“This a community that is not represented and here’s this data that tells you if you engage this community, it’s going to help you on your student learning outcomes and also, this mine of talent is a lot deeper,” asserts Siddiqi, the former Virginia Secretary of Education whose nonprofit is now working to diversify the workforce and boost early learning and literacy.

Grow-your-own programs, in which districts begin training high school students to work in education, are key to developing more teachers���and eventually, leaders���of color. When districts promote more leaders of color, they will recruit and retain teachers from underrepresented groups.

Superintendent turnover: Dozens of new hires and 6 departures

Preschool���a rare issue that enjoys support from Democrats and Republicans���is one area where the nation has made tremendous progress over the last 10 years, he notes. The Hunt Institute has been educating lawmakers on the huge benefits of investing in early childhood education���particularly by expanding access to the students who most need help preparing for kindergarten and first grade.

“I feel much better today than I did a few years ago,” Siddiqi says of the state of early learning. “I see a let loss partisan nonsense in this investment area, but there’s still a lot of work to be done.”

Siddiqi also discusses the impacts of school choice and how his organization is helping schools integrate the science of learning You can listen to this episode anytime on , , or by clicking below.

The post ‘Talking Out of School’ podcast: Fixing shortages and academics at the same time appeared first on District 91心頭istration.

Increased funding and support for early educators has also increased as literacy and math instruction improved, the report contends. ���Leading states have recognized the impact of high-quality early learning education on a child���s later college and career readiness and success in life,��� writes the Association’s director of early learning, Winona Ha, noting that disparities around access and resources persist.

Here are some of the highlights:

1. Prioritizing universal pre-K: 12 state boards of education have set early learning or expanded/universal preschool goals in their strategic plans.

• Maryland made early childhood education the first of the five pillars in its strategic plan.
• California intends to make its $2.7 billion transitional kindergarten program available to all four-year-olds by the start of the 2025���26 school year.

2. Financial fuel: Vermont, Illinois and Missouri now offer childcare subsidies for providers that serve low-income families. These states are also funding preschool teacher recruitment and support. Vermont, for example, has approved $76 million in new funding for pre-K in fiscal year 2024 and nearly $125 million in FY 2025.

Read more from 91心頭: Here are the administrators who just landed new superintendent posts

3. Locked into literacy: By the end of 2023, 32 states had adopted comprehensive early literacy policies that cover teacher preparation and professional development, instruction and curriculum, literacy screening for students beginning in kindergarten, and reading disability interventions. Districts in Oregon are sharing $150 million for teacher training and coaching, new curriculum materials, summer school reading programs and small-group tutoring.

4. Less movement on math: Fewer states are focused on preschool math. West Virginia’s “Third Grade Success Act” focuses on油teacher training, support personnel, dyslexia and dyscalculia screenings, intervention strategies, and parent engagement. The state is also developing benchmark assessments and screeners for language arts and math.

This year, many states will be involved in油rulemaking to improve access and equity around the policies created in 2023. Hao and the National Association of State Boards of Education are calling on policymakers to pay more attention to multilingual learners in the coming years.

The post Analysis: Big strides are being made toward universal pre-K appeared first on District 91心頭istration.

Fortunately, I feel that attitude has become less prevalent as more people recognize those early years as critical. Decades of research, including the landmark , provide data on the long-term benefits of high-quality early education. These benefits include being more likely to graduate from high school, committing fewer crimes, holding a job, and gaining higher incomes.

One important area of early childhood education that is easily overlooked is the classroom itself. According to the Reggio Emelia approach, the environment is the ���third teacher.��� This idea refers to creating an early childhood environment that is purposeful and intentional, so it supports children���s learning as much as their parents and teachers do.

Read more from 91心頭: How 2 superintendents strive to be ���real people���

For children to succeed in learning from their environment, it must be set up to foster independence and take into consideration their development as well as their individual needs. Here���s how schools can create supportive, developmentally appropriate classrooms that help young students build the foundation for a successful academic trajectory.

What does a developmentally appropriate classroom look like?

Young children use their five senses to learn about the world around them, so the environment must be engaging, hands-on, and appealing to the senses. They are very curious and enjoy discovering and interacting with all elements of a classroom. Creating an environment conducive to play and exploration can help satisfy that curiosity and scaffold learning.

