Leading Schools

Educators recognize that excessive absence comes with elevated anxiety and decreased educational self-efficacy.  By intentionally reaching out during and after attendance struggles, educators provide students with HOPE.

many researchers consider learning styles to be a myth. Prior research has shown little evidence that learning-style theory holds up. A 2009 meta-analysis of thousands of articles published on the subject found that most didn't test the concept in an experimental setting. Of those that did, several offered results that contradicted the theory.

But the idea's popularity in education circles persists—in part, said Papadatou-Pastou, because there are, of course, real differences among learners. "The intuitive appeal of learning styles rests on this reality," she said.

Out of the 220 districts that responded to the survey, 91 percent reported experiencing a teacher shortage, with most feeling the pinch in science, math, and special education.

Eighty-five percent of the surveyed districts applied for emergency permits for people who don’t have teaching licenses, or educators who are hired to teach subjects outside their licensure.

Superintendents overwhelmingly said it was difficult to find qualified job candidates, and many mentioned high teacher turnover rates. They often pointed to low pay as the cause, competing against other higher-paying districts or the private sector.

If we want our students to actually learn the facts and concepts and ideas we’re trying to teach them, they have to experience those things in some way that rises above abstract words on paper. They have to process them. Manipulate them.

To really learn in a way that will stick, they have to DO something.

A significant chunk of schoolwork these days necessitates a computer and internet connection, and this work includes tasks students are expected to complete at home without access to school resources. One federal survey conducted among American teachers several years ago found that 70 percent of respondents assign homework that needs to be done online—and 90 percent of high schoolers say they’re assigned internet-based homework at least a few times a month, according to a separate 2017 survey, including 48 percent who get such assignments daily or almost daily.

scientific research has shown how children learn to read. But many teachers either don't know that science or resist it.

"Most teachers nationwide are not being taught reading science in their teacher-preparation programs because many deans and faculty in colleges of education either don't know the science or dismiss it," Hanford writes. "As a result of their intransigence, millions of kids have been set up to fail." 

Research shows that to learn how to read, children first need to be taught how letters represent speech sounds. But in many classrooms, teachers don't spend enough time on phonics, preferring to let students guess words from context clues and develop a love of reading through practice, rather than rote instruction, Hanford reported. 

The "whole language versus phonics" reading wars have been raging for decades: Do we need to explicitly teach students how to read, or will they pick it up through enough exposure to good books? Studies have "failed to find a positive relationship between encouraging reading and either the amount of reading or reading achievement," states a 2000 report from the National Reading Panel. On the other hand, the federally funded report concluded that phonics lessons do help students become better readers. (There has been limited widescale research on the subject since then.) 

Now, many educators advocate for balanced literacy, an approach to reading instruction that emphasizes student choice of texts, independent reading (also known as sustained silent reading), and group discussions. The approach includes some phonics, but does not make that a focus. 

That approach is still the norm in many classrooms and teacher-preparation programs, Hanford reports. For instance, in 2014, the former New York City schools chancellor pushed for schools to reinstate independent reading time.) 

students from low-income and single-parent households tend to perform significantly lower as a result of wealth translating to fewer educational resources. According to the report, students from low-income and single-parent households are between 7 percentage points and 17 percentage points less likely than those from wealthier, two-parent homes to complete a higher education.

On average, the mean PISA science score among disadvantaged students was 452 points, while advantaged students saw an average score of 540 points. This gap of 88 points represents the equivalent of about three full years of schooling,the report says.

"The elephant in the room is the socio-economic profile of the schools," Schleicher said.

1. Http The teaching force has continued to grow larger, less experienced, and more racially diverse. And the high numbers of teacher turnover have continued, especially among inexperienced and nonwhite teachers, a new analysis shows. 
   
