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| | LATEST NEWS FOR PRINCIPALS |
By: Bob Kowalski
 The school nutrition focus has long been on school lunches, but children's breakfast is gaining some attention lately. The results in participation and performance are encouraging. When the U.S. Department of Agriculture implemented national school lunch standards in 2012, the aim was to reduce childhood obesity. The move targeted saturated fats, trans fats and sodium, and mandated that fruits and vegetables be available to students every day at school.
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Scholastic Administration (commentary)
Kelli Cedo, a contributor for Scholastic Administration magazine, writes: "You've likely seen the research and read the reports about academic summer slide and how this contributes to the achievement gap. Coming from a principal who works in a Title I school, I'll tell you this: It absolutely does. It also contributes to our country's growing equity gap."
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District Administration Magazine
The arts survive in American education, despite pressures placed on school leaders to focus on high-stakes tests in math and English. As of March, 27 states identify the arts as a core academic subject. And 49 states and the District of Columbia have adopted elementary and secondary standards for the arts, according to the "State of the States: 2016 Arts Education State Policy Summary" report from the Arts Education Partnership, a policy center within the Education Commission of the States.
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eSchool News
The implementation of the Common Core State Standards has been met with anxiety from administrators and educators at every level, because, like any major change, it can seem scary and overwhelming. General education teachers have had to learn and apply new instructional strategies to address the new standards and the vision that the standards embody, particularly universal design for learning. Special education teachers have been required for the first time to become pseudo subject-area experts to help struggling students and those with learning disabilities meet the standards.
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MindShift
Students' behavior is a form of communication and when it's negative it almost always stems from an underlying cause. There are many reasons kids might be acting out, which makes it difficult for a teacher in a crowded classroom to figure out the root cause. But even if there was time and space to do so, most teachers receive very little training in behavior during their credentialing programs. On average, teacher training programs mandate zero to one classes on behavior and zero to one courses on mental health. Teacher training programs mostly assume that kids in public schools will be "typical," but that assumption can handicap teachers when they get into real classrooms.
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NPR
In public radio's mythical Lake Wobegon, "all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average." The first two conditions are merely unlikely. The third one is a mathematical absurdity. However, a new survey suggests that almost all parents believe it to be true. In a recent survey of public school parents, 90 percent stated that their children were performing on or above grade level in both math and reading. Parents held fast to this sunny belief no matter their own income, education level, race or ethnicity. The nationally administered test known as the Nation's Report Card, or NAEP, suggests a very different reality. About half of white students are on grade level in math and reading by fourth grade; the percentages are lower for African-Americans and Hispanics.
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By: Erick Herrmann
 Educators have been studying and discussing how to help students develop a stance of growth and perseverance — as opposed to a fixed mindset, where people see ability and skills as innate. Some believe the key to encouraging a growth mindset in students is to praise effort, rather than providing empty feedback to students through simple praise such as "good job" or "nice work." While this is helpful, it is not the complete picture, especially for English learners.
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Edutopia (commentary)
The ultimate goals of mathematics instruction are students understanding the material presented, applying the skills, and recalling the concepts in the future. There's little benefit in students recalling a formula or procedure to prepare for an assessment tomorrow only to forget the core concept by next week. It's imperative for teachers to focus on making sure that the students understand the material and not just memorize the procedures.
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Connected Principals (commentary)
Much is said in the media about schools being stressful places and, perhaps, education is nearing crisis point in terms of what is being asked of teachers. Workload is an issue that simmers on and, if not addressed, can have a significant impact on staff morale and school culture. It is, therefore, of little surprise to read that teaching is one of the most stressful professions to enter and be a part of. While external agencies and government bodies play an obvious role in creating teacher workload and stress through their mandated requirements, school leaders also make decisions in either contributing to or alleviating the problem.
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Playworks.org
Creating a culture of safe, healthy play transforms children's social, emotional, and physical health. And that has a big impact on the classroom. Kids who get healthy play at recess come back to class ready to learn. In one study, teachers reclaimed 21 hours of class time each through a healthy play culture at recess. Healthy play means fewer conflicts spilling over into the classroom and smoother transitions back to class. But the impact for schools goes beyond productive class time.
