Big Data on Campus

Recently, EducationNext released research on the predictive analytics that colleges and universities are using to identify at-risk students who may benefit from additional support. Excerpts from the piece appear below: Colleges and universities are facing mounting pressure to raise completion rates and have embraced predictive analytics to identify which students are at risk of failing Read more about Big Data on Campus[…]

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Investing in the Teacher Workforce: Experimental Evidence on Teachers’ Preferences

While investing in the teacher workforce is central to improving schools, school resources are notoriously limited, forcing school leaders to make difficult decisions on how to prioritize funds. A new paper from the Annenberg Institute at Brown University examines a critical input to resource allocation decisions: teacher preferences. Using an original, online discrete choice survey Read more about Investing in the Teacher Workforce: Experimental Evidence on Teachers’ Preferences[…]

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How Districts With Different Poverty Levels Are Spending COVID Relief Funds

Recently in The 74, Phyllis Jordan and Bella Dimarco reviewed a new FutureEd analysis of plans for spending ESSER III emergency relief funds, including more than 2,600 school districts serving 53 percent of the nation’s public school students. The analysis suggests that the higher the poverty rate in a district’s student population, the more likely Read more about How Districts With Different Poverty Levels Are Spending COVID Relief Funds[…]

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Collaborating to transform and improve education systems: A playbook for family-school engagement

Writing for Brookings, Rebecca Winthrop, Adam Barton, Mahsa Ershadi, and Lauren Ziegler introduce a new playbook on family-school collaboration that makes the case for why family engagement is essential for education systems transformation and why families and schools must have a shared understanding of what a good quality education looks like. Excerpts of the piece Read more about Collaborating to transform and improve education systems: A playbook for family-school engagement[…]

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Fourth American School District Panel Survey Reveals Concerns about Mental Health, Political Polarization

Policymakers had hoped that the 2021–2022 school year would be a chance to recover from COVID-19 pandemic–related disruptions to schooling. Instead, media reports of staff shortages, heated or even violent school board meetings, increased student misbehavior, low student and teacher attendance, and enrollment declines suggest increased — rather than decreased — problems during this third Read more about Fourth American School District Panel Survey Reveals Concerns about Mental Health, Political Polarization[…]

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Policy Principles Supporting the 13th Year Concept

State leaders are looking to increase postsecondary credential attainment to build the depth and breadth of their high-skilled labor force, and the concept of the 13th year has emerged as a model that can help do just that. The 13th year allows students to continue public schooling for an extra year beyond 12th grade at Read more about Policy Principles Supporting the 13th Year Concept[…]

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Black, Latino Students Disproportionately Taught by Inexperienced, Uncertified Teachers

Writing for The 74, Marianna McMurdock recently reviewed new research that shows that Black and Latino students are disproportionately taught by inexperienced, uncertified teachers. Excerpts of the piece appear below: Across the country, schools serving predominantly Black students have 5 percent more novice teachers than schools with fewer Black students, according to analysis from education Read more about Black, Latino Students Disproportionately Taught by Inexperienced, Uncertified Teachers[…]

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232 innovative schools challenging old assumptions about education

Recently, Chelsea Waite of CRPE reviewed some of the most promising work emerging from  the Canopy project, a nationwide effort lifting up knowledge from hundreds of organizations to build open data about schools that are innovating. Excerpts of the piece appear below: A diverse array of communities are working to reinvent schooling in pursuit of Read more about 232 innovative schools challenging old assumptions about education[…]

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Restoring Teachers’ Efficacy

A new piece from ASCD highlights a “pernicious dynamic” that is emerging from the pandemic: a loss of teachers’ professional efficacy. Highlights of the piece appear below: Amid the mix of emotions stirred in teachers by the sudden shift to online learning was a profound sense of helplessness (Bintliff, 2020). Feeling powerless dampens teachers’ sense Read more about Restoring Teachers’ Efficacy[…]

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Classroom Observations Biased Against Male, Black Teachers, Research Suggests

Recently in The 74, Kevin Mahnken reviewed a study out of Tennessee that shows that classroom observations, utilized for teacher effectiveness determinations, show evidence of racial and gender bias against male and Black teachers. Excerpts of the piece appear below: Significant bias has contributed to lower classroom observation scores for thousands of teachers in Tennessee Read more about Classroom Observations Biased Against Male, Black Teachers, Research Suggests[…]

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Teacher Occupation Apprenticeship Programs Provide Path to Become a Teacher for Free

Tennessee is the first state to be approved by the U.S. Department of Labor to establish a permanent Grow Your Own model, with Clarksville-Montgomery County School System and Austin Peay State University’s Teacher Residency program becoming the first registered apprenticeship program for teaching in the country. Tennessee is the first state in the country to Read more about Teacher Occupation Apprenticeship Programs Provide Path to Become a Teacher for Free[…]

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Using Classroom Simulators to Transform Teacher Preparation

A new piece from the Brown Center Chalkboard reviews innovations in teacher preparation taking place at the University of Virginia that make the most of classroom simulators. Excerpts appear below: In teacher preparation, simulated practice is designed to complement—not to replace—student-placement experiences. However, it also has the potential to powerfully address “experience gaps” that we Read more about Using Classroom Simulators to Transform Teacher Preparation[…]

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Transforming Education into a Learning System: Reflections on the Pandemic

In a new brief, Carnegie Corporation of New York and EducationCounsel explore how the American education system responded to the COVID-19 pandemic, identifying gaps (missed opportunities and systemic shortcomings that deepened the challenges our schools faced) and bright spots (existing and new efforts where learning system approaches supported more effective action). Drawing on those lessons, Read more about Transforming Education into a Learning System: Reflections on the Pandemic[…]

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“Creativity Requires Freedom”: What Will It Take to Create Space Within Our Education System to Think and Design Creatively?

The Center for Reinventing Public Education (CRPE), in partnership with the Reinvention Lab powered by Teach For America, gathered a “change-maker” group of students, educators, and education leaders. It was an intimate gathering of people committed to a learner-centered, radically different future of education. The question posed to the group was: How do we help Read more about “Creativity Requires Freedom”: What Will It Take to Create Space Within Our Education System to Think and Design Creatively?[…]

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Innovative Staffing Models to Sustain Teacher Residencies

Education First recently organized a Residency Sustainability Webinar Series to spotlight successful approaches teacher preparation programs and districts have used to develop and implement high-quality, sustainable and affordable teacher residencies. They identified promising innovative staffing strategies from both the series and the broader field in their latest paper, Innovative Staffing Models to Sustain Teacher Residencies. Read more about Innovative Staffing Models to Sustain Teacher Residencies[…]

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Getting Real About Sustainability & ESSER Funding

A new 90-second video can be used to help school systems explain their efforts to invest ESSER funds with a sustainable “Do Now, Build Toward” approach. It begins by walking through three approaches to ESSER spending and then digs into what sustainability looks like in this moment — thinking beyond using ESSER dollars for one-time Read more about Getting Real About Sustainability & ESSER Funding[…]

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