Every year, schools must hire new teachers to replace the nearly 15 percent who leave annually. But what if schools are doing it wrong? In Core Education’s May issue brief, we explore the data science behind teacher hiring, look at the teacher characteristics that have the most impact on teacher effectiveness and retention, and benchmark Read more about May Issue Brief: Effective Teacher Hiring Practices[…]
Writing for the Brookings Institute, Amy Roberts and Helyn Kim explore the importance of teacher well-being for student success. Excerpts of the piece appear below: Without question, teachers are central to student success. Anyone who has taught knows how rewarding it is to witness student learning. Teaching can also be one of the most stressful, Read more about To Promote Success in Schools, Focus on Teacher Well-being[…]
Each year a significant number of aspiring elementary teachers, having successfully completed their formal preparation, are still unable to become licensed professionals. That’s because an alarming number of candidates fail their licensing tests, far surpassing the failure rate for other professions’ entry tests, bar exams, and boards. The fact that more candidates fail than pass Read more about A Fair Chance: Simple Steps to Strengthen and Diversify the Teacher Workforce[…]
A new report by professional services firm STEMconnector defines a successful result for talent development in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields as the emergence of “a diverse and STEM-ready talent pool with the knowledge, skills, and mindsets needed to secure and succeed in careers today and in the future.” The report, “Input Read more about Report Proposes Common Definition for Successful STEM Talent Development[…]
Writing for AEI, Chester E. Finn, Jr. and Frederick M. Hess explore what is needed to make social and emotional learning (SEL) thrive in today’s schools. The report offers seven suggestions for SEL advocates and funders as they seek to deliver on SEL’s promise and avoid its pitfalls. Suggestions include: Slow down and focus on Read more about What social and emotional learning needs to succeed and survive[…]
Education Resource Strategies (ERS) has developed detailed profiles of eight school systems that have transformed how the central office supports schools and have seen student results. The new Districts at Work series looks specifically at how districts achieved their strategic priorities through: A clear theory of action that included both school-level changes and central office Read more about Real Strategies from Real Districts[…]
Writing for Education Next, authors Michael Q. McShane and Andy Smarick explore the challenges facing rural education as well as recommendations for a path forward. Excerpts of their piece appear below: A consistent criticism of education reform is that much of the agenda has been based on what some call a “deficit mindset.” That is, Read more about To Improve Rural Schools, Focus on their Strengths[…]
School district leaders know that standardized tests are a narrow view of learning outcomes. Many want to embrace a broader view of career and citizenship readiness, and want to engage young people in active learning to promote these important outcomes-but these changes come with a variety of challenges. Typical school district dilemmas include: * Read more about How to Innovate: Options for School Districts[…]
Recently, Bryan Goodwin of McREL International and William J. Slotnik of the Community Training and Assistance Center partnered up to write a piece for Phi Delta Kappan exploring the myth that teachers peak as professionals early in their careers and then reach a performance plateau. Excerpts from their piece appear below: There is a belief, Read more about Debunking the Myth of the Teacher Performance Plateau[…]
Education Evolving has released a new guide designed to address the unique opportunities and challenges that face school administrators using collaborative and distributed leadership models. The guide-which draws on the expertise and experience of eight administrators from teacher-powered schools around the country-is intended for any site administrator working at, creating, or converting to a collaborative leadership model Read more about Collaborative Leadership for Thriving Teams[…]
Children graduating from K-12 schools are largely unprepared for workplace challenges, and with the rise of smart machines, workforce readiness gaps are likely to increase. What are promising practices for preparing students for the changing world of work? How can educators help students develop their uniquely human attributes and flexible skills that can be applied Read more about Issue Brief: Preparing Learners for an Uncertain Future[…]
Instruction Partners, an organization that works with small school systems to strengthen instruction and accelerate student learning, has been working to understand what differentiates better outcomes in school reform projects. Up until now, research has held few practical answers about what specific actions could result in better implementation quality. Instruction Partners engaged in a two-year Read more about From Great Materials to Great Instruction[…]
Thousands of public school teachers voluntarily leave their jobs each year, hurting student achievement and costing districts billions of dollars to find replacements. Lynnette Mawhinney and Carol Rinke were once part of that churn. Now, with both women serving as professors at teacher prep programs, Mawhinney and Rinke have co-authored a new book that illuminates Read more about Why They Leave: The Reasons Teachers Give for Quitting the Profession[…]
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[…]
New America has analyzed professional teaching standards in all 50 states to better understand whether states’ expectations for teachers incorporate culturally responsive teaching. To support this analysis, researchers identified eight competencies that clarify what teachers should know and be able to do in light of research on culturally responsive teaching. The study finds that while Read more about Culturally Responsive Teaching in State Teaching Standards[…]
Integrating Social, Emotional, and Academic Development (SEAD): An Action Guide for School Leadership Teams provides practical advice, curated resources, and action steps for school leaders to improve the student experience, calling out specific equity implications in every section. Published by Education First and co-developed with practitioner-leaders from Minneapolis and Nashville public schools and experts from the Read more about Integrating Social, Emotional and Academic Development[…]