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| | LATEST NEWS FOR PRINCIPALS |
District Administration Magazine
The news media has changed and is still changing. The internet's ability to provide free or cheap marketing has taken its toll on advertising revenue, and newsrooms have been hit hard. The days of multiple reporters and photographers available to cover your story are gone. Social media has changed how reporters gather information and can have a heavy influence on story selection.
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The Brookings Institution
While anecdotal accounts of substantial teacher shortages are increasingly common, we present evidence that such shortages are not a general phenomenon but rather are highly concentrated by subject (e.g., mathematics, science, and special education) and in schools (e.g., those serving disadvantaged students) where hiring and retaining teachers are chronic problems. The authors discuss several promising, complementary approaches for addressing teacher shortages.
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Education Week
Nearly all teachers and principals believe students should have time for independent reading at school, yet only about a third of teachers set aside time each day for this, according to a recent survey by Scholastic. The new report looks at how nearly 3,700 preK-12 teachers (including several dozen school librarians) and more than 1,000 principals answered questions about student reading and access to books. The findings, considered nationally representative, were part of a larger study that the education-publishing company released in November on equity in education.
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NPR
For only the third time ever, the government released today a national report card examining the knowledge, understanding and abilities of U.S. eighth-graders in visual arts and music. And in many ways, the numbers aren't great, with little progress shown in most categories since the last time the assessment was given in 2008. One bright spot: The achievement gap between Hispanic students and their white peers has narrowed. But Hispanics and African-Americans still lag far behind white and Asian eighth-graders.
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District Administration Magazine
Preschool math performance predicts future academic achievement more consistently than reading or attention skills, according to new research from New America and the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop. "STEM Starts Early" reports that preschool math knowledge predicts math achievement into high school, and a randomized study of McGraw-Hill's Building Blocks curriculum, which embeds mathematical learning into preschool activities, led to higher scores in literacy and language, such as recognizing letters, expressing knowledge and understanding spoken words.
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District Administration Magazine
School districts are focusing more attention on manufacturing as the need for middle-skill jobs increases. In particular, industrial mechanic programs have taken off as more employers seek workers who have the technical know how to operate advanced manufacturing equipment.
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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: Howard Margolis (commentary)
 This question plagues many parents. When the Garcias tried to teach Juana to sound out words and answer questions about what she read, she snapped at them, pushed the book across the table and threw a temper tantrum. When the Ashers tried the same with Ben, he sobbed. If you typically find yourself in one of these situations — where your child resists your help with homework or learning tasks, because she just can't do it — what should you do?
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Edutopia (commentary)
How do authors draw us in with their prose? What does an article or book do that makes us nod along, laugh out loud, or shout, "What?" Used well, a writer's words can speak inside us. How do we develop a student writer's voice so they can have the same effect on their readers?
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The Atlantic
Kassie Benjamin-Ficken, a teacher in Minneapolis, discovered her love of math in elementary school. One of her earliest memories is begging her mother to come to school so her teachers could share how she excelled in math class. While earning average scores in reading, she was consistently above average for math — which instilled her with a sense of accomplishment. That continued into middle school, where she recalls asking her math teachers to move her into a higher grade for more advanced content. But she remained in the same middle-school class.
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The New York Times
Last spring, when Public School 11, a prekindergarten through fifth-grade school in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood, banned mandatory traditional homework assignments for children up to fourth grade, you might have expected universal acclaim. Rather than filling out worksheets, students were encouraged to read nightly, and a website offered tips for parents looking for engaging after-school activities.
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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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Education World
Thirty-five first-grade students stand beside bright yellow chairs in a tightly packed art classroom, stretching their limbs high, low, wide, and winding to represent the growing branches of their own distinctive trees. Instead of sitting with their hands folded on the tables with their eyes on their teacher as they often do in other classrooms, today they are free to stand, sway, and move their bodies to act out their rapidly progressing thoughts. Ooohs, ahhs and giggles mix with hushed thoughts and deliberate movements as each student visualizes and performs a growing tree that tells the story of their life. This is a glimpse into a visualization exercise that empowers early childhood students to respond kinesthetically to deepen their thinking and inspire personally meaningful artmaking.
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THE Journal
There is a lack of understanding in the workplace — across sectors like education and government — regarding data security policies and how confidential data should be shared. Many employees are likely to share confidential information and, more often than not, they do so without proper data security protocols. In most cases, there are no repercussions for the employees sharing this data since they are often unaware of the protocol breach.
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eSchool News
Data can be immensely helpful to educators–but anyone who hopes to learn from data must know how to analyze and interpret it. Although the word "data" can raise red flags when it comes to protecting student privacy and sensitive information, it can help students, parents, teachers, and administrators learn from and adjust practices. The catch, though, is that these stakeholder groups need access to the education data and must be able understand what it means.
