 |
 |
Building trust and setting the foundation
for success in 2017-18!
As the 2017-18 U.S. school year commences and students are filling classrooms, teachers and leaders might be asking themselves,
What are my goals for success this year? How can I build trust among students and staff? McREL consulting director Dr. Bj Stone suggests, "Let students know you believe they can learn and that you will partner with them to succeed." Building trust begins on the first day of school and sets a foundation for student and staff success throughout the year.
If you're looking for quick wins and game changers to keep your school, district, agency, or system on track for success, contact us for a free consultation.
|
|
|
Reading on paper and digitally: What the past decades of empirical research reveal
Review of Educational Research
With more and more texts going digital ---- including high-stakes assessments ---- educators are wondering how this shift to online reading is affecting comprehension. A new meta-analysis by University of Maryland faculty, however, finds too little research has been done to date and encourages additional studies to be conducted. "We must arm ourselves with empirical evidence of when, where, and for whom greater benefits are accrued from reading in print, digitally, or in combination," say the authors. "Researchers should consider conducting a meta-analysis of the relevant literature in the future to further advance our knowledge on this topic."
|
Fewer college students want to be teachers, and why it matters
Bridge: News and analysis from The Center for Michigan
More accountability, less retirement security, tougher standards, iffy social status ... it all may be taking a toll on the nation's teacher headcount. This analysis focuses on Michigan, where nearly all teacher-preparation programs are losing numbers, but also provides national context on the possible causes and consequences of declining enrollment.
|
What's your best guess? Predicting answers leads to deeper learning
KQED MindShift
Working a problem and getting it right is great. But to really engage with math, students should be asked to predict what the solution is going to be, and how they think they're going to get there. Prediction is the key to thinking deeply and actively about math concepts, making connections that might slip by otherwise,
according to this study
(NOTE: Access to article is gated).
|
Oldest kids in class do better, even through college
National Public Radio (NPR)
Older students ---- those born just after the September 1st enrollment cut-off for kindergarten ---- perform better academically throughout their school careers than do their youngest classmates with similar demographics, according to
a new study
from the National Bureau of Economic Affairs. This NPR article highlights findings from the study, noting that, while previous studies had reached the same conclusion about K-12 students, this new study finds that the benefits to older students continue through college.
|
Success Story | Small-scale study boosts confidence in vocabulary tool
The publishers of a supplemental vocabulary-building program called VocabularySpellingCity® thought they had a hit on their hands, but without data, how could they be sure? They turned to McREL to start generating answers. Our small-scale study showed a clear advantage for students who got to play with the program in addition to studying traditional word lists. Students loved using it because succeeding was fun, and their test scores followed suit. Now VocabularySpellingCity has a solid starting point for further research.
|
Blog Post | The Reading Now Network: Growing a moral purpose
When a group of district superintendents in West Michigan gathered for their regular quarterly meeting a few years ago, they bucked their regular meeting format and began discussing the needs of the nearly 5,000 third-graders in their districts who were demonstrating below-proficiency achievement in reading. What followed, as McREL's Ben Cronkright describes in his latest blog post, was the formation of a ground-breaking reading network among these districts, and formal commitments to support principals and teachers with literacy coaching, professional learning opportunities, and research field studies, among several other resolutions. The result: In just three years of focusing on the reading proficiency of at-risk students, member districts quadrupled the margin by which these students exceeded the state average in third-grade literacy.
|
Blog Post & Infographic | Does your school have a guaranteed and viable curriculum? How would you know?
