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| | LATEST NEWS FOR PRINCIPALS |
By: Bambi Majumdar (commentary)
 When Betsy DeVos was appointed as Secretary of Education, there was an immediate backlash across the U.S. about the future of public education. In the months since then, our attention has shifted to topics like horrifying hurricanes, immigration policies, travel bans and, of course, North Korea. In the meantime, some disturbing changes have been quietly taking place in the country's education system.
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District Administration Magazine
Fourteen teachers in Utah's Ogden School District reached the classroom via a nontraditional, perhaps looser route. Rather than attend a teaching college and earning the standard credentials, they leveraged their bachelor's degrees and professional expertise. The new state rule that allows this — called Academic Pathway to Teaching — mimics new policies a handful of other states have passed or are considering to cope with a nationwide teacher shortage.
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Forbes
Being good at something is how you got to where you are. You may have started out with a knack and built it up, or discovered you weren't as good at something as you'd like and dove into making yourself better at it. Regardless, it took both time and work and has since been a touchstone for overcoming challenges.
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EdSource
Young children with at least one parent who speaks a language other than English at home are less likely to be enrolled in quality early childhood programs, although it is most critical for those students, according to a national report that includes a 30-state analysis on how different policies affect dual language learners.
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eSchool News
When teachers used digital educational games in the classroom, students raised test scores by more than half a letter grade in only three weeks, according to a study from researchers at Vanderbilt University and partners at Legends of Learning, a research-driven educational game platform. The new research, published by the Journal of the Learning Sciences, demonstrates the benefits of game-based learning for students when compared to students who had no access to such games.
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Your students don’t all learn in the same way, so why deliver instruction in the same way? Exact Path is focused on understanding where your students are academically and then taking that data a step further. Adaptive tools offer targeted instruction that is aligned to your goals and paced to your students’ needs.
Click here to learn more.
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The New York Times
Schoolchildren who read and write at home with their parents may build not only their academic literacy skills, but also other important life and learning skills, a recent study found. The project, a study by researchers at the University of Washington, followed children for five years, either grades one through five or three through seven. It looked at their reading and writing activities at home, their school progress and their skills, both according to their parents' reports and according to annual assessments.
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New York University via Science Daily
Students who attend a middle school compared to a K-8 school are likely to have a lower perception of their reading skills, finds a new study by NYU Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development. The study in the Journal of Early Adolescence evaluates the effect of attending a public middle or junior high school versus a K-8 school on eighth graders' academic and psychosocial outcomes.
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EdSurge
Since 2011 Banned Books Week has included a day to recognize banned websites. This year, on Sept. 27, 2017, the American Association of School Librarians made a point to encourage their members to raise awareness about "overly restrictive blocking of legitimate, educational websites and academically useful social networking tools in schools and school libraries." Librarians are not the only ones calling out censorship. Teachers and principals also increasingly voice opposition to blocking social websites, noting that schools have an obligation to teach students how to use social media responsibly.
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By: Susan Winebrenner (commentary)
 By this time of the school year, some learners may be struggling to complete their work in certain subject areas. Although there may be evidence that this problem has been present in previous school years, this year's teacher will suffer frustration with these events. Their teachers might conclude that such students are lazy or not trying hard enough. If you have had a conference with their parents, you may have learned that this is a pattern that has been observed in other grades as well.
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EdSurge (commentary)
Mary Jo Madda, a contributor for EdSurge, writes: "The very first year I taught middle school science, I found myself teaching more reading lessons than I had ever expected — and that didn't change when I switched to a middle school math classroom two years later. Add in the fact that I had several English language learners in my class, and my lessons on mitochondria and tetrahedrons largely started with basic vocabulary and sentence flow instruction."
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School Leaders Now (commentary)
I don't know how I thought administrators spent their days before I became one myself. Meetings, maybe? Now, I check my watch in the morning and it's a quarter to seven and then, like, four minutes later, the busses are pulling out of the parking lot. As a new adminstrator, without a full slate of classes, I didn't know what else I would do. I did teach one class, which is still one of the best parts of my job. When I started, I made the false assumption that if I was only teaching one section, I could easily get the planning done.
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By: Catherine Iste (commentary)
 Not every employee is a forever employee. Some hires are perfect for different times in the organization. Making a forever employee out of a for now employee is possible, but the key is to hire the right employee for each business phase. This two-part series will explain the difference between for now and forever employees and how to tailor the hiring process to capture the most appropriate candidates.
