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| | LATEST NEWS FOR PRINCIPALS |
eSchool News
Common Core, Race to the Top, and the Every Student Succeeds Act — just a few top-down, often-controversial, metrics-heavy K-12 reform initiatives favored by the Obama administration that seemed to have a lot more traction during the president's first-term with Education Secretary Arne Duncan at the helm than during the second term. "President Barack Obama will perhaps be best remembered for what many considered a top-down approach to education reform, and Arne Duncan was the architect of that strategy," writes Tara Garcia Mathewson for EducationDIVE. From a strong support of Common Core to even the ESSA, "a strict emphasis on standards is one of the biggest marks of the administration."
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The 74
United States service members across the country are often dealt a difficult hand when it comes to the quality of education for their children. Given the frequency of moves made by military families — they relocate an average of six to nine times throughout a child’s K-12 career, two to three times as often as their non-military peers — it's important to ensure that they have continuity in education quality and academic goals that set up their children for success.
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By: Bambi Majumdar
 Contrary to what most people in the Western Hemisphere think, girls' education — or lack of it — is not just a third world problem. It is a global issue and afflicts the U.S. heavily, too. There is a serious achievement gap between students in high-performing school districts and more affluent areas compared to those who attend schools in high-poverty neighborhoods. For girls living in these low-income communities, there are many barriers to overcome.
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Edutopia (commentary)
Ben Johnson, a contributor for Edutopia, writes: "Students are often bombarded with distractions, and it's a challenge to keep them focused on what they are learning and the task at hand. The following four strategies I have found to be incredibly helpful in keeping students focused daily — and throughout the school year."
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The Hechinger Report
In Ivonne Kendrick's classroom at Houston Elementary School, 3-year-olds sit cross-legged in a circle, listening to their teacher sing about the fall season. "Llega el otoño tras el verano," they repeat after her in Spanish. One month into the school's new dual-language program, their accents are unmistakably American. But they know how to ask for a "manzana," or apple, at snack time and recognize that when Kendrick says "fila," that's their cue to form a line. The next day, the students will continue their lessons in English, alternating between the two languages throughout the week.
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eSchool News
Focusing on inclusion, using data and forming partnerships are among the practices that can help make special education programs successful in schools, according to a new report. "Meeting the Needs of Every Student Through Inclusion," from the California Charter Schools Association, details the special education program philosophy behind 10 California charter public schools, how they implement best practices on their campuses, and what policy arrangements have allowed them to succeed.
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EdTech Magazine
With more and more K–12 students owning mobile devices, and with Pearson Education reporting that 72 percent of elementary students and 66 percent of middle school students want use mobile devices more in classroom, now might be the best time to add an app as a regular part of school work. However, as EdTech reported, a survey done by Kent State University's Research Center for Educational Technology found that 30 percent of general education had received training on apps, and 87 percent wished to receive some sort of training on mobile apps.
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[FreshGrade Education Inc.]
Encourage your students to guide their own learning and begin to master their destinies. In this free eBook from FreshGrade, you’ll learn how to reclaim assessment, create purposeful assessment, and implement innovative approaches with real examples of innovation from schools across the United States. EdTech RoundUp described FreshGrade as uniquely combining student-led portfolios with flexible, custom assessment and parent engagement in one. FreshGrade is used by teachers, parents, and students in all 50 states and in more than 70 countries around the world.
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Edutopia
Convincing more students to pursue STEM studies is a goal widely shared by educators, policymakers and industry representatives concerned about the leaky pipeline of students preparing to become the next generation of innovators. Fortunately, there's no shortage of solutions. When more than 200 of the nation's top math and science educators gathered at the White House this fall to receive the 2016 Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching, they exchanged practical ideas for igniting student interest in STEM.
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The Washington Post
Students will have shorter spring breaks in some Maryland school systems, as local leaders begin to adopt plans for next school year that align with Gov. Larry Hogan's recent mandate to extend the summer recess through Labor Day. At least three districts — in Anne Arundel, Carroll and Baltimore counties — have scrapped a big part of their spring vacation to make the new schedule work. Others, including Frederick County, have proposed doing so. In suburban Montgomery and Prince George's counties, officials are still deciding how to rearrange their academic calendars.
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U.S. News & World Report
Teachers and principals agree that regardless of poverty level, students face learning barriers outside of school and more needs to be done to address these problems, according to a survey by Scholastic Education. The Teacher & Principal School Report: Equity in Education, which factored in the responses of 4,721 pre-K through 12th grade public school teachers and principals, emphasized the difference between equality and equity in education — that is, while students should have equal access to learning resources, each student deserves equity, or the individual support needed to reach success.
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THE Journal
The International Society for Technology in Education is seeking public comment on the first draft of its refreshed ISTE Standards for Teachers. More than 600 individuals from around the world have provided insight into the contents of this initial draft and, by the time the second draft is released in early 2017, ISTE anticipates that thousands more will have participated in the process, according to a news release.
