Recently in Getting Smart, David Ross wrote an article summarizing key practices for school innovation, with links to some of the most innovative schools in the world. Excerpts from the piece appear below: Recent visits to renowned centers of innovation such as AltSchool in San Francisco and the Dalton Academy in Beijing have got me Read more about Four Keys to Success at the Most Innovative Schools in the World[…]
A new survey of research into charter school effectiveness has linked so-called no-excuses practices in urban charter schools to sizable academic gains. Published in the Winter 2018 edition of The Future of Children, a journal jointly published by Princeton University and the Brookings Institution, the survey found that spending three years in one of these Read more about ‘No-Excuses’ Charter Schools Could Close the Achievement Gap[…]
Based on a review of seminal documents from the Learning First Alliance member organizations, the Alliance has identified six elements around which successful schools are organized, whether formally or informally, that each impact several important aspects of schooling. These elements are: Focus on the Total Child Successful schools support all students’ needs, inside and outside Read more about The Elements of Success: 10 Million Speak on Schools that Work[…]
In at least 10 U.S. cities, a new partnership schools model is emerging. This “third way” governance strategy can break through contentious district-charter divides and could help improve struggling schools or increase the number of high-quality neighborhood options. The Center for Reinventing Public Education (CRPE) has released a new brief titled Partnership Schools: New Governance Read more about Partnership Schools: New Governance Models for Creating Quality School Options in Districts[…]
How best to reform K-12 education in America is the subject of passionate debate. Lagging test scores, dispiriting classroom environments, and growing fears about our nation’s international competitiveness have inspired a new cadre of reformers searching for ways to modernize and transform the US education system. At the same time, reform efforts-from Common Core and Read more about “Letters To A Young Education Reformer”[…]
The goal of ConnectEd: connect 99% of America’s public schools to high speed Internet in 5 years. The Obama administration hopes that accomplishing this feat will enable schools and teachers to take advantage of educational technology and software that will allow for more rapid evaluation of student progress. Furthermore, the administration’s plan, based on elements Read more about Obama touts ConnectED Initiative to Bring High Speed Internet to Schools[…]
America Achieves has released a new series of short videos designed to show what great schools and districts are doing around the country, in hopes that more schools and districts might follow their lead. America Achieves, an organization that “helps communities and states leverage policy, practice, and leadership to build high-quality educational systems and prepare Read more about Spotlight on Promising Practices[…]
The Carnegie Corporation of New York has committed $15 million to “catalyze district-based new school design work” that will focus on individualized learning. To support this effort, they have also recently published a report, Opportunity by Design: New High School Models for Student Success. This report calls for a focus on how schools use teaching, Read more about Carnegie Corporation: Rethinking school design to meet demands of new standards[…]
Too often do we in the field of education policy end up discussing only the negatives: red tape, too little funding, changed programs, poor communication, lack of support, etc. In recent years, principals and teachers have often borne the brunt of the criticism, although research into successful schools consistently shows that good principals and teachers Read more about 9 Model Ohio schools: Principals and Teachers are crucial to success[…]
TNTP has released its newest resource—the Teacher Talent Toolbox. The Toolbox “is a repository of successful strategies and practical resources that schools, districts, and networks can draw on to create effective human capital policies, with the aim of creating sustained, scalable models for effective instruction.” It is essentially an open-source library of resources that focus Read more about TNTP Releases “Teacher Talent Toolbox”[…]
Public Impact has launched the implementation phase of its effort to bring excellent teachers to every classroom. In this phase, the organization seeks to identify five “model” sites that can be used to extend the reach of these teachers beyond their own classrooms. Seeking to create what it calls an “Opportunity Culture,” Public Impact wants Read more about Public Impact Seeks Five Sites to Extend the Reach of Excellent Teachers[…]
Want to see some incredible models for true educational reform? New York City’s iZone is one to watch. The iZone school designs are characterized by five core principles: –Performance assessment & mastery-based grading –Personalized learning plans –Multiple learning modalities (e.g., a combination of independent student work, small group instruction, one-on-one instruction, student collaborative activities, Read more about NYC’s iZone[…]