This message was sent to ##Email##
|
|
|
|
|
| | LATEST NEWS FOR PRINCIPALS |
Education Week
More than half of public school principals are women, and for many of them their jobs as school leaders and mothers are inextricably linked. That connection between the professional and personal motivated some principals to start Moms As Principals — part professional-learning community and part support group where they share ideas about running schools and balancing the demands of the job and motherhood. Their motto is "all kids are our kids," a reflection of a shared belief among the group's members: They see no distinction between the children in the schools they run and the ones they are raising at home.
READ MORE
School Leaders Now
You've been thinking about restorative practice ever since you heard about it. You want discipline in your school to be proactive rather than reactive, so you aren't always putting out fires. You want fewer conflicts and problems in the first place. Here's some concrete evidence to support restorative practice and a couple of ways to try it now.
READ MORE
Education World
Overcrowded classrooms are one of the biggest workplace headaches for teachers and many education experts argue for the benefits of smaller class sizes. Both the gains and drawbacks to smaller class sizes are touched upon in a 2017 study that looks at the push for smaller classes in New York City's public schools. The study's author, Michael Gilraine, isolated the effect of class size reductions in 473 of the city's schools, looking at third- through sixth-grade classes. He focused on classes that moved above or below the city's 32 student cap. When classes moved from 32 to 33 students a new teacher would have to be added, however, if they dropped down from 33 to 32 or under, no new teacher.
READ MORE
|
Promoted by
|
|
|
|
 |
eSchool News
Evergreen Public Schools is trying to answer a bold question: Can technology help ensure learning experiences are consistent across all of its schools, and at the same time promote personalized learning? The district's work in technology didn't start with this question. Three years ago, officials decided to make an investment in one-to-one technology for the 27,000 students it serves. Once down this path, they quickly realized that the conversation had been primarily about the technology itself, and not how the technology would support personalization in teaching and learning.
READ MORE
NPR
Steven Isaacs — @mr_isaacs on Twitter — is a full-time technology teacher in Baskingridge, N.J. He's also the co-founder of a new festival that set the Guinness World Record for largest gathering dedicated to a single video game. The game that cements both halves of his life together? Minecraft. (In case you haven't heard, Minecraft, originally developed by Markus Persson of Sweden, offers players the chance to build a 3-D world out of "blocks." Since its release in 2009, Minecraft has sold more than 121 million copies, making it the best-selling game of all time after another blocky favorite, Tetris.)
READ MORE
 |
|
Over 75% of transgender students feel unsafe at school, and staff do not know how to help them. Welcoming Schools, the nation’s premier professional development program for elementary schools, provides educators with best practices to support transgender students and prevent bias-based bullying.
Visit www.welcomingschools.org to learn more.
|
|
Education World
The learning theory of constructionism asserts that people construct mental models to understand the world around them, and that this can be achieved through activities like building, tinkering, playing with components of machines and other systems, and watching how they interact. Seymore Papert introduced this theory in the early 1980's, and around that time, the first educational robotics program emerged, called LOGO, which he also developed. LOGO is actually a programming language he developed that was used to control robot "turtles" — to move them forward and backward a specified distance, turn right or left a specified degree, drop a pen and draw.
READ MORE
By: Savanna Flakes (commentary)
 Team-building, inclusion activities and cooperative learning should be a consistent part of our daily classroom structure. If students feel comfortable with one another in a safe learning community, they will take more learning risks, which leads to discussion on higher-level content. Enjoy these two quick and novel cooperative learning structures that build the strong communication and relationship skills that our students will need for 21st-century success.
READ MORE
Edutopia (commentary)
Shane Safir, a contributor for Edutopia, writes: "Culturally responsive teaching has become a central concept in the education world, and rightfully so. Zaretta Hammond offers a brilliant and accessible CRT framework in her book Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain: Promoting Authentic Engagement and Rigor Among Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students. One of the questions I've been grappling with is, how do we know we're culturally responsive if we're not listening to our students?"
READ MORE
|
|
Education Week
Black children, Hispanic children and children who come from non-English speaking households are less likely to receive speech and language services in kindergarten than white children who are otherwise similar to them, says a new study published in the journal Exceptional Children. About 18 percent of school-aged children with disabilities are identified as having a speech or language impairment, making it the second-largest disability category recognized under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
READ MORE
eSchool News (commentary)
Sheryl Parker, a contributor for eSchool News, writes: "What do you picture when you think of a librarian? If you have an image in mind of this little old woman, stamping books in her half-rimmed glasses, then you would be one of many still drawing on this archetype. Many people today would be surprised by how much librarians have shifted from the stereotype I just described. In fact, we've changed so much that the title 'librarian' barely applies anymore."
