l

What Early-Childhood Accountability Can Learn From K-12's Mistakes

Education needs to stop going around in circles, writes Stanford’s Thomas S. Dee.




l

No Funding for Early Education? What About Partnerships?

Investing in early learning makes the biggest impact on a student's achievement, says Marion County, S.C., Superintendent Kandace Bethea. When a teacher is not available, we have to find other ways to get the job done, such as community partnerships.




l

Is Online Early-Childhood Education the Next Big Thing?

Waterford UPSTART, an online program that offers literacy and math enrichment lessons aimed at preschoolers, received support from a philanthropy dedicated to funding "bold ideas for social change."




l

Early-Childhood Education

The World Health Organization issued guidelines for children under 5, including its first recommendations on how much time children should be spending in front of a digital screen.




l

Early-Childhood Education

A new report by the Government Accountability Office provides the first comprehensive nationwide look at state early education programs and how they are funded.




l

Babies as Young as 12 Months Get Nearly an Hour of Screen Time a Day, Study Finds

Babies as young as 12 months are exposed to nearly an hour a day of screen time, despite warnings from pediatricians to avoid digital media exposure for children under a year and a half, according to a new analysis.




l

Federal Study Tests Early-Grade Math Programs

The largest experiment to date comparing commercial math curricula gives a slight edge to two popular programs.




l

Hundreds of Advocates Tell Betsy DeVos: Don't Toss Civil Rights Regulations

Amid the Trump administration's push to slash federal red tape, educators, advocates, and parents tell the U.S. secretary of education they're worried about the effect that could have on historically overlooked groups of students.




l

Indiana Voucher Bill Close to Becoming Law?

Indiana's state Senate has approved a measure that would create access for middle-income families for private-school vouchers. As it stands, it's one of the most ambitious voucher proposals ever offered in the states.




l

Q & A: Rural Children Are a Marginalized Population

Laurie Baker says the rural population should be considered a special population when considering education reforms.




l

Schools Often Fail to Educate, Support English-Language Learners

In a wide-ranging report on the state of education for ELLs, one theme is consistent: The nation's public schools must devote more resources and research to educating students who aren't native English speakers.




l

Why Instructional Coaching Matters in Independent Schools

While independent schools can feel quite different from their public, charter, and parochial counterparts, the glue that holds all schools together is this noble charge we call teaching.




l

What Should Leadership Development Look Like?

Research shows demands put on school principals are increasing when it comes to instructional leadership. Greater demands bring out increasing gaps, and a need for better leadership development.




l

Testing Opt-Outs Threaten School Equity, Measurement Group Says

A group of testing experts says that opt-out could jeopardize the ability to target educational resources appropriately.




l

School Funding Shifts to Help ELLs, Disadvantaged Students

While state school-finance systems have not changed much over time, they are devoting more targeted help to English language learners and student from low-income backgrounds than in the past, a new study finds.




l

New 'What Works Clearinghouse' Aims to Help Districts Find Research for ESSA

A new version of the federal research site allows users to find research related to specific school populations.




l

School Finance

A study finds that states over time have shifted to devoting more resources to help specific populations.




l

GAO Finds Uneven Landscape of State Rules for Tax-Credit Scholarships

Tax-credit scholarship programs in 17 states collected $1.1 billion in contributions in 2017, a new analysis from the GAO finds.




l

How to Harness the Tremendous Potential of Open Education Resources

A textbook is no longer enough in many classrooms, writes Dan McDowell, but finding the right OER materials can be tricky.




l

Culturally Supportive Program for Black Boys Boosts On-Time Graduation Rates

The California district rolled out a culturally-specific program to support black male students, and the program has led to positive outcomes for students who had an opportunity to participate.




l

Writing a Book Is a 'Teacher's Version of Climbing Mount Everest'

Six teacher-authors discuss what they learned over the past year and a half as they wrote books that are set to be published in the coming weeks.




l

LGBTQ Issues Roil Florida School-Choice Debate

As lawmakers weigh expansion of the state’s voucher and tax-credit scholarship programs, some renew a push for anti-discrimination protection for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer students.




l

See the 29 Education Programs Trump Wants to Condense Into a Block Grant

The Education Department programs the president wants to consolidate into a block grant deal with English-language acquisition, charter schools, after-school activities, rural education, and more.






l

Is Betsy DeVos Trying to Throw Private Schools a Lifeline Using Coronavirus Aid?

New guidance from the U.S. Department of Education says all private school students are entitled to "equitable services" under federal coronavirus emergency relief. Let's explore what that means.




l

Classroom Culture: Teach More Than 'Just Math' (Video)

Marlo Warburton, a 7th and 8th grade math teacher at Longfellow Arts and Technology Middle School in Berkeley, Calif., shares how greeting her students in the morning and expressing appreciation during dismissal are valuable opportunities for character building and for fostering teacher-student rela




l

Can Leadership Coaching Help Leaders Focus on What Matters?