Something simple but often forgotten is the need for properly sized furniture. Ensuring that chairs and tables are at appropriate heights for the age level of the children in the room helps provide a safe and welcoming environment. Many early childhood furniture companies provide charts to guide the selection of these furniture pieces.

Furniture arrangement is also key. Open sight lines allow teachers to see all students from anywhere in the room. Placing tall pieces of furniture against walls and clearing tops of shelves and cabinets are ways to keep children in view.

Keeping tops of furniture cleared also keeps the room neat and organized. When teachers declutter and tidy up the environment, they help create a safe, inviting space. when a child feels safe, both physically and emotionally, the brain is more ready to learn.

Currently, mobile, flexible furniture is a trend. Educators like the ability to reconfigure student groupings to enhance collaboration and communication. While this is appropriate for older students, teachers should be careful when thinking about these options in an early childhood classroom. The youngest students, particularly in prekindergarten and kindergarten, are still developing physically. Sturdy, stable furniture helps support their developing core and other muscles as well as providing safety as they move around the room. Remember, children are trying to make sense of the world around them and movement is one of the ways they do so.

How administrators can support developmentally appropriate classrooms

It���s important that teachers have autonomy in setting up their classrooms, but, ideally, an administrator should be able to visit a classroom where the teacher can explain why the room is arranged the way it is. It goes back to the need for an environment that is purposefully and intentionally planned.

91心頭istrators come from all walks of education and may not necessarily have experience nor expertise in early childhood education. Their role in setting up the classroom will most likely be supportive. One fundamental way to provide support is remembering that early childhood encompasses birth through 8-year-olds and that those age groups learn differently than older students.

Learning more about early childhood education, especially about how children learn through play, is an excellent way for administrators to support developmentally appropriate classrooms. A good place to start is with their own early childhood teachers. Simply asking, ���Why are you doing this?��� or ���Why are students doing this?��� allows teachers the opportunity to explain what is really going on in the classroom. Don���t assume children are ���just playing.��� You may find that there are some pre-algebra skills being honed in the block area or some pre-writing skills developing at the art easel.

My last year in the classroom, I taught a 2nd-grade dual language class composed of English and Spanish speakers learning both languages. I often felt like the school clown, since people would stop to peek in my classroom to see what I was doing. Visitors thought it was odd and/or entertaining that my students and I were singing and dancing���until I explained how this was a helpful strategy to support second language acquisition.

As is often the case in education, professional development is key. Teachers learn about child development in their teacher prep programs, but rarely receive training on how to set up the environment. They are largely left to take the knowledge they have and figure out how to put it into practice themselves. This often means that when they get their first classroom, they simply follow the lead of the teacher next door. If they end up with a good mentor, that���s great, but doing what their neighbors do can sometimes perpetuate less-than-ideal practices. 91心頭istrators should support teachers��� quest for up-to-date, relevant information on creating developmentally appropriate early childhood environments.

The National Association for the Education of Young Children is a well-known resource when it comes to developmentally appropriate practice in early childhood education. They have state chapters and recommended resources to help educators stay current or learn more. The National Head Start Association and the First Five Years Fund provide valuable information as well, and the Hunt Institute has numerous webinars on current topics related to early childhood education. Educational companies, like my own organization, also provide and articles about setting up a developmentally appropriate classroom.

Challenges to creating developmentally appropriate classrooms

Even if all early childhood educators and administrators in your building are aware of developmentally appropriate practices and appreciative of play-based, multisensory learning, there are a few common challenges to setting up a high-quality environment.

Space is the first hurdle that comes to mind. Ideally, young children need plenty of space to pursue the exploration and discovery mentioned earlier. While different pedagogical philosophies use distinct terms, a typical early childhood classroom is set up to include learning centers or interest areas. Unfortunately, having a huge classroom is a rarity, so teachers must get creative about how they provide a variety of learning experiences and a wide array of materials���no matter the size of their classroom.

One solution is what I call ���doubling up.��� For example, most classrooms have a large carpet for whole-group activities and large-group gatherings. However, no one is gathering during centers time, so that carpet also becomes the perfect space for block play. The carpet creates a boundary for the area, allows children a comfortable place to sit on the floor and build, and mutes the noise when towers of wooden blocks come tumbling down. Another example is using table and chair sets for mealtimes but also placing a storage unit nearby that allows children to bring learning materials such as manipulatives or art supplies to the table for use during interest areas.

