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| | LATEST NEWS FOR PRINCIPALS |
eSchool News
When Todd Nesloney was tapped to become lead learner at Webb Elementary, in Navasota, Texas, it could legitimately be called a true learning experience. Having never before served at the head of a school, he literally stepped right out of the classroom to take the job — at a time when the entire campus was going project-based. At Webb, where about 75 percent of students are on free or reduced lunch, sinking test scores and references to a "failing school" led to low morale among parents and staff. When he took the job, Nesloney technically became the school's principal, but echoing a growing trend he opted to downplay that title, preferring lead learner instead.
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NBC News
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is endorsing three-point seat belts on school buses for the first time. NHTSA Administrator Mark Rosekind acknowledged that the agency "has not always spoken with a clear voice on the issue of seat belts on school buses." In the past, NHTSA has suggested that retrofitting school buses with seat belts was a costly proposition and that buses, sans seat belts, were safe.
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ADDitude Magazine
Math is challenging for many students. Children diagnosed with ADHD find it deadly dull. It's hard to get excited about a subject that requires so much repetition and memorization, especially for the ADHD brain, which craves novelty and multi-sensory stimulation. There are standards that must be taught, whether students have restless minds or not, but there are simple activities and games that we can use to make learning math more tolerable and (sometimes) fun.
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Education World
Motivation is an important part of a teacher's day-to-day life as he or she needs to feel motivation in order to manage a classroom, engage students, and work with families and the community. It's no secret that teaching is one of the most demanding professions out there, and ASCD member and National-Board Certified member Roxanna Elden has some tips for her fellow peers who could use some help reigniting motivation and staying centered.
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Education Week
Response to intervention has become ubiquitous as a framework to teach students to read in elementary schools, but the most comprehensive federal evaluation of the approach to date finds that it may hold back some of the children it was originally designed to support. First graders who received reading interventions actually did worse than virtually identical peers who did not get the more targeted assistance, according to the study by the National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance. The study focused on schools that were using RTI for literacy. Students who read just below grade level at the start of the year had been referred to RTI intended to catch them up with the rest of the class.
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Science Weekly Magazine
Science Weekly Magazine
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Scholastic Administration Magazine
Today's teachers need to use a variety of tools to help students understand complex concepts and remain engaged with classroom content. Well-designed learning games enable students to comprehend these concepts in ways traditional classroom methods cannot. When these tools are used in conjunction with classroom activities, they serve as a way to engage students and provide a more-well-rounded classroom experience. Game-based learning offers a safe place for students to discover, experiment and fail on their path through self-guided learning.
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The Hechinger Report
On the most recent nationwide U.S. math test, known as the National Assessment of Educational Progress or NAEP, an eighth grader might have been asked a question about stem-and-leaf plots. Have no idea what those are? Probably the eighth grader didn't either. It's an old-fashioned way to depict data, one that isn't used much anymore. The Common Core standards, used in more than 40 states, intentionally pared down the list of data representations that students should learn to ones that are commonly used in the real world, such as bar charts and time-series graphs, so that students could spend more time mastering them.
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The IRLA is a reading leveling assessment, and conferencing tool that maps out the developmental sequence of reading acquisition, K-12. With the IRLA, teachers know where each student is, where they should be, and which skills/behaviors must be mastered to close the gap.
Learn more at americanreading.com
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MindShift
Discussions of learning tend to focus on what happens in schools, but many students are learning lots of important skills outside of school through extracurriculars like sports, music, art, politics or any other passion. Often students don’t get recognition for the learning they pursue on their own, and many times they don’t even see their passion as learning at all. The Chicago City of Learning project is trying to meet that need by helping connect youth to resources that support their interests and provide validation for the hard work that goes into learning outside the academic setting.
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Education Week
Charter schools are often criticized for serving smaller proportions of students with disabilities than regular district schools, and a new analysis of national data finds that's still the case. However, not only is the gap between the two types of schools closing, charters also serve more students in an inclusive setting than their district counterparts, according to the National Center for Special Education in Charter Schools. Those were among several findings in NCSECS' analysis of data gathered by the U.S. Department of Education for its 2011-2012 Civil Rights Data Collection, the most recent year the data was collected and the first time all schools in the country were included in the data set.
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eSchool News
A new report urges care when purchasing digital instructional materials, and notes that factors such as interoperability, accessibility and device access should be considered during the process. Navigating the Digital Shift: Mapping the Acquisition of Digital Instructional Materials, a SETDA report, provides information and guidance on the process of digital instructional materials acquisition. The report notes that navigating the procurement process is cited as one of the primary challenges for states and districts, and one that proves even more challenging to the companies that want to sell digital instructional materials to them.
