Contact us: www.mcrel.org | info@mcrel.org
March 2016
Get a head start on your summer PD!

Spring is here, and summer is fast approaching as the 2015-16 school year draws closer to the finish line. Were there challenges you faced this year that you'd like to get a head start on solving for next year?  Join us in Denver this summer for our professional development sessions, and deepen your knowledge and ability to make real changes in teaching, leading, and learning. We'll present research-based, best-practice strategies you can use immediately to help you----and your students----flourish.

Register by April 30, 2016, and receive a 10% discount per person. 
Visit our events page to view the complete lineup of PD sessions and register.

Research Roundup
Far higher share of students are passing at least one AP test during high school
The Washington Post

The College Board released a new report on Advanced Placement (AP) scores for public high schools, showing that the percentage of students passing at least one AP exam rose from 13.3% in 2005 to 22.4% in 2015. Participation in AP has also risen from 21.2% in 2005 to 37.3% in 2015.
Cognitive fatigue influences students' performance on standardized tests
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

Results from this study out of Denmark suggest that the time of day a test is taken plays a role in student performance on standardized tests. Scores for public school students who took tests later in the day decreased by 0.9% of a standard deviation for each later hour. The study attributes the lower scores to the cognitive fatigue that develops over the course of a day. The study also found that taking a 20- to 30-minute cognitive break prior to testing can help improve scores.
Events & Opportunities
Webinar | Multicultural Validity and Evaluation Theory
Mar. 30, 2016, 10:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. (HST), 4:00-6:00 p.m. (EDT)

What is the relationship between culture and validity in evaluation and how might we distinguish between terms like culturally competent, culturally responsive, multicultural, and cross-cultural? When mapping significant cultural dimensions of context in evaluation, what should evaluators consider? What are some key aspects of cultural location of evaluation theory and cultural dimensions of context that should be addressed in culturally sound evaluations? Join REL Pacific at McREL and Dr. Karen Kirkhart, professor at Syracuse University and former president of the American Evaluation Association, to explore these important matters. 
National Science Teachers Association | National Conference
Nashville, Tennessee, Mar. 31-Apr. 3, 2016

Join McREL consultants Anne Tweed, Laura Arndt, and Whitney Cobb at the 2016 NSTA conference for a variety of presentations on STEM, GreenSTEM, and NGSS curriculum, lesson/project planning, and instructional strategies:
Professional Learning Institute
GreenSTEM: Applying the Engineering Design Process 
to Community-Based Projects
Date
Mar. 30, 9:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m.
Session
GreenSTEM: Transforming Your Existing Lessons to Be Community Relevant and Project Based
Date/Time
Apr. 1, 9:00 a.m.
Session
Curriculum Audit: Where Will You STEMify Your Curriculum?
Date/Time
Apr. 1, 11:00 a.m.
Session
STEM Models: Where Do I Start and How Do I Decide?
Date/Time
Apr. 1, 2:00 p.m.
Session
Art and the Cosmic Connection
Date/Time
Apr. 2, 8:00 a.m.
Presenter
Learn Strategies to Help You Implement the NGSS Practices
Date/Time
Apr. 2, 11:00 a.m.
ASCD Annual Conference
Atlanta, Georgia, Apr. 2-4, 2016

Join McREL staff at the 2016 ASCD conference for their presentations on instructional strategies, continuous improvement, and leadership development, and stop by the McREL booth (#1435) in the Exhibit Hall to learn about our latest products and services to help students and educators flourish.
Pre-Conference Institute
Balanced Leadership for Powerful Learning
Date/Time
Mar. 31-Apr. 1, 8:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m.
Presenters
McREL CEO Bryan Goodwin and Learning Crest's Greg Cameron
Session
Shared Leadership and Continuous Improvement
Date/Time
Apr. 2, 1:00-2:30 p.m.
Presenters
McREL managing consultant Dr. Bess Scott
Session
How Do I Finish What I Started?
Date/Time
Apr. 2, 1:00-2:30 p.m.
Presenter
McREL consulting director Dr. Bj Stone
Session
Raising the Bar for Principal Involvement in Teacher Professional Growth
Date/Time
Apr. 2, 1:00-2:00 p.m.
Presenters
McREL director of research and evaluation Dr. Katie Andersen
Session
Questioners: Unleashing the Hidden Power of Student Curiosity
Date/Time
Apr. 4, 1:00-3:00 p.m.
Presenter
Bryan Goodwin
Summer PD | Balanced Leadership® Institute | School-Level Leaders
Denver, Colorado, Jul. 18-21, 2016