While I touched on clutter previously, keeping the room clean and organized can maximize space for children���s play. I understand early childhood classrooms require a lot of learning materials and classroom supplies, but if those items become clutter, the environment no longer feels safe, comfortable, nor calming. Creative storage solutions like rolling carts that can be tucked away in a closet or nearby room, or sensory bins with built-in storage underneath can go a long way toward maintaining orderliness, but teachers also need to stay on top of their classroom and go through it frequently to decide what they really need.

Also consider decreasing the space that adults use in the room to make more space for students. If teachers can part with bulky file cabinets and giant desks, this will free up areas that could become additional learning centers. A good rule of thumb is to remember the room should be for the students rather than for storage.

Money is, of course, the perpetual challenge for educators. However, allotting funds for classroom furniture and supplies is crucial. Broken or damaged furniture and materials can be a safety hazard. Creating a pleasant environment with nice furnishings makes a welcoming place for children, boosts the morale of the educators working in that room, and helps parents feel good about sending their children to school every day.

Classroom furniture is an investment. It should be around a long time and probably will be, but children are hard on furniture. If you are fortunate enough to purchase furniture for your school, be sure you���re looking at durable furniture made with quality materials. Many furniture vendors even offer limited lifetime warranties helping to guarantee that your money is well spent.

It���s easy to step into an early childhood classroom and see nothing more than children at play with a teacher to babysit them. That play, with the expert guidance of a teacher and a purposeful, interactive environment is the work of childhood education, and it forms the foundation for the learning that those students will do for the rest of their lives. They deserve an appropriate, high-quality environment in which to build that foundation.

The post Workspace for play: Setting up early childhood classrooms for success appeared first on District 91心頭istration.

Hardin County Schools already serves about 14,000 students in a mix of urban, suburban and rural communities, and a new manufacturing plant is expected to increase the local population by 24,000 to 37,000 residents over the next 10 to 15 years. “We’re trying to figure out how quickly we can build buildings���and have the bonding potential to do so,” says Morgan, who was recently named Kentucky’s .

One reason the district stands out���and which helped Morgan and her predecessor win Superintendent of the Year���is its targeted, districtwide preschool program. When Kentucky equalized district pre-K funding in 1990, Hardin County “dove into making preschool a top priority.” It has since expanded from just two early education early centers to offering prekindergarten at all of its elementary schools.

More from 91心頭: What’s going on in Tulsa? State’s top ed official is lashing out at superintendent

Right now, the program is reserved for children with disabilities and those from low-income families. “We truly believe the earlier we can do inventions, the better we can serve those students for the rest of their educational career,” Morgan explains.

Morgan recently sat down with District 91心頭istration to discuss advances in project-based learning, students swabbing cellphones and the power of prayer.

1. 91心頭: What are you most excited about as the school year gets underway?油油

Morgan: “Growth���we���re excited and maybe a little bit nervous. It will take a great deal of planning.

“We have some major advancements in our training. Our high schools and middle schools are going through training. At our elementary levels, all of our teachers have either gone through phonological awareness training or morphology training. We have everybody rowing in the same direction and we are seeing a lot of gains in our reading scores. Our next focus will of course be math and we’ve done a lot of additional training in the early grades.”

2. Why are your educators focused on project-based learning?油

“We continue to work with our work community partners and they let us know, they will train the students, and they want students who can work together, who are critical thinkers, and who have problem-solving skills. They have indicated to us that skills that you would generally learn through project-based learning are really what they need their workforce coming with.

Last year, at one of our middle schools coming out of COVID, students did swabs around the building to see how much bacteria they could get to grow in a petri dish. They did a study of where the cleanest areas were in the school and where the dirtiest areas were. And interestingly enough, they found their cellphones were some of the dirtiest areas in the building, even compared to door knobs. They then reached out to another school to see if they had the same areas of cleanliness and the same areas that grew greater bacteria. That was the idea of the students���they were the ones who came up with questions that they wanted to answer.”

3. What keeps you up at night?油

“The students we’re not reaching. We are in our first days of school and we have had several students start kindergarten this year and they have a lot of need. We have found some students who have not been to preschool, and that would���ve been a huge help in getting assistance for those families. The families said we just didn���t know about it when we asked them. We have such great support in this community, we want everybody to know about those services.

