Displaying 1-30 of 32 results
Commentary
4.29.2020
Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

On IDEA, Betsy DeVos did the right thing. Some school districts missed an opportunity.

Nathan Levenson

Secretary DeVos has declined to press Congress to waive major provisions of IDEA, the primary federal law governing the education of students with disabilities. This was the right call, and leaves school districts who have been slow to act facing greater challenges and expenses when in-person schooling resumes.

Commentary
4.28.2020
Curriculum & Instruction, Teachers & School Leaders

3 keys to the reading “road game”

Will Beller

Editor’s note: This blog post was first published by Partnership Schools.

Commentary
4.27.2020
Teachers & School Leaders

More than ever, meeting students’ primary needs starts with meeting our own

Matthew Taylor

Over the last several weeks, educators accomplished the mammoth task of setting up remote learning for the remainder of the COVID-19 pandemic. As time passes, school on Zoom will become the new normal. It is important in this in-between moment to bring our attention to something we probably have not thought enough about lately.

Commentary
4.24.2020
Teachers & School Leaders

I see education and humanity in “full bloom” in my COVID-19 classroom

Daniel Parsons

I used to leave my phone at the front of the classroom in case of emergencies at home. Of course, I didn’t advertise its place there, but also of course, the students found it and would snag it during community time. They couldn’t access the contents—a teacher knows to keep everything locked down—but they could access the camera, and they would snap whole reels of pictures.

Commentary
4.23.2020
Curriculum & Instruction, Teachers & School Leaders

Charting a course together in K–2 literacy and math

Rachel Etienne, Tori Filler

The world has changed. Our understanding of what matters most is evolving to meet new realities. This is as true in education as anywhere. Since “school as usual” isn’t an option, how can we chart a course forward, particularly for our youngest learners in kindergarten and first and second grades? How can we continue to cultivate the critical foundation for a lifetime of learning?

Commentary
4.22.2020
Curriculum & Instruction, Teachers & School Leaders

“Doing math” at a distance

Maggie Johnson

Editor’s note: This blog post was first published by Partnership Schools. We recently shared this captivating clip of Our Lady Queen of Angels’s Kindergartener Iliana C. teaching her mom number bonds and sentences.

Commentary
4.22.2020
Evidence-Based Learning

Researchers warn about misuses of a common measure of childhood trauma

Robert Pondiscio

Late last month, a remarkable article appeared in AJPM, the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, cautioning that a person’s ACE score is a “relatively crude measure of cumulative childhood stress exposure that can vary widely from person to person.” ACE stands for “Adverse Childhood Experience”; your “A

Commentary
4.17.2020
Governance

Giving all students an “A” is a terrible idea

Erika Sanzi

Just when it seems we’ve reached the limit of asinine pandemic proposals in K–12 education, we are quickly reminded that there is no limit. The San Francisco board of education has come up with a real doozy that flies directly in the face of “do no harm” despite what its most ardent supporters may claim.

Commentary
4.17.2020
Curriculum & Instruction, Teachers & School Leaders

Technology, once considered a wedge, is now keeping students connected

Andrew Goldin

Over the past few weeks, schools have closed, living rooms have transformed into classrooms, and kitchen tables have become desks. Many parents who typically receive an update on their child’s daily school progress by asking the question, “How was school today?” have been flung into the role of teacher, as districts have moved to various versions of remote learning.

Commentary
4.15.2020
Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

No, this is not the new normal

Robert Pondiscio

To throw all or even most of our Covid-19 recovery efforts into remote learning is “shoe bomber” planning: responding to the last attack instead of anticipating the next one. The old normal will be back, and in some places sooner than we think. So let’s think about what that will look like, and whether we will be ready for the foreseeable and dramatic learning loss school districts will face. Plans to make up for lost time require urgency and focus, but should avoid complexity and stay well within the talents and capacity of existing staff.

Commentary
4.14.2020
Governance

Special education in the time of coronavirus: DeVos and Congress need to act!

Miriam Kurtzig Freedman

Good for U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos for working on proposals to Congress urging flexibility to implement the primary federal special education law, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), during school closures caused by this pandemic. The CARES Act requires her to propose, within thirty days, IDEA provisions that should be waived, if any.

Commentary
4.14.2020
Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

Let’s build back better

Caprice Young

“Build back better” has become the mantra of post-disaster reconstruction, since the United Nations’ 2006 report, “Key Propositions for Building Back Better.” It points out that disasters can be leveraged as opportunities for change and improvement.

Commentary
4.13.2020
Evidence-Based Learning

Reading, writing, 'rithmetic...and the coronavirus reckoning

Dale Chu

Three separate analyses were published last week on how the coronavirus might affect children’s learning. Echoing a piece I recently wrote, they all conclude that the current school closures could have a devastating impact on student achievement.

Commentary
4.9.2020
Governance

COVID-19’s governance challenges for school boards

Susan Miller

The COVID-19 pandemic is creating management and governance challenges for organizations large and small, and school districts are no exception. Systematically thinking about these challenges in terms of directors’ five core responsibilities can help school boards meet those challenges.

Commentary
4.8.2020
Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

How the feds can help schools run at 80 percent capacity

Dale Chu

With more states and districts foreclosing upon the possibility of in-person learning through the end of the school year, the next few months will tell us a lot about whether our sector can muster the will and skill to overcome the contractual, logistical, and budgetary hurdles required to sufficiently meet the current challenge.

Commentary
4.6.2020
Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

Reimagining school

Emily Freitag

The COVID-19 pandemic is first and foremost a healthcare crisis. But it also causes an identity crisis for schools. The next year and a half will require our education system to constantly reinvent itself in response to rapidly changing needs, and school system leaders will need grace, high expectations, and new mental models for what school can become to best serve students and families.

Commentary
4.3.2020
Curriculum & Instruction, Governance, Teachers & School Leaders

A revolution in education, born of necessity

Kathleen Porter-Magee

Given his track record of studying and analyzing the real world of classroom-based instruction, Doug Lemov may not be the person you’d expect to be paving the way forward on online learning. But if you view Lemov’s work through the lens of the entrepreneurial, “find a way” spirit that sparked the modern education reform movement, it makes a little more sense.