Developing a “Culture of Attendance”
Federal, state and local education leaders recently gathered at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building near the White House for an “Every Day Counts Summit” to encourage families, community organizations, local elected officials, businesses, faith leaders, pediatricians and others to spread the word about the importance of school attendance, according to a K-12 Dive article. The…
Cutting-Edge Districts Keep Pace with Changing Education Landscape
Climbing rates of chronic absenteeism, increasingly disengaged students, historically low rates of college readiness among high school seniors, declining college enrollment – the fall out of the pandemic has educators thinking intensely about high school reform strategies, according to an Education Week article. Driving the sense of urgency: post-secondary options for students are far more…
Six Critical Steps to Respond to Anonymous School Threats
New guidance from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency helps schools strengthen protection strategies as threats increase nationwide, according to a K-12 Dive article. FBI data found schools were targeted in more than 6,000 threats in 2022, most of which were anonymous and posted on social media, according to the agency. CISA recommends six key strategies to…
What Schools Can Do to Prevent or Curb “Deepfake” Behavior
Most school districts are ill-equipped to handle “Deepfakes“—artificial intelligence-manipulated video, audio, or images created using someone’s voice or likeness without their permission, according to an Education Week article. Most educators haven’t had training on the potential harms of this technology. Instances of students using AI tools to generate fake, pornographic images of their classmates and…
Support Students Overlooked by Most AI Tools
Most artificial intelligence (AI) technologies are not developed based on the needs of students with special needs, putting those students at a potential disadvantage academically as the use of AI in education expands faster than many experts predicted. Education Week reports this finding comes from “AI & Accessibility in Education”—released Sept. 16 by the Consortium…
Helping Parents Cope with Rising School Threats
In Texas, as across the country, parents and educators are increasingly concerned by the stress on students caused by the threat of school shootings, the San Antonio News reports. Many parents in Texas are questioning if they should pull their children out of public schools in favor of homeschooling. Threats to shoot up Texas classrooms…
Give Students More Input to Improve Critical Thinking Skills
Critical thinking, problem-solving and collaboration skills, all necessary for postsecondary success, can be improved by having students design their own instruction, according to a Rand Corp. report analyzed in a K-12 Dive article. Most school districts with a formal process to include student voice in teaching and learning say input leads to more hands-on and…
How to Help Students Improve Making Eye Contact
One in five educators rate their current students’ ability to make eye contact as “poor,” according to a recent survey by the EdWeek Research Center, as reported in Education Week. Sixty-two percent of teachers, principals, and district leaders surveyed say the average student’s ability to make and maintain eye contact has gotten worse compared with…
Declutter Your Day for More Meaningful Tasks
Educators are often stretched thin, juggle extensive curricula, endure meetings and have additional responsibilities beyond their contracts, writes Darlshawn (Shawn) Patterson, an educator and Ph.D. student in the College of Education literacy-studies program at the University of South Florida, in The 74. “Doing less,” or “subtraction,” is a tool often neglected. We focus on adding…
How to Unlock the Secret of “Flow” for Students
Kristin Murphy, a seasoned educator with more than 30 years of experience, emphasizes the importance of “flow” in the classroom — a concept introduced by psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi — in an article in Education Week. “Flow” is a state of being so focused or in “the zone” regarding a craft that practitioners lose track of…