The other thing that keeps me up is how to keep pace with 20,000 people moving into your area. With us living near Ft. Knox, we always have an influx of people coming with the military, but this is a number we’ve never quite seen. Boone County in northern Kentucky at one point had 300 mobile units. We would like not to have 300 mobile units. That keeps me up, the thought of that and the security of mobile units vs. a school. We have a lot of work to do to prepare for that.”

4. How do you deal with stress?油

“As superintendent, when you get to this position, you have learned to take a lot of things in stride. Most individuals have been a principal or a director and you have been in the public eye before. You get a lot of exercise and personally, for me, I do a lot of praying on a regular basis. But the biggest thing is you utilize the resources you have around you. We have incredible chiefs in our district, our chief operations officer and chief academic officer, and then our directors. You surround yourself with individuals who as a group can make great things happen for students.”

5. Is Hardin County Schools experiencing staff shortages?油

“We are incredibly fortunate���we have a full staff in our transportation department. We have all of our routes covered. We do a lot of recruiting for bus drivers all year long.

“We are definitely feeling the teacher shortage. We still have positions open right now. When you start talking about low incidence, which is a unit for students with high levels of need, we don���t have as many teachers going in that field and then high school math and science. I believe last year one of our major universities only had one individual going into high school math.”

6. How are you filling those gaps?油

“We’ve had to be strategic and creative. We have teachers who are doing a live stream to another classroom. There’s a teacher in there but it’s not a certified math teacher. We are paying that [livestream] teacher additional funds for the extra papers they will have to grade.

“We have a grow-your-own program. Our high school students who are interested in becoming teachers, we are currently paying one-third of their tuition to a college, up to $350 per credit hour. That has really increased the number of our students who are going into education, and we have a few of those who want to go into that early childhood pathway.

“We also have a grow-your-own for paraprofessionals and that has been an amazing program. We have assistants who have been in the classroom for 15 years and they have seen the best instructional practices. They are really prepared to become a teacher.

“The additional thing we’re doing is we’re having our students take the Praxis, which is the required test here in Kentucky before you can become a certified teacher. We are having those students take Praxis right after they leave high school because the content areas, they will probably never be at the readiness level that they are when they leave high school. After four years of college, you have forgotten a lot of what you’ve learned in high school, which is necessary to pass that test. We assist those students by paying for that Praxis in high school. We had nine students take the Praxis and all of them passed at the end of high school.”

7. How do you describe your leadership philosophy?油

“My leadership is really about respect, and respect for every individual who comes into your district���your parents, your students, your bus drivers, your custodians, buildings and grounds���just respect and appreciation for what each person brings to the table. There is no position that is more or less important; there is no student who is more or less important.”

The post 7 questions with a superintendent who is prepping for a population boom appeared first on District 91心頭istration.

The district, which will be searching for a new superintendent at the end of the school year, has not addressed systemic barriers to providing an equitable, quality education or adequately served its most vulnerable students, says by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

“This moment requires bold, student-centered decision-making and strong execution to ensure the district delivers the quality education its students deserve,” the review says. “BPS needs immediate improvement.”

More from 91心頭:油���Challenge Index’ ranks the 10 most rigorous high schools in the U.S.油

The series of reviews began in 2020 in an agreement with the district to forestall a state takeover. The latest report, released Monday, credits outgoing Superintendent Brenda Cassellius���油after two years on the job���with making progress in adopting high-quality instructional materials, prioritizing early literacy, and updating graduation requirements. She has also overseen a diversification of the teacher pipeline, and improvements in professional development and services for English learners.

The district is now using ESSER funds to build up staff at油underperforming schools and begin much-needed facilities repairs, renovations, and upgrades. “The superintendent effectively led these initiatives, despite challenges in managing a central office with entrenched dysfunction,” the report says. “Ongoing work in these areas is in early stages of implementation and remains highly vulnerable to disruption.”

