The science of reading provides key insights for teachers on how to best assist their students with literacy. The research into literacy is expanding to address the needs of an important demographic: Emergent Bilinguals, or students learning English.
…Read MorePodcast Series: Innovations in Education
Explore the full series of eSchool News podcasts hosted by Kevin Hogan—created to keep you on the cutting edge of innovations in education.
How we built a whole-child, wraparound approach to special education
At the Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning at Ulster Board of Cooperative Education Services (BOCES), we have developed the architecture to accomplish and codify a leadership approach to help schools consider how to reach our most marginalized and vulnerable students.
Four years ago, my team and I designed, planned, and implemented a research-based, whole-child wraparound approach to special education. To get our initial pilot off the ground, we brought in stakeholders from across our organization: teachers, teaching assistants (TAs), aides, counselors, occupational therapists, physical therapists, speech language pathologists, positive intervention team members, administrators, and the wider community, along with content area experts through our instructional services.
The pilot grew from five classrooms into a full-school implementation in the second year due to the county’s demand and the success of the program. We recently had the honor of presenting our model to stakeholders from across the country at AESA’s most recent conference.…Read More
Does 4 equal 5? Research on impacts of 4-day school weeks
Four-day weeks are becoming more common in school districts, particularly in rural areas of the U.S. Many districts are finding students and families like the shorter school weeks. In fact, in a survey of schools with four-day week policies, 85 percent of parents and 95 percent of students said they would choose to remain on the schedule rather than switch back to a five-day week. While these shorter weeks are popular with stakeholders, might there be unintended consequences of four-day school weeks? Are there certain ways to implement the schedule that lead to better outcomes for students?
Most of what is known about these questions has come from research conducted in the last five years. My colleagues and I have studied the four-day week using quantitative and qualitative data from state departments of education, school districts, and the NWEA MAP Growth research database. These projects and other recent research on four-day weeks have shed some light on questions about the implementation and outcomes of four-day school weeks. The research analyzes qualitative and quantitative data to compare students’ experiences and outcomes on four-day and five-day school weeks. We find that there are both benefits and drawbacks to the shorter school week, and these tradeoffs can vary based on the characteristics of the school district and how they implement the four-day week in practice.
Benefits: What Supporters of the Four-Day School Week Are Saying…Read More
3 innovative ways to help teachers feel engaged and valued
As research reveals that relational trust leads to engagement and success, we are reminded that teachers hold our students’ stories and hopes—and here’s how school leaders can lay the foundation for relational trust so that school communities flourish.
In school environments, intellectual growth and community are treasured as exciting pieces of the work that teachers build. Relationships are critical to everyone in an institution. Working with people—in addition to working with the technology or materials or curriculum—means that cooperative interactions occur daily.
Because administrators, policy-makers, students, parents, and community members all play key roles in how society values the work of teachers, positive interactions become critical. For this reason, relational trust is a key factor within the learning environment to have engagement and success (Bryk & Schneider, 2002; Bryk et al., 2009). Relationships are unique and take time to build. The impact of healthy environments can empower each individual into making authentic efforts, putting in the rigor/practice, and achieving goals. Keeping teachers engaged and valued, indeed, becomes the most critical aspect of society in order to develop the next generation of educated citizens.…Read More
HMH to Acquire NWEA
Boston and Portland, Ore.—Learning technology company HMH and NWEA, a not-for-profit, research and educational services organization serving K-12 students, announced today they have signed an agreement for HMH to acquire NWEA. Upon closing, NWEA will operate as a division of HMH, with its current offerings, including its flagship assessment—MAP Growth—remaining under the NWEA brand. NWEA assessment solutions will be integrated with HMH curriculum on HMH’s platform to create a combined offering that links interim assessment to instruction. HMH is a portfolio company of Veritas Capital, a private investment firm that focuses on companies that provide technology and technology-enabled solutions to government and commercial customers worldwide.
By combining NWEA’s assessments with HMH’s curriculum, HMH is expected to deliver a holistic solution for educators that helps them understand how students are growing academically and what areas need the most focus to maximize that growth. Most importantly, this solution will turn insights from assessments into content recommendations that help teachers address student-specific skill gaps and advance student learning.
