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| | LATEST NEWS FOR PRINCIPALS |
District Administration Magazine
Public support for the Common Core standards is plummeting — but that doesn't mean much to K12. Half of the general population approves of the standards — that's down from 83 percent just three years ago. Support among teachers has fallen to only 44 percent, according to the latest Education Next survey. "Common Core is here to stay," says David Griffith, director of public policy for ASCD. He chalks up the drop in public opinion to a combination of backlash against standardized testing, and continual confusion about what exactly Common Core is.
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U.S. News & World Report
When Dr. Preeti Parikh was in school, her friends and parents were concerned by the heavy weight on her shoulders — literally, the weight of her backpack. "Oh my god, what do you have rocks in here?" her parents would ask her. She never paid much attention to the back pain she was experiencing, but now the New York-based pediatrician is on a mission to educate families about the dangers of improper backpack use, which can affect posture, cause back pain and muscle sprains, and also spur more serious health situations. If a child feels numbness or tingling, for instance, this could even mean a pinched nerve.
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Edutopia
"What makes me enjoy talking the most," explains Milo, a Year 3 student, "is that everybody’s listened to you, and you’re part of the world, and you feel respected and important." Oracy — the ability to speak well — is a core pedagogy at School 21, a London-based public school. "Speaking is a huge priority," stresses Amy Gaunt, a Year 3 teacher. "It's one of the biggest indicators of success later in life. It's important in terms of their employability as they get older. It's important in terms of wellbeing. If children aren't able to express themselves and communicate how they're feeling, they're not going to be able to be successful members of society."
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MindShift
One of Rebecca Carey's favorite exercises to do with the actors she coaches at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival is called "Cameraman." Carey, who is the voice and text director of the renowned company, said "Cameraman" at first can make even actors feel a little silly, because in order to pretend they are filming the action of a Shakespearean scene, they have to hold an imaginary movie camera up to their eye.
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The Atlantic (commentary)
"To the brook! To the brook!" the three girls chanted in Finnish as they skipped through the forest. Within a few minutes, the other kindergartners had joined them in the fern-covered gully. As their teacher Kaija Pelo and I stood on a hill observing the children at play below us, two boys in baseball caps poked sticks into the brook (Pelo said they were "fishing") while other children teetered across a fallen pine tree, which served as a natural bridge over the running water. Most kindergartners, though, appeared to be doing nothing except wandering along the length of the brook.
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NPR
Oh, middle school. The land of pantsing. Mean girls who won't let you sit with them in the cafeteria. And, these days, cryptic taunts posted on social media, where parents and teachers can't always see them. Middle schoolers report higher rates of bullying and fights than students in any other grade span, and their academic performance also tends to dip. But, things could be a little better — if we just got rid of middle schools, according to a big new study.
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THE Journal
In another 10 years the studies of science, technology, engineering and math could be as pervasive and effective in the K-12 classrooms of America as the use of the blackboard was at the launch of the 19th century. An aspirational vision for STEM education is set out in a 73-page report just issued by the American Institutes of Research and written by one of the foremost national experts on the subject.
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Georgetown University Medical Center via Science Daily
Children differ substantially in their mathematical abilities. In fact, some children cannot routinely add or subtract, even after extensive schooling. This new paper proposes that math disability arises from abnormalities in brain areas supporting procedural memory. Procedural memory is a learning and memory system that is crucial for the automatization of non-conscious skills, such as driving or grammar.
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Education Week
In a digital age, with the increasing use of technology in the classroom and in school libraries — 69 percent of school libraries provide students with digital content — audiobooks are gaining ground. In fact, they are the fastest-growing sector in the book-publishing industry, spurring publishers and authors to focus on audio storytelling, The Wall Street Journal recently reported.
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eSchool News
Twenty-three percent of schools in a recent survey said they have tested virtual reality or tried it in classrooms. More than half of those surveyed said they are actively investigating virtual reality for classroom use. Ten percent said they are planning to use it over the next year or two. Those were the results of a recent survey from Extreme Networks that gauges schools' progress in implementing and planning for virtual reality in classrooms. It also touches on some of the obstacles associated with its use. Of the schools that have tried the technology, 52 percent have tried it in science instruction, 20 percent in engineering and 29 percent in history.
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Share with your staff the teaching system that transforms classrooms!
