The issue of meeting the needs of our Long-Term English Learners (LTEL) and English Language Learners (ELL) is challenging and complex. Let’s start by considering some facts. LTEL and ELL students currently represent the fastest growing segment of school-age population in the U.S. Yet, the numbers are showing that many of them are struggling in … Continue reading Meeting the Needs of Our English Language Learners
Grading is foundational to your role as an educator. If you get grading right, it’ll help everything else that you do like instruction, assessment, curriculum, and evaluation. You’ll also see immediate results three months from now. But if you get it wrong, no matter how earnest your efforts are in these other areas, it’ll cut the … Continue reading Getting Grading Right: How to Grade for Learning
Since the 1980s, much has been written about student engagement and how to improve it. While various psychological theories contribute to the overall picture of what makes students interested in learning, little has been done to organize the research into a coherent model that students, parents, and educators can use to improve academic outcomes. School … Continue reading Creating a Community of Engaged Learners
In education, we frequently use the “Percentile Rank” score a student receives on tests to report to parents and understand how that student performs. As educators we really like the percentile rank because it seems easy and intuitive to understand. However, this article will present some cautionary concepts when using the percentile rank scores on … Continue reading Identifying the Problem of Percentile Ranks
There are reports that U.S. schools are dealing with yet another teacher shortage. It seems that many districts are facing the challenges of trying to fill classrooms with qualified teachers—with no easy fix in the horizon. This is a significant shift from when teachers were being laid off 10 years ago, including the years after … Continue reading Why Are Teachers Quitting? Finding Ways to Deal with Recruitment & Retention
Educators are starting to see that the traditional student information system (SIS) is no longer cutting it. There’s an ongoing shift towards systems that are modernized and focused on comprehensive student growth, with features to truly engage districts and promote student success. Typically, the SIS is defined to address (but is not limited to) seven … Continue reading Addressing the Focus, Data & Usability of a Modern SIS
Classrooms consist of a broad array of diverse learners. Each student comes to school with diverse learning needs, and teachers are being asked to satisfy those needs based on various factors: a student’s home language and culture, student prerequisite skills and knowledge, and learning styles. To support teachers in delivering a high-quality instructional program that … Continue reading Steps for Teachers & Site Leaders to Apply Differentiated Instruction
When it comes to measuring teacher effectiveness, educators often wonder how students are performing in relation to their peers. How do they know which students are achieving higher relative to their academic peers? How do they determine if certain students are progressing at a higher rate relative to other students? In today’s classroom, it’s … Continue reading Measuring Student Learning with Student Growth Percentiles & Student Growth Targets
Many educators talk often about wanting to incorporate an assessment system into their instruction, but aren’t quite sure where to start. When it comes to building a student achievement system, the task could seem daunting: How often to conduct data analysis? How to approach developing standards schedules? How to build quality assessments? These are just … Continue reading Developing a Student Achievement System? Here’s How.
If school leaders want to lead the charge in improving student performance, they must be fluent in the use of data as a leadership tool. The assumption is that when school leaders are knowledgeable about data use, they can more effectively review their existing capacities, identify weaknesses, and better chart plans for improvement. In fact, … Continue reading Six Steps for School Leaders to Use Data Effectively