“We are thrilled at the potential this acquisition brings for K-12 educators, at a time when the connection between instruction and assessment is increasingly critical for student success,” said Jack Lynch, CEO of HMH. “HMH and NWEA have great alignment in mission and long-term vision and share the collective belief in the transformative power of education. Both teams are deeply focused on helping all children learn and serve millions of K-12 educators and students across the globe.”…Read More
AVID has huge benefits for high school students
New UCLA-led research finds that a college preparatory program for youth experiencing educational inequities that operates in about 13 percent of U.S public high schools has a positive effect on students’ social networks, psycho-social outcomes, and health behaviors.
The findings, published Dec. 16 in the peer-reviewed journal Pediatrics, suggest that the Advancement via Individual Determination (AVID) program, aimed at increasing educational opportunities for under-represented and economically disadvantaged students, also significantly reduces substance use.
“Academic tracking” is a common practice in high schools through which lower-performing students are clustered with others of similar academic achievement. Although intended to tailor academic rigor to students’ level of preparation, the study findings suggest that this practice may be counterproductive by reinforcing risky behaviors that students pick up from their peers.…Read More
7 Mindsets Launches App Focused on Mindsets Learning and Well-being for Educators, Students and Families
ROSWELL, Ga. – 7 Mindsets, the leader in PreK-12 mindsets-based learning and well-being solutions, today announced the launch of an app designed to offer free access to the research-based principles for developing human potential from The 7 Mindsets to Live Your Ultimate Life: An Introduction. The company is committed to its mission of driving greater success, happiness, overall well-being and improving school climate and culture.
“The goal of the 7 Mindsets app is to plant seeds and equip our community with attitudes and perspectives that will allow them to not just survive but thrive,” said Jeff Waller, co-creator of 7 Mindsets. “Learning the 7 Mindsets is eye-opening but living the 7 Mindsets is life changing. We’re excited to launch the app and help our users live the 7 Mindsets every day.”
The app, the first of its kind for the company, will provide a comprehensive introduction to the 7 Mindsets for those looking to improve and enhance their personal well-being. It will also serve as a valuable resource for the 7 Mindsets community of educators, support staff, administrators, students and families. Through the app, educators can quickly review the Mindsets to help inform their lesson plans. Families can use the app to better understand the Mindsets and what their children are learning at school. For students, it serves to reinforce the Mindsets learning in the classroom.…Read More
New school year shows continued signs of academic rebounding
Post-pandemic academic achievement is showing encouraging signs of improvement, although not evenly across school years, according to NWEA, a nonprofit, research and educational services organization serving K-12 students.
The new research findings are based on fall 2022 assessment data from nearly 7 million US students in grades 3-8.
The new report is part of NWEA’s ongoing research effort to examine how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted student achievement in reading and math. …Read More
Research points to a widening academic divide
Math and reading scores demonstrate more variability post-COVID, primarily due to a larger gap between low and high academic achievers, according to NWEA, a nonprofit research and educational services organization serving K-12 students.
NWEA has released new research findings that examine to what degree students’ reading and math test scores have become more variable during the pandemic, and how achievement gains across the pandemic compare to pre-pandemic trends for students who were low- or high-achieving before the pandemic started.
The research used test scores from more than 8 million US students in grades 3 – 8 across 24,000 public schools who took MAP® Growth™ assessments in reading and math comparing results from students who tested during COVID-interrupted school years (2019-20 through 2021-22) and students who tested prior to the onset of the pandemic (between 2016-17 and 2018-19).…Read More
5 learner-centered education models to inspire reform
School models are, for the most part, outdated–and very overdue for replacement. When students reach high school, research shows that close to 66 percent of students are disengaged. But even students who do successfully navigate their schooling emerge with only a specific (and often narrow) skillset that may or may not match their strengths or interests.
Conventional schooling often leaves students disillusioned, questioning their intelligence and value as it is framed by a system that needs an overhaul.
Learner-centered education can play a critical role in reshaping education systems, offering a more holistic approach to meeting learners’ needs and helping students find fulfillment in their academic accomplishments.…Read More