MORE
|
Missed last week's issue? See which articles your colleagues read most.
|
|
Don't be left behind. Click here to see what else you missed.
|
NAESP
The 2017 NAESP Vice President Election is now open from March 29 – April 11. On March 29, eligible voters should have received 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.
READ MORE
NAESP
When people hear the word "badges," they often think about organizations like the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts. A scout who accomplishes a certain set of activities receives a badge that both documents and standardizes the achievement. Any scout or leader — even those in different packs or troops — would know what the scout had accomplished just by looking at the badge.
READ MORE
|
|
|
 |
|
Designed for kids ages 5 to 12, Smart Play: Venti packs 20 exciting activities into its compact size.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
7701 Las Colinas Ridge, Ste. 800, Irving, TX 75063
|