Two of those disruptions could be continued turnover in the superintendent’s post and other leadership positions, and an inability to monitor the progress and impact of district initiatives.油Here’s a closer look at the major ongoing concerns identified in the review:

1. Serving the most vulnerable students: “BPS has shown little to no progress in addressing the needs of its students with disabilities, English learners, and students at the district’s lowest-performing schools, resulting in continued poor outcomes for tens of thousands of students.” These challenges油have been exacerbated by high leadership turnover in the special education and English learner departments and a lack of urgency to make improvements. The district also has not made a significant effort to educate油special education students in the least restrictive environments and black and brown students are being油disproportionately placed in “substantially separate settings.”

2. Systemic barriers to equity: The review found that the district has not made progress in overhauling its school assignment system, which “concentrates high levels of student need in a fraction of the district’s schools.” It has also failed to alter its transportation contract, which has made the service unreliable for some students. Despite the steady drop in enrollment, district leaders have not tried to capitalize on the excess capacity or maximize the “considerable financial resources” at their disposal. “Without addressing these deeper systemic challenges, school and district improvement efforts will continue to flounder,” the report says.

3. Struggling with essential functions: The district is not meeting the minimum performance standards in transportation, facilities, safety protocols, and data reporting. Transportation has been plagued by late buses and uncovered routes while the lack of a comprehensive facilities master plan has caused a “significant variation in the quality of the district’s facilities.” It also does not have an油effective and consistent process for tracking and responding to parents’ complaints about bullying, among other safety concerns.

4. Challenges with leadership continuity:油Cassellius’ replacement, expected to be hired before the fall, will be the district’s fifth油superintendent since 2013, leaving the system without the strong institutional knowledge needed to tackle its油persistent challenges. The report also questioned the wisdom of the school board’s self-imposed tight deadline, noting that there are likely fewer qualified candidates available this time of year and that superintendent searches often take a year or more.

In responding to the report, The Pioneer Institute, a free market think tank, said money is not the problem, noting Boston Public Schools spends $26,000 per student annually, second among the 100 largest school systems in the U.S. The organization says that bullying is rampant and also accuses the district of油underestimating the number of English language learners while overestimating graduation rates in recent years. It also says a majority of Boston’s students are not taught the material on which they are tested.

“The third review of the Boston Public Schools in fewer than 20 years makes clear:油Things are getting worse,” .油“Graduation rates are down, achievement gaps are up, an unacceptably large percentage of students attend schools ranked in the lowest 10 percent statewide.”

The post Boston Public Schools gets failing grades in 4 key areas as a takeover looms appeared first on District 91心頭istration.

The topic of anti-racism has been at the forefront for some time. During the Summer of 2020, many companies began to ramp up their focus on anti-racism efforts in the workplace. Anti-racism activists also began to stress the importance of instilling anti-racist sentiment in children.油

Needless to say, the assertion that kids need to learn how to be anti-racist was met with some resistance. Recently, the issue made national news when questioned Supreme Court Nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson about Ibram X. Kendi’s book . He famously asked the now-Justice Brown Jackson if ���babies were racist.���油

The attention on Cruz’s book-bashing brought to light an important issue: the anti-racist education of children. Sales of Kendi’s book skyrocketed following its moment in the spotlight during Brown Jackson’s confirmation hearing. Anti-racism education early in life has the positive side-effect of following children into adulthood, producing an overall more anti-racist society.油

Starting the discussion

The first step in any anti-racist discussion needs to be self-education. Parents and other caregivers will want to be comfortable with the concept of anti-racism so they can engage in the topic without reservation. Conversations surrounding race or racism can be difficult because today’s adults were not exposed to these topics as children.油

Children should feel comfortable engaging in this subject. The tone set should tell the child that engaging in the subject of race or racism is normal and productive.油

It takes a village

Parents of color often do not choose whether or not they are going to have discussions about racism with their children. Children of color grow up surrounded by the realities of racism, and these meaningful discussions are essential.油

A well-known saying exists that it ���takes a village��� to raise a child. Parents of color could benefit from the help of their white counterparts ��� their ���village��� ��� in anti-racist education. Much of the work that parents of color put in involves teaching their children to interact with white children, whose parents often are not putting the same effort into anti-racist education.油

Active disruption: Why critical race theory benefits all students

The value of anti-racism should be considered just as important as instilling other values in children, such as respect, kindness, and gratitude. When white parents place anti-racism education as a priority, they show they are willing to be a part of that global village.油