Being a school leader is difficult. They are meant to focus on improvement while also negotiating their way through adult behavior. Can leadership coaching help them focus on what truly matters?




l

Video: Learning From Mistakes: Linear Equations

Watch students in 8th grade teacher Susie Morehead's class deepen their understanding of math principles by working through problems with their peers.




l

Video: Preparing Learners: Activating Prior Knowledge

In this lesson, 7th grade English/language arts teacher Emily Park-Friend takes her students through a three-step interview activity.




l

Learning Menus: Giving Options & Independence (Video)

Crystal Morey, a 6th grade math teacher at Enumclaw Middle School in Washington, uses learning menus as a differentiation strategy to help students become independent and engaged learners.




l

Sports, Out-of-School Volunteering May Ease Transition to Middle Grades

Community groups and sports not connected to school can help students stay more connected academically during a critical transition period, according to a study of low-income students in New York City.




l

Does High School Choice Really Expand Students' Options?

A new study finds that even high-achieving middle school students don't apply to New York City's most competitive high schools, raising questions about the power of high school choice.




l

'Middle School' Movie Is Fun for Students, and a Sticky Situation for Principals

The film is the first from the James Patterson book series about a middle school student dealing with school rules that don't always make sense.




l

Teach to One: Inventing the Future of Math Learning

In 2007, Joel Rose conceived an idea for an innovative, blended way to teach middle school math. Today, it has spread to over 40 schools reaching 13,000 students. Here's how.




l

A Classroom Strategy: Drawing Arguments From Evidence (Video)

William Leou, a 6th grade science teacher at the Brooklyn School for Collaborative Studies, uses an organizational worksheet to help students draw arguments from evidence.




l

Gates Foundation Eyes Middle Years Math Instruction

It's part of the foundation's $425 million research and development push, announced last fall.




l

Understanding Vocabulary Through Hand Movements (Video)

The 'Total Physical Response' method to learning vocabulary is beneficial for students, especially English-language learners, to break down and analyze the roots and endings of vocabulary words.




l

Students' Confidence, Not Grades, Take a Hit in Schools with Short Grade Span, Study Suggests

The move to middle school can be a rougher adjustment for students who were high achievers at their elementary schools, finds a new study.




l

A Classroom Strategy: Student-Teacher Conferences Promote Learning (Video)

Chris Knutson, an 8th grade history teacher at Horning Middle School in Waukesha, Wis., shares how he incorporates learning conferences into his lessons.




l

Older Kids' Messages Can Make the Move to Middle School Less Daunting

A forthcoming study finds that beginning middle schoolers benefit from two 15-minute writing exercises to boost their sense of social and academic belonging.




l

Cyberbullying On the Rise in U.S. Schools, Federal Report Finds

The report found that roughly a third of middle and high schools reported disciplinary problems stemming from cyberbullying at least once a week or daily.




l

How Do You Get Middle School Students to Stop Talking? Creative Tips From Teachers

Teachers unleash a flood of creative responses to one of the Most Persistent Teaching Questions of All Time: How do you get ever-chatty middle schoolers to quiet down and pay attention?




l

What Happens When Your School Asks You to Reverse Course on Personalized Learning?

One teacher embraced the technique, with encouragement from a former district administrator. But he was told he had to reverse course, in part because of parent complaints.




l

Galleries: Three very different takes on Scotland

For me, art galleries have always provided shelter from the storm. The tempest in question might be a literal one, such as Storm Dennis, who buffeted us all from on high last weekend, or it could simply be a sudden squall in the mind. Art in all forms can take us out of ourselves – even if it's for a split-second – and recalibrate the mind.




l

Galleries: New Contemporaries - Take a peek at the stars of tomorrow

New Contemporaries is in its 12th year now, an annual showing of the Royal Scottish Academy’s pick of graduates from the previous year’s degree shows. A wonderful opportunity for the young artists themselves – this is a prestigious exhibition and a prestigious venue to put on one’s CV – it is also a handy shortcut for anyone who wants to get a snapshot of the kind of work coming out of our art colleges at the moment.




l

Galleries: Tim Stead saving part of the nation’s furniture

Celebrated artist and wood sculptor, Tim Stead, may be best known for public works such as the Millennium Clock in the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh, the furniture in Glasgow's Cafe Gandolfi and the North Sea Oil Industries Memorial Chapel in Aberdeen, but his masterpiece is closer to home.




l

Galleries: A themed exhibition conceived by Helen Mirra

The contemporary art space Cample Line has been set up amongst the fields and agricultural vistas of Dumfriesshire for three years now. Occupying what was once a set of three single-storey mill workers cottages, before it was knocked through and given a second storey in the Victorian period, it will open for the 2020 season later this month with a somewhat aptly themed exhibition – “Acts for placing woollen and linen” - by the American conceptual artist Helen Mirra, whose strong socio-envi




l

Old pals act: as an exhibition of his photographs of John Byrne opens in Edinburgh, David Eustace on his long friendship and working relationship with the artist and playwright

For three decades now, the artist and playwright John Byrne has been sitting regularly for photographer David Eustace, the Glasgow-born photographer who left school at 16 and joined first the navy and then the prison service before settling on a career behind a camera.




l

How Mary Quant and her mini-skirt shaped the 1960s (and changed the world)

Lorraine Wilson