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The secrets of an effective school leader
Brian Stack EducationI know a lot of great school principals who are very modest when it comes to talking about how their effectiveness as leaders correlates with the success of their schools, but let’s be honest — school principals play an incredibly large role in the success (or failure) of their schools. In an April 2021 Educational Leadership article, entitled "What Great Principals Really Do," researchers and authors Jason Grissom, Anna Egalite, and Constance Lindsay completed a meta-analysis of six major research studies on principal effectiveness and concluded the following: "The quality of a school's principal is a big determinant of student achievement."
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Bridging the gap between school safety and emotional wellness during a…
Lynn Scott and Kiera Anderson EducationSchools seeking assessment for the purpose of evaluating and improving family and community connection can earn a family-friendly school designation by the Department of Education. The recognition is the result of an assessment process centered around surveys of school staff, parents, and students. The Family Friendly School program addresses not only academic, but physical, emotional and social needs of students. Schools earn distinction by providing evidentiary documentation addressing the components of the program.
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What’s the BIG Idea? Episode 2: Steve Jurash on leading through crisis
Hank Boyer Business Management, Services & Risk ManagementIn this video, Hank Boyer visits with Steve Jurash, president of the 5,000-plus member Manufacturing Alliance of Philadelphia (MAP). MAP represents several hundred thousand manufacturing employees. In March 2020, Jurash led MAP through an incredibly challenging period of dealing with the COVID-19 crisis, an event that brought manufacturing everywhere to a sudden halt. With several hundred thousand employees' lives affected by his decision-making, Jurash faced one of his most challenging periods of leadership. He shares more than 20 best practices effective leaders use to navigate during periods of crisis.
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Bridging the gap between school safety and emotional wellness during a…
Lynn Scott and Kiera Anderson EducationThe National Center on Safe Supportive Learning Environments defines emotional safety as experiences in which one feels safe to express emotions, confidence to take risks, and feels challenged and excited to try something new. They conclude emotionally safe learning environments can be achieved by making social-emotional learning (SEL) an essential part of education. Emotional and physical safety allows the brain to be in a prepared state to learn. Now more than ever, schools have an indispensable obligation to seize the opportunity, evaluate past practices, and adopt new methods to bridge the gap between physical safety and emotional wellness.
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Showing support for school counselors during the pandemic
Brian Stack EducationWe are just over a year into a pandemic that has already caused radical shifts and rifts in our society and our profession. Since it started, some of our profession’s unsung heroes that you don’t often hear enough about are our school counselors. This team, often a small group in a school, have been quietly trying to hold things together for the sake of our students, our staff, and our families. Have you checked in on your school counselor lately to make sure they are OK?
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5 suggestions for raising a struggling reader
Scott Clamme EducationAs a special education teacher and parent, I have worked with many children who have struggled to learn to read. The main thing to remember as a parent is to be patient. Children are all different, and they go through different processes when learning to read. Often, learning to read can be like learning to ride a bike. Some kids learn easier and earlier than others, but as long as they don’t give up, most end up being competent readers. The key is keeping them from giving up. This can require patience from parents and teachers. This article features some suggestions that can help keep your struggling reader on the path toward reading competence.
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How educators can help students navigate career planning and their college…
Ginger Abbot EducationEveryone’s learned new ways to navigate the world since the rise of COVID-19. High school students in particular have struggled because in-person college campus tours and meetings have been limited or shut down entirely. This guide explains how educators can help students navigate career planning and their college choice during COVID-19 so every student feels confident about their future.
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Grade retention: Perpetuating failure
Howard Margolis EducationYears ago, I read an article by a teacher who was worried about Gretchen (a pseudonym), a conscientious, enthusiastic, and hardworking struggling learner. The teacher feared that his district’s policy would force him to fail and retain her. He feared the negative consequences. His article was touching, perceptive, and troubling. It dealt with common fail-retain-and-repeat decisions that I had frequently encountered, decisions that continue to demoralize and undermine countless struggling learners, their families, and their teachers.
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Outdoor learning improves engagement and mental health
Sheilamary Koch EducationUnder tall mango trees between a dry riverbed and two large warehouses, kids ranging between three and 12 years old gather midday for story time. They sit on stumps spaced in a circle. A few interact with some ants and each other. After they introduce themselves in big outdoor voices, Nicole Majewski reads a story interjecting commentary and inviting response as she goes along. Since the beginning of the school year, Majewski, education director at EntreAmigos, a nonprofit in San Pancho, Nayarit, Mexico, and other educators have been bringing activities like watercolor painting, mud play and treasure hunts to kids outdoors.
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5 helpful hints for teaching business ESL
Douglas Magrath EducationBusiness ESL falls under English for specific purposes as learners make the transition from general language to the specific varieties necessary in their future lines of work. The language taught in ESL classes needs to be relevant to the students’ interests. For business students, they need to get hands-on experience with the various aspects of the field and go beyond mere textbook examples. Here are some ideas that current teachers can use to help second language learners with business writing.
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