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Istation
[FREE E-Book] Boost student achievement and inspire educational gains with eight steps schools can take to bridge the gap! This e-book from Istation covers progress monitoring, motivational strategies, strengthening school-to-home connections, and more.
Get your copy.
Harvard Business Review
Fear is a natural and universal human phenomenon, affecting top executives as much as anyone else. The majority of management literature is focused on helping leaders conquer their fears. The problem is that stifling fear doesn't make it go away. In fact, failing to address it can lead to highly unproductive and dysfunctional behaviors.
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The Atlantic
Earlier this year, the Middle School Building Committee in North Haven, Connecticut, voted unanimously to install two new artificial-turf fields at a cost of more than $2 million. After a series of public meetings, some phone calls to experts, and a little debate, the committee had decided the easy maintenance of artificial turf outweighed the alleged but unproven health risks for students who play on it. Just in case, committee members opted for the less controversial encapsulated crumb-rubber infill over the traditional crumb rubber option.
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eSchool News
The use of technology in schools has provided students with a whole new way to connect and communicate with each other and their teachers, in addition to being a great source for learning. However, on the flipside, access to the wider internet may mean that there is a temptation for students to access websites with inappropriate content–or use it as a platform where negative behavior can escalate, such as for cyberbullying or other undesirable activities.
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Center for Teaching Quality
Someplace in America today, a kid will have been sent to the office for offensive language. He or she will be outside of the classroom for ten or more minutes. Learning time will be lost. Perhaps the child will have told a teacher or classmate to shut the @#Q$ up or dropped swear words in the hallway. Or maybe a teacher will be distracted because of a cultural spelling; a baseball jersey with last name Fukodome, or a Rick and Morty reference. Both the child and/or the teacher will be upset, and the rest of the day will be emotionally charged as a result.
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| | FEDERAL ADVOCACY AND POLICY |
Education Week
All 50 states and the District of Columbia have now submitted their plans for the Every Student Succeeds Act, and U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos and her team are ready to examine the dozens of plans submitted by the second deadline last month. Thirty-four states and Puerto Rico turned in their ESSA plans in September and October. (The official deadline for submitting plans was September 18, but hurricane-ravaged Alabama, Florida, South Carolina, and Texas got extensions). And all of those plans have now been deemed "complete" by the feds.
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EdTech Magazine
When it comes to applying for E-rate funds, experts agree that planning is key for IT administrators to make the most of the money they can get. "While 2018 may seem pretty far away, its much closer than you think in E-rate time," writes Amy Passow in an EdTech blog. "That's because a significant amount of planning and paperwork needs to happen before much-needed networking products get to your schools."
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Education DIVE
Shawn Bush was earning a bachelor's degree in psychology and planning to become a school counselor when an email caught his attention. As a paraprofessional at Leo Politi Elementary School in the Los Angeles Unified School District, he was receiving an invitation to become part of the district's STEP UP and Teach program, which provides financial support and mentoring for those who want to become full-time teachers in hard-to-fill areas, such as special education.
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Education Week
The elementary school in Oregon's Willamina district set out last year to pick apart a complicated problem that would ultimately require an equally complicated solution: Many of its Native American students failed to show up on a regular basis. Addressing that chronic absenteeism was like untangling a rope, loosening knotted-up, long-established habits, cultural issues, and the persistent barriers of poverty that can keep children out of school, leaders in the district of 835 students said.
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NAESP
Under the Every Student Succeeds Act, states must draft plans that prioritize improving education and student outcomes in their communities. After a year and a half of planning, each state has now submitted their plan to the Department of Education. One of the most important provisions in the new law is the unprecedented ability for states to support the role of principals and other school leaders. A Hill Day event will be held with policymakers next Tuesday, Oct. 24 at 12 p.m. ET. It will feature representatives from NAESP, as well as the National Association of Secondary School Principals and the American Federation of School Administrators. Those unable to attend are encouraged to watch the livestream.
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NAESP
#NAESPChat is back for 2017. Connect with other colleagues and find practical solutions to the challenges of being a new school leader. Hone your leadership skills and build a new professional learning community that will help you succeed. If you are a veteran principal, join in and share your valuable insight. If you are a new principal, participate in the chat and grow your professional learning support network. This chat will be taking place Wednesday, Oct. 25 at 8 p.m. ET. Use #NAESPChat to participate.
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