In her new blog post, McREL's Kathleen Dempsey lays the foundation for any school wanting to develop a guaranteed and viable curriculum (GVC) that serves all students. The handy infographic introduces crucial questions to ask your team when self-assessing your curriculum. "Establishing and maintaining a GVC is a collegial process that requires established protocols and routines to keep the GVC agreement alive and meaningful to all stakeholders," she writes.
|
|
Weeklong Chats on Twitter
|
Looking to grow your professional learning network? Join us for our weeklong Twitter chats, where participants share best practices, strategies, and common (or uncommon) struggles and successes. Follow us on Twitter and use the hashtag #McRELchat to share your thoughts and ideas on each week's theme with other educators.
|
Topic | Personalized learning
August 28-September 3
How do you personalize learning in your school or classroom? Please share examples.
|
Topic | Parent communication
September 4-10
How do you communicate effectively with parents? Please share your best practices.
|
Topic | Establishing trust
September 11-17
How do you establish trust with your students and colleagues?
|
National Indian Education Association Annual Convention
October 4-7 |
Orlando, Florida
Join Dr. Terri Bissonette from McREL for a session on trauma-informed schools and communities. Dr. Bissonette will share research on the lasting effects of adverse childhood experiences (including multi-generational issues), and how these physical and emotional stressors influence student behavior and learning in the classroom. Dr. Bissonette will share examples of promising practices being used in school communities that have shown results in mitigating the effects of trauma. This session will be held on Thursday, October 5 at 10:15 a.m.
|
October 23-25 |
Orlando, Florida
Research shows that most online learning schools today aren't improving students' outcomes. Are there online learning environments that can actually help them flourish? If so, how might these environments differ from what we're currently doing? Join McREL CEO Bryan Goodwin and co-presenter Erika Twani from Learning One to One at the iNACOL Symposium for their session titled "Let's Rethink Online Learning" to explore key practices that enable the growing online student population to succeed academically and in life. This session will be presented on Tuesday, October 24 at 11:15 a.m.
|
ASCD Conference on Educational Leadership
October 27-29 |
Kissimmee, Florida
Join McREL CEO Bryan Goodwin on Friday at the ASCD Conference on Educational Leadership for a session on empowering leaders to make positive changes in their schools. Co-presented with education consultant and author Pete Hall, this session will weave together insights on instruction, teacher coaching, leadership, and school improvement into a practical model for becoming an empowering leader ---- encouraging people to change not through top-down punishments and rewards but through intrinsic motivation (not forcing them to drink but making them thirsty). Attendees will receive techniques they can use right away in their schools to inspire people to change by connecting with their mission and seeing themselves as capable of change. This session will be offered on Friday, October 27 from 10:30 a.m.-noon and repeated from 1:30-3:00 p.m.
|
American Evaluation Association National Conference
November 6-11 |
Washington, D.C.
Join McREL researchers and evaluators at AEA's 31st Annual Conference to share and explore best practices in evaluation and learn how evaluation projects can help create better practices and outcomes in education. Sessions presented by McREL staff include:
Developing a classroom observation protocol when treatment and control classrooms don't look anything like each other
Presenters: Phillip Herman, Karen Bumgardner, Ashli Knotts, and Kevin Knoster
Date and time: Thursday, November 9, 3:15-4:15 p.m.
Coaching evaluative thinking: Meaningful client engagement in a small-scale quasi-experimental study
Presenters: Sheila Arens, Kevi Mace, and Barbara Kruger (VocabularySpellingCity)
Date and time: Friday, November 10, 5:30-6:15 p.m.
Helping decision-makers understand problems of practice: An example from the Pacific region
Presenters: Phillip Herman and Sheila Arens
Date and time: Saturday, November 11, 11:15 a.m.-noon
|
Are you a thought leader who's committed to improving student achievement? We are now hiring for several positions
in our Honolulu office.
|
McREL: Helping educators flourish
"Since we started working with McREL, we have achieved
organizational improvements across multiple indicators. Implementing
a common framework around school improvement has made a big difference ---- and schools that do so with fidelity and follow-through
have seen consistent gains."
Dr. Nancy Allen-Mastro, Superintendent (retired), School District 197, Minneapolis-St. Paul
|
|
Follow on Twitter
Quick Links
|
|
|
|
|