The challenge of instilling anti-racist values

If the exchange between Senator Cruz and Justice Brown Jackson illustrated anything, it was that there continues to be pushback on anti-racist teaching. There are entire factions that believe the concept of anti-racism is negative, but the idea of anti-racism is straightforward ��� it simply means being against racism. If being against racism is not a concept the entire country can rally behind, it may be a time to take a deep look at the soul of our nation.油

Bans on , a legal theory typically only taught in graduate school, have spread across many states. Many laws are ambiguous and make teaching in general difficult for K-12 educators. The vague nature of the laws passed is due to an overall lack of understanding of CRT. Anti-CRT activists fear that teaching children and high schoolers about the United States’ history of systemic racism will make them hate their country or, if they are white, hate who they are. The incendiary language and hand-wringing amongst anti-CRT activists have continued to slow the widespread adoption of anti-racist education.油

The benefits of anti-racist and diversity education are apparent in the workplace and the classroom. The benefits of early anti-racism education are also evident. Only good can come from teaching our children to be more loving, accepting, and conscious of the systemic hold racism has on our country.油油油

Matthew Kincaid is a former social studies teacher, and school administrator is now the founder, CEO, and Chief Consulting officer of the non-profit, Overcoming Racism. He is a graduate of Tufts University and a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.油Contact Matthew at matthew@overcomingracism.com. Learn more about Overcoming Racism at .油

More from 91心頭

The post It starts with our children: An anti-racism CEO explains appeared first on District 91心頭istration.

With its capacity to and , educators are clamoring for training and support to help them integrate social-emotional learning into their teaching practices.

In fact, as shown in a recent , most teachers believe that SEL should be integrated into the curriculum along with other core subjects. In fact, 84% of teachers feel that SEL has become even more important since the COVID-19 pandemic, emphasizing the impact that these foundational skills can have on a child’s well-being.

At the same time, scholars, professionals, and educators are also questioning whether teachers should be expected to handle the trauma and mental health issues that can easily accompany social-emotional learning, especially in a pandemic-impacted world.油Currently, ���three-quarters of [K-12] teachers receive some professional development that addressed SEL during the 2018-2019 school year,��� according to a recent . But what about early childhood educators who work with children during their , when their brain growth and development is at their peak and their emotional foundation is being built?

If there’s a feeling that we’re ���placing more into teachers’ laps��� in K-12 by asking them to incorporate SEL, it’s because we’re getting it wrong from the start by not training early childhood educators to build children’s emotional competence and self-regulation at the most critical, developmental time. A child’s impressionable brain achieves of its development before the age of five. And up until the age of five, the brain is developing more rapidly than at any other time in life.

It is imperative that early childhood educators have the support and training to guide children’s emotional development. Unfortunately, our current system isn’t set up to regularly offer such support and training to early childhood educators.

Why post-preschool is too late

If K-12 professional development standards feel like the Wild West, then early childhood is a desert. Our nation’s lack of a universal preschool or child care system makes it incredibly difficult to track let alone enforce standards of quality, including for professional development requirements.

The closest metric we have are states’ credentials and Quality Rating and Improvement Systems. There’s little data about whether early child care educators are actually getting high-quality training in emotional competence. In fact ��� did not know whether their states or districts had adopted SEL standards.���

So while the push and prioritization of SEL is welcome and needed for children’s continued growth and development, if we don’t start early���from birth���and provide comprehensive training and support for preschool teachers, it’s all good money after bad at the K-12 level. Early childhood education is when we build a child’s foundational understanding of their emotions and how to respond to those and others’ behaviors. Social-emotional learning should be rote and an ingrained practice by the time children enter primary school.

More from 91心頭:油3 ways to improve the quality of preschool programs油

The , the gold standard for early learning accreditation, calls for building relationships and social-emotional learning throughout their programming. Too often, though, SEL training opportunities are introduced after pre-K.

We must align our standards and interventions with the window of opportunity that opens at birth. shows that children who gain these building blocks as part of a curriculum from their earliest days significantly outperform their peers in key emotional competencies, self-regulation, empathy, and other prosocial skills.

How educators manage their own emotions

Before educators can help successfully guide their students they must first be able to have the awareness and understanding to appropriately express and manage their own emotions. In order to help children build a foundation of emotional intelligence, educators require comprehensive training and development in these key competencies. grounded in emotional well-being can help elevate teachers’ self-reflection, mindfulness, emotional understanding, and awareness so they can mirror these key skills for their students.