In this four-day institute, discover the leadership responsibilities that research shows are most strongly connected to student achievement. Learn practical strategies you can use in your school to develop a purposeful, positive school community, initiate and manage change within your school, and choose the right focus for your school's improvement initiatives. If you cannot attend all four days, you can register for individual days of your choice. Register by April 30, 2016, to receive a 10% discount per person. Learn more and register.
Summer PD | Balanced Leadership Institute | District-Level Leaders
Denver, Colorado, Jul. 21-22, 2016

In this two-day institute, learn a Balanced Leadership approach to improving systems and innovation for student and staff success. You'll learn the district-level leadership activities and behaviors that research shows are most connected to student and staff success, and how these leadership responsibilities apply to the actions of superintendents, school boards, and central office staff. We'll share the principles of high-reliability systems and the actions used in healthcare, aviation, and other complex industries, and how these principles can be effectively applied to education systems. Register by April 30, 2016, to receive a 10% discount per person. Learn more and register.
Summer PD | Classroom Instruction That Works® | Workshop
Denver, Colorado, Jul. 25-27, 2016

Learn research-based, practice-proven instructional strategies and ways to implement them in the classroom. Discover how each strategy can be effective with any student, at any grade level, and in any subject area, to enhance student achievement.
  • Learn new, evidence-based insights from the most recent, rigorous research
  • Get an instructional framework to strengthen instructional design
  • Discover the reasons for choosing certain strategies for certain situations
  • Connect the strategies to essential 21st century skills
Whether the strategies are new to you or something you already use every day, this workshop will help you raise your level of effectiveness. Register by April 30, 2016, to receive a 10% discount per person. Learn more and register.
Summer PD | Classroom Instruction That Works | Authorized Facilitator Training
Denver, Colorado, Jul. 25-29, 2016

Attend our Classroom Instruction That Works (CITW) workshop and authorized facilitator training to learn effective research-based instructional strategies and methods to help teachers learn and implement these strategies in their classrooms. The first three days of this training will solidify your understanding of the nine CITW categories of instructional strategies and an instructional planning framework that maximizes the strategies' effectiveness. The final two days will prepare you to become an authorized facilitator of CITW workshops in your own district or region Learn more and register.
Perspectives
White Paper | The Road Less Traveled: Changing Schools from the Inside Out
McREL International

In this white paper, Bryan Goodwin urges education leaders and policymakers to rethink the way we've been approaching reform for the past three decades and consider what might happen if we improved schools not from the top down but instead from the inside out-putting curiosity at the center of learning and unleashing a powerful, more engaging system of schooling. Goodwin shows how schools can flip the top-down paradigm by taking a few key, consistent actions that put student engagement, motivation, and true problem-solving at the heart of teaching and learning to create new, more powerful outcomes that set students up for lifelong success.
Research Says | The X factor in college success

Despite U.S. high school graduation rates reaching an all-time high, research shows that once they get to college, these same graduates seem to have a harder time, with only 59% completing their four-year degrees within five years. In this Research Says column for the March issue of Educational Leadership, Bryan Goodwin and Heather Hein examine the elusive "X factor" of student success, those characteristics not neatly tied to high school GPAs or college entrance exam scores.
Blog Post | Six important tenets of student engagement

In this blog post, Dr. Bj Stone offers six important tenets of engagement that help capture students' attention and build a supportive classroom learning environment. These practices, she says, make students partners in the learning process, are supported by research, and permeate engaging learning environments .
Headlines
McREL to help expand online educational programs for NASA's CosmoQuest

McREL is among ten collaborating institutions that will work to expand and enhance public education and outreach efforts for NASA's CosmoQuest Virtual Research Facility. The CosmoQuest.org "citizen science" website provides students, teachers, and the public with an online experience similar to those at traditional brick-and-mortar research centers, and includes science projects, online classes, seminars, and teacher materials. McREL will help integrate CosmoQuest activities into the classroom, strengthen teachers' professional learning on space and earth sciences, and conduct rigorous internal evaluation of the $11.5 million project. Read our press release.
Client Testimonial
"We have relied on McREL as we continue to seek student improvement in our district. We appreciate that all of McREL's resources are research-based and proven effective. They've helped our staff to grow professionally and have a bigger impact on student learning."
Darrel Kohlman, Superintendent, Nemeha Central Schools, Kansas
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