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THE Journal
A controlled study involving 73 schools and more than 37,000 students found that early warning systems can have a statistically significant positive impact on student outcomes in K–12 schools, even when those systems are not used to their full potential. The report, "Getting students on track for graduation: Impacts of the Early Warning Intervention and Monitoring System after one year," was prepared by the Regional Educational Laboratory Midwest for the United States Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance. The study was administered by the American Institutes for Research.
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The Hechinger Report
Education critics often see technology as unnecessary bells and whistles to a curriculum that has sufficed for decades. But the reality is that technological innovation today is opening the door to entirely new methods of teaching that have never before been feasible. New tools have changed how teachers interact with their students, and how the students interact with the materials being taught. More than 100 years ago, the chalkboard was a great teaching tool. It's since been replaced by interactive whiteboards, document cameras, tablets and virtual reality headsets, each slightly more functional than its predecessor.
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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 Journal
New data from a survey of more than 37,000 educators revealed that first-year teachers aren't using tech in the classroom as much as their more experienced colleagues even though they have a higher opinion of their own technological abilities.
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District Administration Magazine
There's a new tool in the battle against student depression, anxiety and suicide — the in-school wellness center. Palos Verdes High School in California opened its on-campus wellness center in December 2016. "The idea is to create spaces that don't look or feel like schools," says Don Austin, superintendent of Palos Verdes Peninsula USD. "The physical space is calming and creates a safe and predictable environment for students." Despite the academic success in this affluent southern California community, students still struggle with perfection and self-esteem issues, he says.
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| | FEDERAL ADVOCACY AND POLICY |
The Washington Post
President Trump signed an executive order Wednesday that requires Education Secretary Betsy DeVos to study whether and how the federal government has overstepped its legal authority in K-12 schools, a move he framed as part of a broader effort to shift power from Washington to states and local communities. "Previous administrations have wrongfully forced states and schools to comply with federal whims and dicate what our kids are taught," Trump said at the White House. "But we know that local communities do it best and know it best." The order does not invest DeVos with any new authority. She already has broad powers to revise or withdraw policies that her predecessors promulgated.
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Education Week
President Donald Trump announced that he signed executive order directing U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos to conduct a study to "determine where the federal government has unlawfully overstepped on state and local control," a White House official said, The executive order is "intended to return authority to where Congress intended — state and local entities." One such report is unlikely to have a dramatic impact on K-12 education policy. But the directive is a way for the Trump administration to make it clear it supports local control of schools.
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EdTech Magazine
About 4.3 billion people in the world don't have regular access to the internet, the World Economic Forum reports. Though strides have been made to boost access in the U.S., the Commerce Department reports that a disparity still exists between urban and rural areas. Late last month, Google announced plans to change that by pledging $50 million over the next two years to support nonprofits working to bring tech tools to students of all backgrounds and access levels.
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Bloomberg
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, a Democrat seeking re-election this year, plans to expand the city's free all-day pre-kindergarten program to include 3-year-old children. The effort will begin in Brooklyn and the Bronx with hundreds enrolled as early as this September, at a cost of $16 million. The program, aimed to be fully operating by 2021, hinges on spending at least $377 million in city funds and $700 million in federal and state aid, de Blasio said.
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The Salt lake Tribune
A new study from the Utah Department of Health showed that about 5,100 elementary school students in the state were injured on school playgrounds over a three school-year period. Nearly two-thirds of students in kindergarten through sixth grade who experienced injuries at school from mid-2012 to mid-2015 were hurt on school playgrounds, the study found. The yearly tally of students injured over that time — 1,700 students — is enough students to fill 24 school buses. The Utah Department of Health has tracked school playground injuries for more than 30 years, said Hillary Campbell, a student-injury reporting technician. Clumsiness and using equipment in ways other than intended by equipment designers accounted for a majority of accidents.
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NAESP
Congress returned from spring break in late April to address budget and appropriations issues; the current continuing resolution that is funding the government for FY 2017 is set to expire at the end of April. At issue are significant funding cuts proposed by the Trump administration to existing programs in FY 2017 for the remainder of the fiscal year. In addition, NAESP is concerned about even deeper cuts proposed in the FY 2018 “skinny” budget. In light of the work under way across the country where states and districts are drafting plans to implement the new Every Student Succeeds Act, principals must continue to mobilize this year around critical funding for key programs that will help them meet the expectations that states and districts will set related to new accountability and assessment systems.
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NAESP
In this webinar, best-selling Author Richard Gerver and Crayola Director of Education Cheri Sterman will host a talk on the topics raised in Gerver's book, "Creating Tomorrow's Schools Today: Education — Our Children — Their Future." Richard's experience in transforming schools provides practical advice for early career principals. An inspiring storyteller, Richard will discuss how he shifted the paradigms around change in the schools he led. He believes that change moves schools in the right direction when implemented within a culture where creative ideas are heard, acted upon, and celebrated. This webinar takes place Monday, May 1, 4–5 p.m. EST. Attendees are eligible to earn a CE certificate.
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