READ MORE
Education World
Picture an important person in your life. Could you capture the shape of her eyes, the slope of her nose, and the curve of her grin in a drawing? From Leonardo da Vinci's renowned muse to Pierre Auguste Renoir's rosy portraits to the striking realism of Chuck Close, the human face has been an alluring and challenging subject for artists throughout history. Acclaimed artists are not alone in their interest in portraiture. Young children often depict real or imagined people in their drawings.
READ MORE
School Leadership Now (commetnary)
Suzanne Tingley, a contributor for School Leadership Now, writes: "Q: I have been named principal of a school that has recently gone through a rough time. Two faculty members were let go, the school budget was cut, and the last principal was seen as difficult to get along with. Needless to say, morale is low. What can I do fairly quickly to start changing the culture and raise morale? A: Listening to your staff is key. One powerful tool to show your interest in what people think is a staff survey."
READ MORE
|
|
EdTech Magazine
As technology evolves daily, it's not shocking to note how much classrooms have changed in the past decade or so. The devices that populated classrooms in 2007 have long been replaced. However, it's a bit more shocking to look at how much classroom furniture and the learning space have changed. The desk, in one form or another, has been a staple of the classroom since the 1800s. Even a type of standing desk was used as early as 1899. But the design of a standard classroom — desks facing the front of the room — was always the same, until recently.
READ MORE
THE Journal
Classroom teachers spent an average of $468 out of pocket on classroom supplies and equipment in the last year — amounting to nearly 1 percent of an average teacher's salary in the United States. Nearly eight in 10 teachers — 77 percent — spent "at least" $200, with some as high as $5,000, according to the latest results of an annual survey from SheerID and Agile Education Marketing . The results were based on responses from 674 educators.
READ MORE
| | FEDERAL ADVOCACY AND POLICY |
Education Week
With the collapse of the Republicans' effort to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, the next big-ticket item on the GOP's agenda is reforming the federal tax code. So how could tax reform impact educators? Late last month, congressional and Trump administration Republicans released a general set of principles that are guiding the tax reform effort, including the push to ensure the plan reduces tax rates "as much as possible."
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.
|
eSchool News
A large majority of E-rate applicants (87 percent) said the federally funded program is vital to their internet connectivity goals, according to an annual survey that tracks program applicants' perspectives on the program. In the midst of leadership changes in the White House and the FCC, as well as education budget cuts, ed-tech stakeholders have raised questions regarding the promise of the E-rate program to deliver safe and proper broadband connections to students in the U.S.
READ MORE
The Washington Post
Two years after Congress scrapped federal formulas for fixing troubled schools, states for the most part are producing only the vaguest of plans to address persistent educational failure. So far, 16 states and the District of Columbia have submitted proposals for holding schools accountable under the 2015 law known as the Every Student Succeeds Act. With few exceptions, the blueprints offer none of the detailed prescriptions for intervention, such as mass teacher firings or charter-school conversions, that were once standard elements of school reform.
READ MORE
The Herald-Sun
North Carolina has long paid its teachers based on their years of experience, but Chapel Hill-Carrboro and five other school systems could point the way to changing that model. The State Board of Education approved a plan to provide up to $10.2 million over the next three years to six school systems to test their alternative models for paying teachers. The districts are planning to use different options, such as paying teachers more based on whether they take advanced leadership positions or have good student test results.
READ MORE
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 upcoming mentor trainings in Mason, Michigan, Oct. 5–6; and Alexandria, Virginia, Oct. 26–27. Click here to register and find more information.
READ MORE
NAESP
There is no avoiding the impact of digital technology on schools and student learning. Students growing up in this digital age expect technology interactions, at home and at school. Technology has a tremendous effect on the way educators communicate and how students learn and educators must stay ahead of the trends and continue to integrate technology into classrooms. Help teachers incorporate technology in the classroom by sharing these easy-to-use apps.
READ MORE
|
|
|
|
7701 Las Colinas Ridge, Ste. 800, Irving, TX 75063
|