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Education Week
Monitoring facets of school climate — like how safe, supported and welcome students feel in their schools — has, until recently, been off limits to some districts that lack the resources or know-how to accurately measure those perceptions. Tracking those factors is necessary to ensure that efforts to improve the learning environment are effective and that schools don't overlook the needs of students from some populations, like those from racial minority groups, researchers say.
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The Atlantic
The U.S. Education Secretary John King is frustrated by what he describes as the "ahistorical nature" of conversations today about how to integrate schools. Speaking at a Century Foundation panel on Tuesday to highlight two recent reports by the left-leaning think tank, King said that the need for "urgency" when it comes to making classrooms more socioeconomically and racially diverse is sometimes thwarted by communities who see the current lack of real integration as a fact over which they have no control. That, he argued, is simply not true.
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THE Journal
In November of 2014, President Barack Obama challenged district superintendents to sign the Future Ready Pledge. By signing it, they committed to working with teachers, families and community members to transition their districts to "personalized, digital learning." Since then, over 2,000 superintendents representing roughly three out of 10 students in America have signed. A coalition led by the Alliance for Excellent Education, the U.S. Department of Education and the LEAD Commission held 13 Future Ready regional summits across the nation to provide support for those districts and build a network of leaders.
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Education Week
Virtual and blended schools continue to grow at a rapid pace despite persistently "dismal" academic outcomes and little knowledge about their internal workings, according to a new analysis from the National Education Policy Center. In 2013-2014, 262,000 students in 33 states were enrolled in 447 full-time virtual schools that deliver all instruction online, according to the NEPC. Another 26,155 students across 16 states were enrolled in 87 blended schools, which combine traditional face-to-face and online instruction.
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Choose from 87 digital, conceptual K-8 science units, with STEM, in grade-level bands, to meet evolving standards. Email for free sample and details: rseela@seelascience.com MORE
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The Conversation (commentary)
Child hunger is a serious problem: 48 million Americans, including more than 15 million children, live in households that lack the means to get enough nutritious food on a regular basis. In large cities, about 25 percent of households with children do not have sufficient food. The federally funded National School Breakfast Program has long sought to improve these numbers, by providing a free or low-cost breakfast for students in participating schools. In addition to reducing food insecurity, the program has been found to improve students' health and nutritional intake as well as their academic achievement.
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| | FEDERAL ADVOCACY AND POLICY |
Education Week
There's a little noticed provision in the Every Student Succeeds Act that could help states and districts use federal funding to expand or try out academic services for individual kids — including tutoring, credit recovery, expanded access to rigorous courses, and more, according to a new report from Chiefs for Change. The report — "Expanding Equity: Leveraging the Every Student Succeeds Act to Provide Direct Student Services" — is a kind of how-to-guide for states and districts interested in taking advantage of the chance to set aside 3 percent of statewide Title I funds for "direct student services."
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USA Today
A massive collection of public- and private-sector groups will call for a national push to teach science, technology, engineering and mathematics to children as young as 3 or 4 years old. Leading the effort on so-called "early active STEM learning" is the White House, which is bringing hundreds of educators and policymakers to Washington, D.C., for a symposium on the topic.
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Education World
A bill mandating cursive writing instruction in third grade passed unanimously in Louisiana's Senate Education Committee, bringing to the forefront again the debate over whether cursive instruction is still needed. The debate over cursive writing in schools began with the implementation of Common Core Standards, which do not mandate or make any mention of cursive instruction. Add in the fact that pen and paper is slowly but surely being taken over by technology, many wonder if cursive writing will soon become extinct.
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NPR
In Detroit, 12 public school principals are accused of taking kickbacks on supplies that were never delivered. The charges, announced late last month, pose another blow to the long-troubled Detroit Public Schools, which needs hundreds of millions of dollars in long-term state aid. Here's how the alleged kickback scheme worked: 12 principals, all working separately, gave contracts for school supplies to a vendor, who then kicked back some profits to them.
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NAESP
The NAESP National Mentor Training and Certification Program is designed to engage retired and experienced principals to give back to their profession by supporting new, newly assigned, or even experienced principals through mentoring. Register now for an upcoming session in Huntsville, Alabama, June 3.
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NAESP
Whether they know it or not, every teacher has a relationship with blended learning along a spectrum — a nonexistent relationship, a shallow relationship, or a special-occasion relationship — and, if teachers are to embrace this approach, they should move toward an integrated experience.
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