When this modeling happens, the impact is astounding. When early educators receive high-quality, consistent professional development and training that is rooted in emotions, the children they introduce to these skills . Not surprisingly, the educators are also油 the myriad of challenges that can occur in any preschool environment, which reduces burnout and increases retention.

No one is debating the importance of social-emotional learning, with districts spending nearly more on SEL over the last school year. K-12 teachers are being asked to address the full depth and breadth of social-emotional learning because early childhood educators are not supported to do so. We must educate and train educators at all levels to effectively recognize and build their own emotional competencies and those in their young learners if we hope for SEL to deliver on its full potential for students and educators.

Donna Housman is the founder and CEO of , which conducts research on emotional intelligence in young children and develops high-quality programs to train early childhood educators.

The post Can SEL deliver on its promises? Yes, but only if we start with early educators. appeared first on District 91心頭istration.

Educators have long understood the importance of reading as a primary literacy skill. Setting students up to become proficient, critical readers is at the core of early literacy, and essential for introducing other subjects and skills.

Recognizing the need for high-quality early literacy programs, states are that requires reading instruction to be based on evidence, and in some cases, the ���“���a comprehensive body of research that provides an evidence-based approach for foundational literacy skills.

One way to prioritize the science of reading is through systematic, explicit literacy instruction. Here are a few instructional strategies that can be used to guide student readers to proficiency.

1. Start with the foundation

Words are all composed of consonants and vowels. Before students can use their decoding skills to read words, they must be able to identify all the letters of the alphabet.

Practice letter identification with your students by preparing alphabet cards with one letter of the alphabet on each card. Provide student pairs with pennies and dimes. Have students place the alphabet cards facedown.

Instruct one student in the pair to flip one card over, look at the letter, and place a penny on the card if the letter is a consonant or a dime on the card if the letter is a vowel. Have partners check for accuracy. Continue until all cards have been played. Adapt this activity by having students say aloud the sounds of the letters as each card is flipped.

2. Use repetition

Research shows that students become fluent in reading through multiple exposures to words. It is not enough to see and read words a single time. Therefore, it is imperative to provide phonics instruction that incorporates repetition of previously taught skills while introducing new decoding skills.

3. Incorporate sight words

While 80% to 95% of English words can be decoded using rules and patterns, there are many words that are phonetically irregular. But these words also must be mapped into the brains of beginning readers, especially since they can sometimes account for most words in a text.

So, while you are teaching your students to decode a word, such as P-E-T, incorporate sight words too. You might incorporate T-H-E, in this case, to have students read THE PET. After the appropriate number of exposures to a sight word, the sight word will be committed to memory.

While learning to read is complex, science-supported strategies help build and strengthen students’ skills. Implementing strategies that apply systematic, explicit phonics instruction will provide students with the foundation they need for success both today and tomorrow.

Nurturing all students into proficient, critical readers

Learning to read is a significant milestone, and necessary for introducing students to other essential skills���such as critical thinking and comprehension. By applying research-based instructional strategies, educators can ensure every reader is set up for success from the start.

Related article: What reading skills should be taught and the best way to teach them

Liana Roth is the ELA senior writer at .

The post 3 instructional strategies that support the science of reading appeared first on District 91心頭istration.

In a statement released Dec. 16, President Biden said negotiations with Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., will “continue next week,” adding that “it takes time to finalize these agreements, prepare the legislative changes, and finish all the parliamentary and procedural steps needed to enable a Senate vote. We will advance this work together over the days and weeks ahead.”

As passed by the House on Nov. 19, Build Back Better would provide $112 million in funding for IDEA Part D personnel development grants, $112 million each for school leadership development and teacher development grants, and funding for childcare and universal pre-K for 3- and 4-year-old children. It would also expand the Community Eligibility Provision program to increase access to free school meals. A Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee油油released on Dec. 11 included IDEA Part D personnel development grant funding, school leadership development and teacher development grants, and funding for childcare and universal pre-K for 3- and 4-year-old children, but it did not include CEP expansion and other school nutrition proposals, or grants for Native American teachers and educators.

If the Senate passes an amended version of H.R. 5376, it would then be sent back to the House for final passage before heading to the president’s desk for signature into law.

