New teachers often get the students who are furthest behind — and that’s a problem for both

Posted on April 16, 2019April 13, 2019 by coreeducation

Matt Barnum, writing for Chalkbeat, recently wrote an article exploring the fact that new teachers often end up in the most challenging classroom assignments. Excerpts of the piece appear below: Being a new teacher is notoriously difficult — and schools often make it even tougher. New research out of Los Angeles finds that teachers in Read more about New teachers often get the students who are furthest behind — and that’s a problem for both[…]

Preparing School Leaders for Success

Posted on April 9, 2019April 7, 2019 by coreeducation

A growing body of research points to the ways in which principals influence teachers, classrooms, and, ultimately, student achievement. A new study by RAND examines the New Leaders Aspiring Principals program. Aspiring Principals has three core features: selective recruitment and admission, training and endorsement, and support for principals early in their tenure. RAND’s report is Read more about Preparing School Leaders for Success[…]

Retaining Teachers: Fostering Conditions Where Talent Thrives

Posted on March 7, 2019March 4, 2019 by coreeducation

Education Evolving has launched a new blog series focused on the growing problem of teacher turnover, and telling the stories of schools, strategies, programs, and leaders that buck the trend. Teachers have long been identified as the number one in-school factor that influences student outcomes. Conversely, teacher turnover is correlated with lower student outcomes and Read more about Retaining Teachers: Fostering Conditions Where Talent Thrives[…]

NAESP Study about the Principalship

Posted on July 10, 2018July 6, 2018 by coreeducation

Social-emotional learning, mental health, and student poverty are among the top student-related concerns of Pre-K through grade 8 principals, according to The Pre-K School Leader in 2018: A 10-Year Study. Since 1928, the National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP) has collected data on the climate, challenges, and conditions that mark the principalship. In Read more about NAESP Study about the Principalship[…]

Issue Brief: Effective School Leaders

Posted on May 23, 2018May 20, 2018 by coreeducation

School administrators serve as instructional leaders and set the tone for the culture of a school. The principal’s influence is pivotal. In Core Education’s May issue brief, we explore effective school leadership and recommendations for policy to improve the preparation, support, and evaluation of educational leaders. In addition, we review the research-based factors that make Read more about Issue Brief: Effective School Leaders[…]

Critical Success Factors for Great School Leaders

Posted on May 9, 2018May 9, 2018 by coreeducation

Writing for The 74, Beth Rabbitt reflects on the takeaways from the Learning Accelerator’s work with more than 100 leaders across eight regions nationally in the past year. Excerpts from the article appear below: Looking at patterns across each region, our biggest finding was this: ecosystems matter. Leaders can only be as effective as the Read more about Critical Success Factors for Great School Leaders[…]

‘No-Excuses’ Charter Schools Could Close the Achievement Gap

Posted on March 8, 2018March 1, 2018 by coreeducation

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[…]

School Leadership Counts

Posted on November 9, 2017November 4, 2017 by coreeducation

While the importance and impact of school and teacher leadership has been widely understood by policymakers and practitioners, the field has lacked a comprehensive, research-based analysis to identify the specific elements of school and teacher leadership that can increase student achievement. Through a grant from the Carnegie Corporation, the New Teacher Center (NTC) partnered with Read more about School Leadership Counts[…]

Preparing to Lead: Lessons in Principal Development for High Performing Education Systems

Posted on November 3, 2017October 27, 2017 by coreeducation

Of all in-school influences on student learning, leadership is second only to teaching quality. Indeed, when it comes to whole-system improvement, some argue that improving the quality of school leadership is a higher strategic priority than improving the quality of individual teachers, due to a principal’s influence across a school. While school leadership is routinely Read more about Preparing to Lead: Lessons in Principal Development for High Performing Education Systems[…]

Characteristics of Public Elementary and Secondary School Principals in the United States

Posted on September 5, 2017September 1, 2017 by coreeducation

A new report from the National Center for Education Statistics summarizes the characteristics of public elementary and secondary school principals in the United States. The report provides descriptive statistics and basic information from the 2015–16 National Teacher and Principal Survey Public School Principal Data File. Main findings include: There were about 90,000 principals leading U.S. public Read more about Characteristics of Public Elementary and Secondary School Principals in the United States[…]

School Staffing Models Can Support Principals as Instructional Leaders

Posted on July 19, 2017July 14, 2017 by coreeducation

With the rise of new academic standards, more rigorous educator evaluation and support systems, and a growing population of students who need additional supports, expectations for public school teachers are rising and, in turn, so are expectations for school leaders. Principals are increasingly expected to focus on “instructional leadership” by engaging more deeply in areas Read more about School Staffing Models Can Support Principals as Instructional Leaders[…]

Rubrics for School Improvement

Posted on July 13, 2017June 30, 2017 by coreeducation

School improvement planning has become more prevalent and important due to increased calls from federal and state governments, state education agencies (SEAs), and the general public for more accountability in education. In many cases, the school principal is responsible for conceptualizing, drafting, and submitting the plan. However, there are very few publicly available tools that Read more about Rubrics for School Improvement[…]

For $42 Per Pupil Districts Can Build Principal Pipelines and Get Better School Leaders

Posted on July 11, 2017June 30, 2017 by coreeducation

Kevin Mahnken of The 74 recently reported on a new RAND report that demonstrates how districts can build effective principal pipelines for very little cost. Excerpts of his piece appear below: Excellent principals don’t have to be a luxury reserved for affluent communities, according to new research from the RAND Corporation. The report examines a Read more about For $42 Per Pupil Districts Can Build Principal Pipelines and Get Better School Leaders[…]

Four Key things to Know about Distributed Leadership

Posted on June 16, 2017June 9, 2017 by coreeducation

Great leadership is at the heart of every high-quality public school. Within schools, leadership is most effective when it’s distributed among a team of individuals with different skillsets and experiences but a shared mission to spark and sustain a school-wide culture of learning and improved outcomes for students. These types of instructional leadership teams can Read more about Four Key things to Know about Distributed Leadership[…]

How States Can Promote Local Innovation, Options, and Problem-Solving in Public Education

Posted on June 6, 2017March 3, 2020 by coreeducation

State policy plays a critical role in determining whether and how well local education improvement strategies can be implemented. As states rework their education policies under ESSA, state and local leaders need a way to assess their current policy environment and identify the changes needed to encourage local innovation and problem solving. To identify the Read more about How States Can Promote Local Innovation, Options, and Problem-Solving in Public Education[…]

April Issue Brief: Scheduling for Success

Posted on April 25, 2017April 22, 2017 by coreeducation

Time is one of the resources most valuable to educators, but school schedules do not always allocate time to the activities that our schools purport to value most. Schedules can be better designed to foster planning and collaboration, flexible instructional blocks to differentiate content to student need, and opportunities for small group instruction and student-directed Read more about April Issue Brief: Scheduling for Success[…]