Podcast 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.

School principals beg for help with Common Core

New national survey shows principals feel unprepared for successful implementation of Common Core State Standards (CCSS)

principals-school-common coreIt’s no surprise that schools across the country are gearing up for implementation of Common Core, with many teachers and school principals fully aware of what the standards encompass. However, according to a new national survey, knowing Common Core is easy…but sustaining the new standards over time? Not so much.

The survey, “Leadership for the Common Core,” developed by the National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP), polled 1,000 principals in 14 states that have adopted CCSS. According to the survey, more than 80 percent of principals “overwhelmingly support the CCSS initiative and have a strong willingness to continue to engage deeply in instructional leadership activities as states move forward.”

100 percent principals are also “familiar with the standards and curricular changes” that must accompany CCSS, and most had received “some level of professional development (PD) to lead teachers, families and students” through the Common Core transition.…Read More

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How to Create Assessments for The Common Core

Here’s how to create new formative assessments to measure complex student comprehension

assessments-common coreThe rigors of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) ask today’s educators not simply to measure students’ factual knowledge, but instead to accurately assess students’ critical thinking. With such a major transition from multiple-choice testing, it’s important to know how to create assessments for these 21st-century standards.

“The most important question to ask at the onset of assessment creation is: How might we develop and use rich tasks to focus on those outcomes that matter most, and make school more relevant and engaging for learners and teachers?” explained Jay McTighe, consultant and author of the new Lumibook, Core Learning: Assessing What Matters Most, during a webinar hosted by the School Improvement Network.

McTighe emphasized that the aim of the new standards is autonomous transfer, or student comprehension and understanding of concepts, rather than facts.…Read More

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The 6 hidden tricks for Bring-Your-Own-Device success

What every school district needs to know–outside of devices–that will make BYOD implementation a success

device-BYOD-districtBy now, most districts considering the implementation of BYOD know there’s a lot more to success than apps and devices. But how can districts accurately measure how much bandwidth is needed? How do you ensure the quality of student work outside of simply using an app? And can you truly ensure equity? According to one school district, there are hidden gems of BYOD implementation wisdom…and they’re ready to share what they’ve uncovered.

For Dr. Tim Clark, author of the BYOD Network Blog and coordinator of instructional technology at Forsyth County Schools, Ga., Forsyth always knew that implementing BYOD was “more than just devices—it’s about a shift in instruction. It is our biggest transformational shift in teaching and learning in the district.”

The district, which has a Learner Profile to guide district policy and practice, places BYOD implementation in the ‘instructional initiative’ category, since it’s not just a ‘device initiative,’ noted Clark.…Read More

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The best and worst districts for school choice

New report ranks the districts that cater to school choice…and the ones that don’t

choice-school-districtAccording to a new report, there is little information available on what makes a school district not only suitable for school choice, but what differentiates the districts that are exceptional at catering to parental desires versus those that are simply mediocre. However, thanks to new data, districts across the country have been ranked in how well they cater to choosy parents.

Whether you support or oppose school choice—programs offering students and their families alternatives to publicly provided schools, to which students are generally assigned by the location of their family residence—the movement exists, and thanks to new data provided by the Brown Center on Education Policy at the Brookings Institution, parents and students now have a much clearer idea of which districts support school choice and which don’t.

According to the authors of the report, the data compiled on districts and school choice was needed, since support among parents, and states, for school choice is growing.…Read More

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These districts score better than the rest

New achievement results highlight top-performing urban districts

districts-school-urban According to new results from a report measuring student achievement progress in math and reading in U.S. urban school districts, two districts are at the top of their game; however, much progress needs to be made for urban districts across the country.

The results are part of The Nation’s Report Card, which began measuring progress in urban schools districts 10 years ago. The 2013 Trial Urban District Assessment (TUDA) in math and reading reports the achievement of public schools students in 21 urban districts on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP).

District participation is voluntary, and every district invited agreed to participate. The report shows achievement results in both fourth and eighth grades.…Read More

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10 school initiatives that never go away

A new concept called ‘initiative fatigue’ has educators griping

initiative-school-fatigueThere’s a philosophy in fashion that goes something like this: Keep it; it’ll be back in style in another few years. Just like the clothing industry, education has a cyclical nature of its own, mostly around initiatives, leading educators on social media to discuss what they call “initiative fatigue.”

Initiative fatigue stems from what educators say is a new initiative touted as the savior to whatever education problem plagues you. For example, Common Core for 21st century learning, computer-based testing for better student data, and a focus on STEM for global competitiveness.

(Next page: What educators are saying)…Read More

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INFOGRAPHIC: Huge changes for school tech leaders!

leaders-school-technologyA new risk has arisen for school technology leaders: Being perceived as inessential

Education technology is constantly changing, which means so is the role of a school technology leader.

Schools have come a long way from installing desktop computers and marveling at something called The Cloud. What are some of the major challenges school technology leaders face today? What are the big concerns? What should they focus on? Find out in our infographic developed specifically for the 2013-14 school year.

View the infographic below to learn more about how the role of school technology leader has grown and adapted over the last few years–we’re fascinated by the results!…Read More

NBA great promotes STEM education at event

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar bent down Monday to study the solar-powered car being demonstrated by sixth-graders from Miller’s Hill School in Shingle Springs, the Sacramento Bee reports. The NBA Hall of Famer was at the Sacramento Convention Center to kick off the first-ever California STEM symposium, a two-day event designed to help K-12 educators improve how they teach science, technology, engineering and mathematics. “By fifth grade, 92percent of boys and 97percent of girls lose interest” in STEM fields, Abdul-Jabbar said. “I’m really stoked to have the opportunity to impact our kids’ lives in a really positive way. That’s what this is all about. That is why I’m here.”

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App of the week: School Fuel

schoolfuelName: School Fuel

What is it? School Fuel is a Mobile Learning Platform that allows teachers and school leaders to connect with students in class and on the go. School Fuel provides customized app and resource libraries aligned to Common Core Standards helping schools deliver the right apps to the right students at the right time – on any device.

Best for: Administrators and teachers…Read More

South Portland ‘university’ promotes high school STEM education

The transparent gelatinous alginate strands South Portland High School junior Jackeline Zarate and Portland High School junior Bailey Ruesch pulled from a test tube last week at Fairchild Semiconductor were nanotechnology at their fingertips, The Forecaster reports. “I’ve always liked math especially, so I was happy to come,” Ruesch said as she created the compound with Zarate during the three-day, first-ever Semi High Tech University in Maine. Sponsored by the nonprofit Semi Foundation of San Jose, Calif., the intensive course merged fun, practical applications in science, technology, engineering and math with mock job interviews for students who are not always selected just because of outstanding grades…

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