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Education Week
Students' race, ethnicity, and immigrant status play a role in a teacher's decision to speak with parents about their children's behavior and academic issues, a new study suggests. The study, published in Teachers College Record, found that math teachers are more likely to contact parents of third-generation black and Latino students about disruptive behavior than parents of third-generation white students. In fact, math teachers contacted parents of black students over behavior issues twice as often as they contacted parents of white students.
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Education World
Home visits have been credited with improving student behavior, increasing student test scores, creating less teacher stress and giving parents more confidence in teachers' ability to help their children succeed. According to NPR, home visits might also be an ideal strategy for reducing student absences and ensuring kids stay in school. Reducing student absences and what is known as "chronic absenteeism" is an increasingly national imperative because when students aren't in school — they simply aren't learning.
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The Hechinger Report
When children in Classroom A and Classroom B show the same improvement on their math tests, Teachers A and B get the same evaluation score, and the assumption is that both teachers excel at the same things. But that assumption may be entirely wrong. Teacher A is a rock star when it comes to imparting math content while Teacher B is not, but Teacher B excels at getting students to persevere when they hit obstacles. So the Classroom A students did well on their tests because they knew the content, while the Classroom B kids did well because they didn't give up easily and reviewed their answers.
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Education DIVE
Like many districts nationwide, the Orlando-based Orange County Public Schools long identified gifted students through a referral process. Parents or teachers who suspected children of being gifted would recommend them for screening, and the district would assign services accordingly. During the 2012-2013 school year, however, the Orange County Public Schools began a shift to universal screening. It started in its high-poverty schools, where students had historically been underrepresented in gifted programs. That first year, the portion of students being identified as gifted grew 7 percent from the year before. The next year, it grew another 5.6 percent.
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| | FEDERAL ADVOCACY AND POLICY |
The Associated Press
Education Secretary John B. King Jr. is urging governors and school leaders in states that allow student paddling to end a practice he said would be considered "criminal assault or battery" against an adult. King released a letter asking leaders to replace corporal punishment with less punitive, more supportive disciplinary practices that he said work better against bad behavior. More than 110,000 students, including disproportionate numbers of black and disabled students, were subjected to paddling or a similar punishment in the 2013-2014 school year, said King, citing the Education Department's Civil Rights Data Collection.
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THE Journal
The United States Department of Education's Office of Inspector General has found in a recent report that the department's overall information technology security is "not generally effective" in meeting several federal requirements. The ed department and its Federal Student Aid office scored only 53 points out of 100 in a recent security audit. The report found that during a fiscal year 2016 audit, the ED was not generally effective in the following three security functions: protect, detect and respond.
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Education Next
Those of us at the Fordham Institute have long held that there's no one best way to design a state accountability system. It's not just that we can't even agree amongst ourselves about the relative importance of measuring student growth vs. student proficiency (though that’s true). It's also because we understand that, as with all policy endeavors, this one amounts to a series of trade-offs. Perhaps there are some "wrong" answers (such as relying exclusively on proficiency rates in reading and math to judge school quality, or measuring school spending and other inputs and calling it accountability) but mostly there are a whole bunch of right and partially-right answers, depending on policymakers' goals and states' idiosyncrasies. That's why, nine months ago, when we hosted our ESSA Accountability Design Competition, we intentionally decided not to declare a "winner."
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MindShift
Like many parents, Nicole Hambric's two kids are very different from one another. Her older daughter is a straight A student who did well in traditional public school, but her younger daughter, Jada, never really liked school. She would do just enough to get by, but often struggled to understand lessons the first time and felt rushed by the pace of her classes. Hambric was surprised to learn in May of Jada's fourth grade year that she might not be promoted to the next grade. She spent thousands of dollars on tutoring to help boost Jada's academics quickly, but she was angry the school hadn't communicated with her about Jada's struggles earlier.
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NAESP
This webinar is intended to give an overview of the National Panel of New Principals (NPNP) program including topics of interest based on recent "Rise and Shine" surveys. We will also discuss plans for upcoming virtual book talks with education thought leaders scheduled for January and the spring. This webinar takes place Dec. 7 from 4–5 p.m. ET.
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NAESP
As school principals, you have no doubt felt the increasing demands of the role: 60- to 70-hour work weeks and a seemingly infinite number of tasks required of you each day. Further, legal mandates of accountability for student achievement, a steady stream of reform initiatives, high expectations for learning leadership and the demands of school management all contribute to unprecedented stress, anxiety and time on the job.
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Designed for kids ages 5 to 12, Smart Play: Venti packs 20 exciting activities into its compact size.
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7701 Las Colinas Ridge, Ste. 800, Irving, TX 75063
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