How we turned around our reading program
Rockford Public Schools is one of the largest school districts in Illinois, with more than 28,800 students and 44 schools.
10 things I do to boost my students’ self-esteem
Every day, students come into our classroom spaces from their own life experiences the day before. As educators, we do our best to make students feel welcomed and…
5 key network steps for supporting educational technology
Today’s K-12 students are coming to the classrooms toting three or more mobile devices, from smartphones and laptops to tablets and smart watches.
6 tips to help teachers pull off collaborative learning
The gifted group. The slow group. The behavioral issues group. Grouping in schools fell out of favor partially because educators—and parents—felt like kids were getting labeled and that…
Student achievement begins with the family
At Wichita Falls Independent School District in Texas, we believe every student deserves to begin their academic career at the same starting line.
How Our High-Poverty School Reduced Suspensions By 97%
Student behavior can have a positive or negative impact on academic achievement. Even just one student who is misbehaving can affect how much and how well an entire…
Taking personalized learning to scale
iNACOL defines personalized learning as “tailoring learning for each student’s strength, needs, and interests—including enabling student's voice and choice in what, how, when and where they learn—to provide…
5 strategies for becoming an effective, present teacher
Homework, assessments, projects. Grades, lesson plans, conferences. Teachers can get caught up in the day-to-day parts of the classroom and forget to take time to consider whether or…
How to change your school culture on the cheap
If you’ve ever been to a special event, a professional or collegiate game, or even a fundraiser, you likely observed a promoter, DJ, or other variation of a…
4 ways to add up a love for math
Mathematicians aren’t born—they’re made. That’s why one of my favorite phrases is “I hate math.” Nearly every student shares this sentiment with me at some point during the…
How we increased our graduation rate and student achievement
Miami-Dade County (FL) Public Schools (MDCPS) is the fourth-largest school district in the United States, comprised of 392 schools, 345,000 students, and over 40,000 employees.
12 apps to help students improve their self-control
Building social and emotional learning (SEL) skills such as self-control requires face-to-face interaction, meaningful discussion, and reflection.
Are educators using SEL to empower or to manipulate?
Our 30 years of experience researching, teaching, and implementing social-emotional learning (SEL) has established that the purpose of SEL is to produce mental health and well-being outcomes for…
6 lessons our district learned from our move to blended learning
Temple Independent School District (ISD), which is located north of Austin and south of Waco, Texas, has a very diverse student population. More than 75 percent of our…
Check out these 10 AR apps for your classroom—coding not required
For teachers who have always wanted to use augmented reality (AR)—tech that overlays content on top of the real world—but haven’t had the chance to explore it, Jaime…
3 steps for bridging the equity divide in classrooms
When Robert Runcie became superintendent of Broward County (FL) Public School District (BCPS) in 2011, he faced more than academic challenges. As the sixth-largest school district in the country,…
5 strategies to improve the learning experience for K12 students
From retailers to restaurants, advances in user experience (UX) are transforming nearly every facet of our lives. Customer satisfaction is shaped by more than just the content, products,…
9 top YouTube channels to boost classroom lessons
Video can be a powerful tool for classroom learning, and it’s safe to say that teachers have never had more videos at their fingertips than they do today.
10 things teachers can do today to prepare students for the future
In 2008, I read Clayton Christensen’s Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns. It inspired me to think about changes in education that would…
How to transform a library into a makerspace
In a recent edWebinar, hosted by edWeb.net, Michelle Luhtala, library department chair, and Donna Burns, technology integrator, both from New Canaan High School (NCHS) in Connecticut, showcased the…
How we turned around our wireless network performance and security
Elk Grove Unified School District (EGUSD), with 67 schools, 6210 employees, and 63,061 students is the largest school district in northern California and fifth-largest in the state.
7 time-saving strategies to streamline your life
Are you busy? Is time on your side, or are you always in competition with each other? In order to balance the demands of a 21st-century life, you…
Explore student agency, storytelling, and more at SXSW EDU 2019
Student agency is a form of personalized learning that encourages students to take initiative when it comes to their own learning experiences in the classroom. Therefore, students get…
Data access is easier than ever, but is that a good thing?
Tactical student data privacy questions like “What can I do right now?” should be asked by all CIOs, teachers, administrators, and policymakers in this changing landscape of data…
A 3-step plan for smart edtech maintenance
In the past several years, school districts have invested time and money to upgrade and integrate new technology into schools. While K-12 leaders have made inroads in closing…
8 great ways to STEAM up your class with Sphero (and other edtech)
Jobs in the computer science field are the top source of new wages in America, and a quarter of all jobs are now “highly digitalized.”
10 K12 education trends to look for this year
We may technically be in the middle of a school year, but starting a new calendar year has us looking at and forecasting the new trends in education…
How we turned around our district’s literacy scores
Our school district was considered a low-performing district by the state of North Carolina. Low-performing is given to a district when more than half of the schools are…
5 ways we develop SEL in our students
These days, words like bullying, isolation, suicide, peer pressure, and anxiety are more and more commonly used among students, parents, and educators. As educators, we hear these words…
How to think like a leader
Schools are experiencing a dramatic shift from how they’ve been run and structured for over a century. Leaders must establish direction, influence others, and initiate sustainable change as…
What are this year’s top trends at SXSW EDU?
Connecting leaders across the learning lifecycle and around the world, SXSW EDU serves as a melting pot for the latest approaches to education.
6 apps for parent-teacher communication
Communication between parents and teachers is an essential ingredient that fuels the learning process for students. When parents and teachers keep each other in the loop, they can…
5 easy ways to get parents involved in SEL
Social-emotional learning (SEL) equips students with the skills to regulate their emotions, build resilience to stress and challenges, make responsible decisions, collaborate well with others, and empathize and…
Feeling the midyear slump? Recharge your meetings with MicroPD
As principal of a middle school, I meet weekly with teachers and school counselors to discuss team and department progress of our students. I know that teachers—tasked with…
7 discoveries from an active learning classroom
There is a fair amount of research into the impact of classroom design on student learning. Spaces flooded with natural light that allow for a variety of learning…
5 steps to successfully run a student-led tech team
One-to-one device initiatives have exploded in popularity and have dramatically changed the classroom environment. Dedicated device access doesn’t just benefit students through improved educational outcomes, but also benefits…
FETC 2019: Day One
Not the driving rain or 50-degree temperatures could keep edtech enthusiasts from the opening day of FETC 2019 in Orlando. Wearing winter coats and braving the harsh Florida…
5 Big Ideas for Education Innovation in 2019
Over the last year, education innovators around the country continued to pursue expanded definitions of student success, personalized approaches, and wholly new models of school.
6 reasons why immersive speech-language classrooms work
There’s a classroom in the suburbs of Pittsburgh, Penn., where the kids play and sing with the friends they have made. Laughter echoes off the walls adorned with…
Why leveraging computer science is crucial to every classroom
In the ever-changing technological world, computer science is not only becoming more prominent in classrooms, but a staple in education. Computer science combines the principles of technology and…