Despite the delay, “I believe that we will bridge our differences and advance the Build Back Better plan,” Biden said. “[Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.,] and I are determined to see the bill successfully on the floor as early as possible.”

The post Build back later? Progress on bill with education provisions stalled until ’22 appeared first on District 91心頭istration.

House Democrats lauded the bill’s education and childcare provisions. “The bill makes child-care affordable and secures universal preschool for 3- and 4-year-olds, lowering the costs of working families, and boosting our economy by helping parents re-enter the workforce,” said House Education and Labor Committee Chairman Robert C. “Bobby” Scott, D-Va., during debate on the bill on Nov. 18. “It also allows 9 million more children to receive healthy school meals.”

However, Republicans warned the bill will lead to government overreach in education and exceed its spending limits.

“This bill will impose federal control over pre-K, limit parental choice, increase the cost of child care, punish job creators, reward far-left special interests, and deepen our debt crisis,” said House Education and Labor Committee Ranking Member Virginia Foxx, R-N.C. “This bill recklessly sets aside $400 billion for universal pre-K and childcare, but in reality, there is no telling how much this provision will cost the American people.”

As passed by the House, the bill includes $112 million each for school leadership development and teacher development grants, funding for child care and universal pre-K for 3- and 4-year-old children, and expanding free school meals.

House passage moves the bill to the Senate for further consideration, where it is likely to see changes from its current form. If amended and passed by the Senate, it would return to the House for a vote on final passage.

“Today’s passage by the House of the Build Back Better Framework represents a resounding vote of confidence in America’s future and an unprecedented investment in our democracy,” said Education Secretary Miguel Cardona. “The impact of this proposal on educational equity, excellence and opportunity — from cradle to college and career — will be nothing short of transformative.

American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten praised the bill’s passage, saying it makes “historic down payments on the very things working families rely on most, [including] prekindergarten, so kids can access learning at a young age, which we know leads to long-lasting, multigenerational economic benefits.”

NEA President Becky Pringle also applauded the House action, calling the bill a “once-in-a-generation opportunity to take meaningful action on long-ignored challenges ranging from how we educate our youngest generation, ensure no child goes hungry, care for those who are ill or have fallen on hard times, or securing protections for immigrants.”

Following are key education-related provisions of the Build Back Better Act, H.R. 5376:

• Grow Your Own programs: Nearly $113 million through FY 2025 to support Grow Your Own programs authorized by the Higher Education Act to address teacher or school leader shortages in high-need areas and also encourage increased diversity in the education workforce.
• Teacher residencies: $112 million for grants through FY 2025 to develop and support high-quality teacher residency programs that pair new teaching candidates with experienced classroom educators who serve as mentors.
• Support school principals: $112 million for grants through FY 2025 to develop and support school leadership programs.
• Career and technical education: $600 million for grants through FY 2027 for CTE programs and $100 million over the same time period to carry out an innovation and modernization program.
• Universal preschool: $4 billion in FY 2022, $6 billion in FY 2023, and $8 billion in FY 2024 to the Department of Health and Human Services to provide to states for universal preschool services for 3- and 4-year-old children. It would provide a total of $10 billion from FY 2023 through FY 2027 for preschool grants to localities, a total of $10 billion from FY 2023 through FY 2027 for expansion of Head Start programs in nonparticipating states, and a total of $15 billion through FY 2027 to improve compensation for Head Start staff.
• Healthy food incentives: $250 million for a competitive grant program activities that support healthy food and lifestyles, including improving nutritional quality for meals and snacks, scratch cooking, nutrition education, purchasing locally grown or culturally appropriate food.
• School kitchen equipment grants: $30 million for schools to purchase equipment for kitchens that allow for healthier meals, improve food safety, and increase the amount of “scratch cooking.”
• IDEA, Part D personnel development: $161 million for grants through FY 2025 for the personnel development program authorized under IDEA Section 662.
• Grants for Native American language teachers and educators: $200 million for grants through FY 2031 to prepare, train, and provide professional development to Native American language teachers and early childhood educators to preserve Native American languages.

Charles Hendrix covers education funding and other Title I issues for LRP Publications.

The post Build Back Better Act approved by House has millions for CTE, teacher training appeared first on District 91心頭istration.