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NPR
Every morning, Mia and Chris tape a red or a green piece of paper to their front door. It's a signal for their son's bus driver. Green, pick him up. Red, keep driving. On this morning, at 6, it's not looking good. Mia and Chris climb the stairs and gently try to wake Jared, their 16-year-old. They've brought him breakfast and his medication: "You don't want to get up?" Mia asks Jared.
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Center for American Progress
In the fall of 2015, the news was full of stories about teacher shortages in school districts and states across the country. From Oklahoma to California, school leaders struggled to fill their classrooms and prepare for the coming school year; from North Carolina to Kansas, the same situation is playing out as the 2016 school year begins. Explanations for these shortages vary; some blamed poor planning or the recovering economy, while others pointed to high rates of teacher attrition and wondered if teacher morale was suffering under new education reforms. With little empirical evidence to explain the scarcity of teachers in these states and districts, however, most explanations have been based primarily on previously established opinions and complaints about public education in the Unites States.
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Education Week
No matter how diligent teachers and administrators are, it's easy for bullying to happen under the noses of adults at school. In the bathrooms, the hallways, and on social media, students are often the only ones around to police themselves. That's why researchers at Princeton, Rutgers, and Yale universities are analyzing middle schoolers' social networks to find the students most likely to change their classmates' attitudes around bullying.
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| | FEDERAL ADVOCACY AND POLICY |
Education Week
New federal guidance on using research to improve schools suggests that it's not enough to find a study that supports a program — district leaders and researchers alike have to think more about who really benefits from an intervention and how. If states and districts take up the guidance, it could deeply change how researchers and educators work together for education studies and could significantly broaden the array of students and schools who get studied. Experts also warn that without significant supports and training, it could be a high bar for most districts to reach.
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Politico
Responding to sexual assault in K-12: The White House is spotlighting the need to combat sexual trauma in K-12 schools by releasing an online interactive tool, called a Safe Place to Learn, with information for schools on the topic. It's also putting out guidance for districts to consider when developing a sexual misconduct policy. "It follows from very serious, very egregious issues we see in our enforcement work as well as ongoing requests for information from our educators who want to do right by the students," Catherine Lhamon, the Education Department's assistant secretary for Civil Rights, told Morning Education.
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Chalkbeat New York
As the director of educational technology for the U.S. Department of Education, Joseph South spends lots of time traversing the country to see how schools use tech. And he isn't always satisfied with what he notices: Schools, he said, often invest in flashy devices and software without carefully thinking about how it can serve their curriculum or enable new teaching methods.
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THE Journal
A New York-based provider of classroom-friendly solutions for K–12 computer science instruction is bringing computer science to more than 5,000 students enrolled in 100 Title I schools in New York City. Codesters teaches students Python through its platform that enables students to create interactive graphics, animation, elements and other projects. The company provides a pre-built curriculum with step-by-step lessons that give students instant feedback and assessments.
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The Detroit News
Seven Detroit schoolchildren, represented by a California public interest law firm, sued state officials in what attorneys say is an unprecedented attempt to establish that literacy is a U.S. constitutional right. The suit, brought against Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder and several education officials, claims the state has functionally excluded Detroit children from the state's educational system. It seeks class-action status and several guarantees of equal access to literacy, screening, intervention, a statewide accountability system and other measures.
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EdSource
A new one-of-a-kind robotics middle school in Los Angeles is not only offering students a hands-on curriculum but providing skills that could help them someday transform almost every aspect of modern life. This fall, Los Angeles Unified School District launched the Mulholland Robotics Middle School. It may well be the only one of its kind in the country. Mulholland is one of several new L.A. Unified magnet schools aimed at reversing steady enrollment declines as a result of numerous factors, including declining birth rates and competition from charter schools.
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NAESP
Though 86 percent of parents say attendance plays a big role in helping their child graduate, nearly half believe missing three or more days of school per month won't have a significant impact on academic performance. This month's Report to Parents, "Make Every Day Count: Boost School Attendance," will help families ensure their kids don't miss school and lose precious instructional time. Please post, print, or forward this Report to parents, teachers, volunteers — anyone who can use this information. Available in both English and Spanish.
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NAESP
Each October, National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP), the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP), and the American Federation of School Administrators (AFSA) invite schools nationwide to celebrate the critical role that principals play in school and student success. And as we do every year, we have a number of activities planned to commemorate the occasion and to spotlight principal leadership among the education community and the general public. Please visit www.principalsmonth.org to find activity ideas, resources, and to learn more about this year's National Principals Month. A social media toolkit is also available to provide you and your school with sample posts for National Principals Month.
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