First Results from the OECD Survey of Social and Emotional Skills

Over the last few years, social and emotional skills have been rising on the education policy agenda and in the public debate. Policy makers and education practitioners are seeking ways to complement the focus on academic learning, with attention to social and emotional skill development. Social and emotional skills are a subset of an individual’s Read more about First Results from the OECD Survey of Social and Emotional Skills[…]

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SpeakUp 2021 Virtual Congressional Briefing

For almost two decades, Project Tomorrow has hosted a Congressional Briefing bringing the voices of K12 students, parents, educators, and administrators to Capitol Hill and sharing the findings of their research. The goal is to provide information critical to the development of sound education policy. This year the tradition continued with a virtual briefing enabling Read more about SpeakUp 2021 Virtual Congressional Briefing[…]

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Understanding Well-Being Through A Whole-Child Lens: Introducing The Well-Being Index

All students have unique strengths and needs that vary over time and are expressed differently. This year, persistent disruptions to learning, systemic racial oppression and the collective trauma of the COVID-19 pandemic have deeply affected the well-being of young people everywhere. To help educators assess student well-being directly, quickly, and frequently, both in-person and virtually, Read more about Understanding Well-Being Through A Whole-Child Lens: Introducing The Well-Being Index[…]

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Anxiety and Depression as this Generation’s Major Problem

Most teens see anxiety and depression as “major problems” among their peers, according to a new survey conducted by the Pew Research Center. It suggests that 7 in 10 teens ages 13 to 17 think those issues are more prevalent than bullying, drug addiction, drinking alcohol, poverty, teen pregnancy and gangs. Concern about mental health Read more about Anxiety and Depression as this Generation’s Major Problem[…]

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Measuring the Social and Emotional Sides of Student Success

The intensifying interest among education policymakers in the social and emotional dimensions of student success is encouraging news. By complementing the important work in recent years to raise standards and strengthen instruction, the increasing focus on school climate and students’ relationships to their peers and their schools is a potentially powerful catalyst for school improvement Read more about Measuring the Social and Emotional Sides of Student Success[…]

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How High School Teachers can Better Engage their Students, according to Teens

If students are going to get the most out of school, they need to be engaged. Research shows, for example, that disengaged students are more likely to suffer a range of bad consequences, such as failing a course, repeating a grade, and dropping out. Yet however much rhetoric we may hear about building a “student-centered” Read more about How High School Teachers can Better Engage their Students, according to Teens[…]

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Empowering Youth Voice

CASEL’s latest SEL Trends brief, Empowering Youth Voice, focuses on efforts of three large urban school districts to engage students as active participants in their learning. In Chicago, every high school and 35 middle schools have Student Voice Committees, which focus on issues such as student-teacher feedback protocols, peer mentoring, and other mental health resources. Read more about Empowering Youth Voice[…]

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What Teens Want From Their Schools

Among high school students who consider dropping out, half cite lack of engagement with school as a primary reason, and 42 percent say that they don’t see value in the schoolwork they are asked to do. In What Teens Want from Their Schools: A National Survey of High School Student Engagement, the Thomas B. Fordham Read more about What Teens Want From Their Schools[…]

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Early Results in California’s CORE Districts

As states and districts work to develop new accountability systems under the Every Student Succeeds Act, six California districts who received federal waivers under the Obama administration are getting the first hints of how more holistic accountability systems might work. Researchers and district officials discussed the first evaluations of the California Office to Reform Education, Read more about Early Results in California’s CORE Districts[…]

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Do Schools Challenge Our Students Now?

When the Center for American Progress released its 2012 report, Do Schools Challenge Our Students?, many states had just committed to the Common Core State Standards. The standards were an attempt to raise expectations by establishing a new set of rigorous K-12 academic benchmarks, and the CAP analysis underscored the need for more rigorous standards, Read more about Do Schools Challenge Our Students Now?[…]

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Reflection Tool For 21st Century Learning

Students at the Center’s Hub team developed the Reflection Tool For 21st Century Learning to support deeper learning and computational thinking for secondary students.  The tool defines and scaffolds essential skills for both students and educators, in easy-to-understand language with opportunity for reflection and growth. This reflection tool is a great way to get students Read more about Reflection Tool For 21st Century Learning[…]

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The Evidence on Non-Cognitive Skills from California’s CORE Districts

Previously, this blog introduced readers to the work of California’s CORE Districts. Now preliminary evidence is out, and we are able to look more closely at the use of self-report surveys of non-cognitive skills as a potential element of school accountability systems. Analysis of data from the CORE field test indicates that the scales used Read more about The Evidence on Non-Cognitive Skills from California’s CORE Districts[…]

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How Students Perceive Their Relationships with Teachers

Education research consistently shows that positive teacher-student relationships are an important dimension of effective teaching and contribute to students’ success in school and life. Students who have strong relationships with their teachers tend to get better grades, work harder in school, and are less likely to drop out. A recent analysis written by Panorama Education Read more about How Students Perceive Their Relationships with Teachers[…]

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Student Voice: A way for Students to make their Voices Heard

              A new group called Student Voice has set out to collect data and advocate for students to help improve the situation students are facing in schools. Student Voice is a nationwide group that is obtaining feedback and tackling issues important to students. Student Voice National Field Director Andrew Brennen is encouraging students to Read more about Student Voice: A way for Students to make their Voices Heard[…]

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Survey: Most High Schoolers Feel Unprepared for College, Careers

A recent survey finds that more than half of high school juniors and seniors across the country don’t feel they’re ready for college and careers, even though these remain top goals for students. The survey was a multi-year College and Career Readiness survey of 165,000 high school students conducted by YouthTruth, a San Francisco-based nonprofit. Read more about Survey: Most High Schoolers Feel Unprepared for College, Careers[…]

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Communication and Engagement Strategies for High-Quality Evaluation

State and district leaders need more than high-quality measures of teacher effectiveness to make their evaluation policies stick. They also need communications and engagement strategies, ongoing professional learning and support opportunities for teachers, and a plan to combine and use evaluation data to inform decisions at the school, district and state level. Without these pieces Read more about Communication and Engagement Strategies for High-Quality Evaluation[…]

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