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| LATEST NEWS FOR PRINCIPALS |
District Administration Magazine
Building principals, assistant principals and other school administrators engage frequently with students in conversations to address inappropriate behavior. The goal of these interactions is not only to provide consequences, but also to help students to avoid the initiation of similar infractions in the future. School administrators are in an ideal position — when setting consequences — to help students build behavioral skills.
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University of Washington via Science Daily
A favorite childhood pastime — swinging on the playground swing set — also may be teaching kids how to get along. The measured, synchronous movement of children on the swings can encourage preschoolers to cooperate on subsequent activities, University of Washington researchers have found. A study by the UW's Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences shows the potential of synchronized movement in helping young children develop collaborative skills. The study is published online in the Journal of Experimental Child Psychology.
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The Hechinger Report
It's 7 a.m. on a Friday and Teresa Kurilovitch already knows it's going to be a rough day. Twenty-one teachers are absent, and as a veteran secretary in the Niagara Falls High School office, she takes the first stab at finding replacements. This diverse, urban, high-poverty school district on the New York-Canadian border often has more absences than substitute teachers to fill them. But this day is particularly bad in the high school, with absences likely made more numerous by parent-teacher conferences the night before and the frigid temperature during an otherwise mild winter. Only 12 substitutes are available.
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District Administration Magazine
Educators have offered instruction that goes beyond the rote for many years, but the concept of deeper learning has recently grown in scope as higher education and the economy demand a more complex blend of intellectual and social skills. Today's deeper learning proponents urge schools to focus on six competencies: mastering rigorous academic content; thinking critically and solving problems; working collaboratively; communicating effectively; directing one's own learning; and developing an academic mindset.
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University of Royal Holloway London via Science Daily
New research has shown that learning to read by sounding out words (a teaching method known as phonics) has a dramatic impact on the accuracy of reading aloud and comprehension. There has been intense debate concerning how children should be taught to read. Researchers tested whether learning to read by sounding out words is more effective than focusing on whole-word meanings.
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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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By: Brian Stack (commentary)
Nearly three years ago, in an article for MultiBriefs Education, I talked about the need to transform libraries for the 21st century. I discussed how schools could reinvent their libraries using a model known as a "learning commons," which integrates the functions of a library, labs, lounges and seminar areas into a single community gathering space. Over the last few years, the concept of a makerspace has also risen in classrooms and schools from coast to coast.
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Edutopia (commentary)
Laura Wheeler, a contributor for Edutopia, writes: "Close your eyes and picture the most recent math class you taught. Who is doing the math? Who is doing the talking? Who is doing the thinking? Three years ago, my answer would have been 'me' — the teacher. My students were doing math, but I was probably telling them how to think and what to do most of the time."
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Language Magazine
During the summer months, young children lose literacy gains made during the school year, a phenomenon known as "summer slide." The most important thing teachers can do to reverse this trend is to help families adopt family literacy routines and promote opportunities for families to talk, read, and write together throughout the school year. Some suggestions include: Get families interested in literacy. Share samples of children's work and emerging literacy skills. Inform families about topics their children enjoy talking, reading and writing about.
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Brookings Institute
Scientific research has established that if all children are to achieve their developmental potential, it is important to lay the foundation during the earliest years for lifelong health, learning, and positive behavior. A central question is how well our public pre-kindergarten programs are doing to build this foundation. Forty-two states and the District of Columbia, through 57 pre-K programs, have introduced substantial innovations in their early education systems by developing the infrastructure, program sites, and workforce required to accommodate pre-K education. These programs now serve nearly 30 percent of the nation's 4-year-olds and 5 percent of 3-year-olds.
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HealthDay News
Here's yet another reason to make sure your kids are active: New research shows those with stronger muscles may have better working memory. Evaluating 79 children between the ages of 9 and 11, scientists said they found that muscle fitness was directly related to a more accurate memory. The results also reinforced established research linking kids' aerobic fitness to better thinking skills and academic performance. "There are multiple ways children can derive benefit from exercise ... to build healthy bodies as well as healthy minds," said study co-author Charles Hillman. He's a professor of psychology and health sciences at Northeastern University in Boston.
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Starts and Stripes
When Navy Capt. Cassidy Norman was assigned executive officer of the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman, he and his wife, Michelle, were relieved. His career path was taking them back to Virginia Beach — where they'd lived before and knew to be a good fit for their severely disabled daughter. The Normans were the quintessential military officer family. Cass served in combat and climbed the ranks paying his dues. He and Michelle had learned to balance the demands of family and a military that would take him away from home for months. Even their daughter Marisa's needs were being managed.