   Richard Ingersoll, a professor of education and sociology at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education, has studied nearly three decades of federal data on teachers—now from 1987 to 2016—to explore what changes have taken place over time. This new report is his latest update, using 2015-16 data from the National Teacher Principal Survey. Here are some of the key findings:
   
   1. Forty-four percent of new teachers leave teaching within five years. 
   
   Almost two decades ago, Ingersoll estimated that up to 50 percent of those who become teachers quit within five years—a figure that has been widely shared. That was always a rough estimate, and this new figure uses national longitudinal data and is more accurate, the report says. 
   
   Of course, given the ballooning of the teaching force, there are more beginners in the teaching force than before. Still, it's a high attrition rate. Teachers leave the profession at a higher rate than many other professionals, including police officers, Ingersoll said.

Relationships come when we show learners:

Your success is important to me

I believe in you

I am highly aware of your progress in this endeavor

I will help you succeed

  Yesterday was one of the most intellectually intense days I’ve had in some time, and I came to realize some important things about Check for Understanding. I’m going to try to summarize some of them here. 1) Check for Understanding is quite possibly the single most important group of techniques in terms of buildin

Credit recovery has come under increasing scrutiny as a quick, sub-par way to get high school diplomas into the hands of academically struggling students. And the schools likeliest to rely heavily on credit recovery are the ones that serve large populations of low-income and minority students, according to a study published Thursday.

The report, issued by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, represents the most recent attempt to compose a heat map of the places that use credit recovery to help students graduate. With that map laid out, and questions about the misuse of credit recovery multiplying, the report poses the question: What should be done to

The Grandaddy of Them All. Confirmation bias refers to our tendency to search for and favor information that confirms our beliefs while simultaneously ignoring or devaluing information that contradicts our beliefs.

For example, Person A believes climate change is a serious issue and they only search out and read stories about environmental conservation, climate change, and renewable energy. As a result, Person A continues to confirm and support their current beliefs.

the reason this strategy results in deep understanding is because it works with the way human beings instinctively learn. As we experience the world, we naturally organize things into categories based on common attributes. Concept Attainment is structured in the same way.

Step-by-step instructions for using this engaging instructional strategy; video included!

content or skills is never enough to be successful in a classroom.

Each child in our learning spaces has a story. There are learning strengths and challenges to be highlighted and developed. It is our job as students' teachers to find their strengths and play to them, building confidence as they venture into the skill-building and content areas of less proficiency.

In the assessment- and accountability-heavy world we live in right now, it is imperative for us to fight the urge to do what is easy; purchasing the textbook of the test-maker and following it with fidelity. 

Students need an immersive experience that inspires and challenges their beliefs and empowers them beyond our current expectations. It is our duty to encourage their inquiry and curiosity and then follow the path that leads them.

While the report covers research on learning from birth through old age, its commission had some key conclusions for schools:

To be effective, teachers must understand how students' prior knowledge, experiences, motivations, interests, and language and cognitive skills interact with those of the teacher's own experiences and culture and the characteristics and culture of the classroom.
Students should be supported in directing their own learning, via targeted feedback, opportunities to reflect on what they've learned, challenges matched to their abilities, and help in developing meaningful goals.
Both curricula and instructional strategies should help students connect their academic learning goals to what they learn and do outside of school.
Teaching not just science or history content, but the specific language and practices of different disciplines, is critical to helping students develop deep understanding of those subjects.

selective schools with a higher average achievement level may actually exert a negative influence on students' long-term success.

The nationally representative, longitudinal study of over 377,000 high school students found that while students who attend socioeconomically advantaged high schools tend to complete more schooling, earn higher annual incomes, and work in more prestigious jobs 11 and 50 years later, those who attend selective, high-achieving schools tend to experience the opposite.

The report, published by the Association for Psychological Science, claims that students in high-achievement schools had relatively lower expectations due to social comparison. In other words, these students, many of whom might've been near the top of their class in a more academically diverse school, develop a less positive self-image when all of their classmates are high-achieving.These expectations then negatively impacted students' attainment levels in the future