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The Atlantic
A high-school girl who refuses to follow school rules is body-slammed to the ground, ripped from her chair, and thrown past rows of desks. The school resource officer's use of force, caught on video, unleashes national outrage and costs him his job. An 8-year-old boy is cuffed above the elbows as a cell phone captures the scuffle. "You can do what we ask you to or you can suffer the consequences," the school resource officer says to the boy in a video that prompted a lawsuit over his use of restraint. In Irving, Texas, a boy who shows a clock to his science teacher, proud of his ingenuity, finds himself in handcuffs — accused of building a "hoax bomb." 180 miles south in Round Rock, an SRO called to stop a gym fight chokes a 14-year-old boy to the floor.
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Graceland University is ranked #5 in the country for Online Masters of Education programs by US News and World Report. We have a 98% graduation rate and 97% would recommend our program to a friend. We have 4 programs to meet the needs of practically any teacher.
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By: Archita Datta Majumdar
 K-12 school libraries across the country are gearing up for some big changes. As the haven for student knowledge, school libraries will be offering intense learning environments to all students that will be focused on enhancing the regular student workload and improving student performance. These modern library resources will include everything from academic databases to e-books, as well as innovative programs to help students expand their knowledge base.
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EdTech Magazine
An education agency that's helping states connect public schools with better Internet access sees the future in connectivity through state partnerships with local education systems. In 2013, President Barack Obama announced the ConnectED initiative, with a goal of connecting 99 percent of students to high-speed Internet by 2018. At the end of 2014, fewer than 40 percent of public schools had high-speed Internet. Evan Marwell, founder and CEO of the nonprofit EducationSuperHighway, knows that reaching that goal isn't going to be easy. But he has witnessed breakthroughs in connectivity at the state level and believes other states should pay attention if they want to get ahead of ConnectED's deadline.
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Education DIVE
Technology is increasingly integrated in the fabric of K-12 education, but not all deployments are created equally. One-to-one rollouts of tablets or Chromebooks, for example, have shown great promise when handled with care, but for every success, critics are quick to point out a Los Angeles-style iPad nightmare. And don't even get the U.S. Department of Education's Richard Culatta started on smartboards. Of course, meeting that desire for more classroom tech comes with hurdles both budgetary and logistical. Even with the money for tech, some schools and districts still lack adequate broadband infrastructure to effectively support it.
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Brookings
Here's a question to consider: Are teacher shortages... A. Real? B. Imaginary? C. Both? D. Neither? Are we facing a nationwide teacher shortage? What do we mean by "shortage" — or, better, what should we mean? Let's put some numbers on the Chalkboard, and then back up a bit and ask whether we're asking the right questions.
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"The Fundamental 5 improves instruction. The power of these practices will transform classrooms and schools," E. Don Brown, NASSP past president. Order now at Amazon.com
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| | FEDERAL ADVOCACY AND POLICY |
Education Week
As negotiations over reauthorizing the Elementary and Secondary Education Act grind on, don't forget about the cash. Possible shifts in accountability, including how testing requirements might change, have gotten a tremendous amount of attention. But there are plenty of changes to K-12 funding in both the House and Senate bills that could be especially tricky for staffers and lawmakers as they put the finishing touches on a deal. So what are some of those funding issues that staff and lawmakers need to puzzle through as they push to finish ESEA by the year?
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The Washington Post
A coalition of 40 education groups — including some strange bedfellows — is starting a national campaign aimed at "modernizing and elevating" the teaching profession. The groups, organized by the left-leaning Center for American Progress under the banner TeachStrong, want to make the status of teachers an issue in the 2016 presidential race and in policy discussions on the state and local levels.
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U.S. Department of Education (Commentary)
Tucked away in Laurel, Maryland, among trees and rundown buildings lies what, for some, serves as a safe haven — and even better, a new beginning. Maya Angelou Academy, within the walls of the New Beginnings Youth Development Center, serves students who have been adjudicated in order to help them reach their full academic and career potential, and aims to support them in transitioning back successfully to the community.
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District Administration Magazine
A first-of-its-kind, 50-city analysis of public education finds that while academic progress remains flat in most urban areas, underserved students in some parts of the country are gaining access to more rigorous learning. The University of Washington's Center on Reinventing Public Education analyzed educational opportunities offered by districts, charter schools and state agencies. And the researchers examined factors beyond test scores — including graduation rates, school-level gains in math and reading, and proficiency gaps for students eligible for free and reduced-price lunch.
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NAESP
What practical approaches can principals and teacher leaders use to successfully integrate the arts into their elementary schools? These recommendations are the result of interviews with 32 national arts education leaders, each with 20 years of experience in arts education, including principals, superintendents, researchers, teaching artists, leaders in performing arts centers, education associations, advocacy coalitions and funding agencies.
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NAESP
NAESP's new principal panel is the first and only national program dedicated to gathering and sharing the experiences of new principals in rural, urban and suburban schools across the country. Panelists participate in six online surveys each year on a relevant topic, which take less than 10 minutes to complete. Panelists receive the survey results and resource recommendations from their peers. Participants completing multiple surveys will receive a special Thank You gift from NAESP or one of our sponsors.
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ZipKrooz™ brings zip line-like adventure to the playground in an exciting, inclusive and safe way!
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| Math Problem solving contests for teams of up to 35 students in grades 4 through 8.
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