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The 74
"Professional development" is a four-letter word to some teachers, calling to mind all-staff lectures promising quick fixes, often from consultants who appear on inservice day and are never seen again. Similarly, researchers have generally been unable to find strong evidence on what forms of teacher professional development work or even whether the estimated billions of dollars districts spend on it annually are worthwhile. Now a new study points to one promising strategy for helping current teachers improve: one-on-one coaching.
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EdSurge (commentary)
Tim Hudson, a contributor for EdSurge, writes: "When I was serving 18,000 students as the K-12 Math Curriculum Coordinator for the Parkway School District in suburban St. Louis, I wore many hats — arguably too many for any one person. One of the most difficult challenges I faced was supporting our 400 K-8 math teachers with substantive professional learning. I wasn't alone. Just as teachers struggle to find time and resources that support differentiation and personalization for every student in math class, administrators nationwide struggle to differentiate for these students' teachers with relevant, timely professional learning."
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Reuters
Planting a successful school garden requires a lot more than just soil, seeds and water, say researchers who have come up with a planning tool that can help ensure school gardens thrive and endure. A teacher or parent may be the driving force behind getting a garden started, but once the teacher leaves the school, or the parent's child graduates, gardens can wither away unless they have been well integrated into the school community, the study team writes in Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
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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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By: Pierre LaRocco (commentary)
De-escalating students is one of the most important things a counselor does. It is a skill to be learned and honed. Students who need de-escalating are in great crisis, and many times they do not know what made them so upset or how to calm down on their own. When students are like this, they cannot just snap out of it. They need the systematic process of calming down. Here is my systematic process I walk students through to calm down.
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MindShift (commentary)
Alex Shevrin, a contributor for MindShift, writes: "On my best day as a teacher, I will talk passionately about progressive pedagogy, empathy as the core of a classroom and diverse student needs. I will say I care about every child, the whole child, and am committed to their growth. And then there are those bad days. The days where within the first two hours of my morning, I'm called a b*** three times. The ones where my perfectly planned learning activity falls flat because my brilliant student just refuses to pick her head up off the desk. The days when the differentiated lesson I designed just for that one student goes on perfectly but that one student's chair is empty, missing school again."
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U.S. News & World Report
The most important factor in a student's academic success is an effective teacher, most education policy experts agree. In fact, high quality instruction can counter crippling disadvantages, like those associated with low socioeconomic background. That's why Florida's Palm Beach County school district, where about 65 percent of its 190,000 students are poor enough to qualify for free and reduced-priced lunch, places so much emphasis on teacher preparation and professional development.
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| FEDERAL ADVOCACY AND POLICY |
Education Week
Have you been waiting for President Donald Trump to work with the Republican-controlled Congress and get rolling on a big K-12 education initiative? If so, you might be getting a little bit antsy. But is that unusual during the first 100 days or so of a presidential administration?
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Education Week
States and school districts are girding for a little-known but tricky piece of the Every Student Succeeds Act: the requirement that states report per-pupil spending for all their schools, a level of detail unknown even to many district superintendents. Without specific federal guidance so far, state finance officials must untangle the myriad — and sometimes obscure — costs behind school operations to come up with a single figure for each of the nation's 99,000 public schools.
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EnidNews.com
For decades, principals have come and gone at Tulsa's McLain High School in Oklahoma so frequently, it's nearly unheard of for a student to complete all four years of high school without seeing a new face in the principal's office. The school has had at least 11 principals or co-principals since 2000 and now is losing yet another one, who, after three years in the job, is leaving after the school year. The frequent change of leadership has sown frustration among parents and community advocates who believe the lack of stability is harming student achievement and stigmatizing the school.
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EdSource
Posing significant challenges for educators, about 1 in 8 students in California schools has at least one parent who is undocumented, according to a new brief from the Education Trust-West. Undocumented children as well as U.S. citizen children with undocumented relatives have experienced heightened anxieties for several years as a result of deportation policies begun under President George W. Bush and tightened ones under President Barack Obama. But according to school officials, those anxieties have reached new heights since Donald Trump's inauguration, with possible consequences on their ability to focus on school work, the willingness of parents to attend school events, or even to bring their children to school.
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NAESP
Like many schools across the country, Shields Elementary in Lewes, Delaware, has used a Positive Behavior Interventions and Support (PBS/PBIS) program for many years. A PBS system can make a remarkable difference in the discipline, learning, and overall climate in an elementary school. To lead our PBS efforts, a committee meets monthly and in the summer, and we are continually looking for ways to make our school better for our students.
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NAESP
Are you interested in strengthening your career while preparing a new generation of leaders? The National Mentor Training and Certification Program offers a highly structured professional development program which integrates a mentor training component that can make the critical difference in sustainability of skilled leaders. NAESP will be hosting an upcoming mentor training in Alexandria, Virginia, July 27-28. Click here to register and find more information.
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