Study Finds Positive Impacts of Retired Educators to Support New Teachers

A new study finds that using retired educators to mentor and support new teachers can be a cost effective strategy to improve math achievement. Regional Educational Laboratory Central worked with Aurora Public Schools in Colorado to conduct a randomized controlled trial study in the 2013-14 and 2014-15 school years during implementation of the district’s innovative Read more about Study Finds Positive Impacts of Retired Educators to Support New Teachers[…]

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State Teacher Leadership Toolkit: Created By States, For States

State education agencies have a unique opportunity through the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) to access the funding and support needed to advance their approach to teacher leadership. The State Teacher Leadership Toolkit provides a playbook for states to develop a framework to guide the planning, design, implementation, and assessment of teacher leadership initiatives that Read more about State Teacher Leadership Toolkit: Created By States, For States[…]

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Reimagining the School Day: Innovative Schedules for Teaching and Learning

Teachers in the U.S. spend far more time engaged in active instruction than their peers in other parts of the world. Yet some of teachers’ most important responsibilities–such as planning and collaborating with peers–require non-instructional time. Fortunately, there are several promising models schools have used for creative scheduling to provide teachers with the time they Read more about Reimagining the School Day: Innovative Schedules for Teaching and Learning[…]

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Four Domains for Rapid School Improvement

The Center on School Turnaround at WestEd (CST) has released the Four Domains for Rapid School Improvement. This report was developed as a framework to assist states, districts, and schools in leading and managing rapid improvement efforts. The framework shares, in practical language, the critical practices of successful school turnaround in four domains, or areas Read more about Four Domains for Rapid School Improvement[…]

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Coaching Roles That Achieve Their Potential to Improve Teaching and Learning

Despite decades of efforts to support teachers with coaching, most teachers still do not get the support they need in their own classrooms. Yet many teachers, including experienced ones, need support to continue to evolve professionally, hone their practice, and use new tools. Based on experience, the research base on coaching, and a forward-looking analysis, Read more about Coaching Roles That Achieve Their Potential to Improve Teaching and Learning[…]

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Starting Strong

A new report, Starting Strong: How to Improve Teachers’ Entry into the Profession, from the Center for American Progress explores the challenges facing inexperienced teachers’ entry into teaching, highlights some of the early outcomes of model programs, and proposes an expansion of supported entry programs for prospective and new teachers. Excerpts appear below: When a Read more about Starting Strong[…]

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The School Principal’s Role in Reducing Teacher Turnover

Roxanne Garza of New America recently examined the important role principals play in building a school environment that reduces teacher attrition. Excerpts from her article appear below: Recent debates about ensuring all students have effective teachers have largely centered on how to recruit, prepare, evaluate, and—more recently—develop them. But these efforts to “build a better Read more about The School Principal’s Role in Reducing Teacher Turnover[…]

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Running in Place: How New Teacher Evaluations Fail to Live Up to Promises

National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ), a non-partisan research and policy organization dedicated to ensuring every classroom has a high quality teacher, has released a new report on the effects of recent reforms of state teacher evaluation policies on teacher effectiveness ratings. The report examines teacher evaluation policies in the 30 states that require objective Read more about Running in Place: How New Teacher Evaluations Fail to Live Up to Promises[…]

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The Teacher Evaluation Revamp, In Hindsight

Chad Aldeman of Bellwether Partners recently provided a reflection on teacher evaluation reform during the Obama presidency in Education Next. Excerpts of his insightful piece appear below: When President Obama took office in 2009, his administration quickly seized on teacher evaluations as an important public-policy problem. Today, much of his legacy on K-12 education rests Read more about The Teacher Evaluation Revamp, In Hindsight[…]

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The Educator Pipeline: Turnover, Fewer Applicants Will Impact Student Achievement

Concerned about retention and recruitment of teachers, principals, and administrators, Learning First Alliance member organizations are looking to build stronger pipelines and supports for these critical roles in student learning. The Educator Pipeline discusses the challenges each profession faces, and why this issue is key to our nation’s economic future.   The report explores the Read more about The Educator Pipeline: Turnover, Fewer Applicants Will Impact Student Achievement[…]

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Landscapes in Teacher Prep: Undergraduate Elementary Education

The National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) has released new ratings for 875 undergraduate elementary teacher preparation programs. The latest Teacher Prep Review found evidence that the nation’s top programs–those that graduate teachers well versed in both evidence-based content and methods of teaching–are not all the nation’s best known elite universities, but include Purdue University, Read more about Landscapes in Teacher Prep: Undergraduate Elementary Education[…]

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Teacher Action Research Prize

The annual Yale-Lynn Hall Teacher Action Research Prize recognizes and supports the leadership of teachers who continually work to improve their practice through action research. The School of Management (SOM) Education Leadership Conference is seeking applications from educators who are trying new lessons, modes of content delivery, or types of activities to improve student outcomes. Read more about Teacher Action Research Prize[…]

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How to Battle the Teacher Shortage (15 experts weigh in)

Teachers of Tomorrow is out with a new infographic on the teacher shortage crisis and the states and content areas that are hardest hit. To shed some light on how we can solve this problem, the organization asked 15 experts passionate about education the following question: What is the single most important thing America can Read more about How to Battle the Teacher Shortage (15 experts weigh in)[…]

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Preparing Teachers for a Project-Based World

The Getting Smart team has released Preparing Teachers for a Project-Based World, a publication exploring how teacher preparation and professional learning can align to–and be modeled after–the types of deeper learning environments we seek to create for students. This publication is part of Getting Smart’s year long It’s a Project-Based World campaign. Drawing upon the Read more about Preparing Teachers for a Project-Based World[…]

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More than 1 in 4 Teachers Chronically Absent

More than 1 in 4 of the nation’s full-time teachers are considered chronically absent from school, according to federal data, missing the equivalent of more than two weeks of classes each academic year in what some districts say has become an educational crisis. The U.S. Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights estimated that 27 percent Read more about More than 1 in 4 Teachers Chronically Absent[…]

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What does ESSA say about teacher evaluation?

When the U.S. Department of Education granted states waivers to the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), those waivers came with conditions. The waivers required states to adopt teacher evaluations that, among other requirements, were based in part on student performance data. The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) ends these federal requirements for teacher evaluations. Read more about What does ESSA say about teacher evaluation?[…]

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