Date & Time: Wednesday, March 19th油at 2 p.m.

Strong writing skills are critical for success in school and beyond. From the workplace to college classrooms, the ability to express one���s thoughts and ideas in a coherent fashion is expected. Writing is the output of understanding. Given time and curriculum constraints, though, how can district leaders help educators carve out space for daily writing to build student fluency and confidence so future graduates can successfully pursue a post-secondary degree and career?

In this 30-minute Ed Talk, join a seasoned K-12 educator and leader for an insightful discussion on how to create meaningful opportunities for students to showcase their learning through writing.

This session will explore the power of writing in both surface-level and deep learning, highlighting when and how to integrate writing activities effectively during class time. With actionable strategies and practical examples, you���ll learn how to empower your educators to engage students in reflective and active learning through writing in a way that will ensure college and workforce readiness.

Key Takeaways:

• Identify key moments in a lesson when writing can enhance learning.
• Explore examples of both surface-level and deep writing tasks.
• Learn how to use student writing data to tailor interventions and extension activities.
• Gain strategies for creating a classroom environment that prioritizes student reflection and expression.
• Understand how writing supports student engagement and comprehension across subjects.

***All attendees will be able to safely download supporting resources to put these ideas, including ���writing to learn,��� into action.

Speaker

Dr. Paige Whitlock, Ed.D, Literacy Director, NoRedInk

Sponsored by

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Date & Time: Thursday, February 27th at 2 p.m.

Join a former K-12 leader with experience in classroom teaching, school administration, and district leadership, for a straightforward discussion on ���writing to learn,��� a proven approach that油can improve student outcomes and support districtwide goals. 油

This webinar will address the power of ���writing to learn��� for district leaders who want to shift practices to those that build critical thinking, strengthen communication skills, and prepare students for state assessments.油

District leadership will learn how to implement:油

• Low-Stakes Writing: Build students��� confidence and provide district leaders with valuable growth data油
• ���Writing to Learn��� Activities: Help students think through the central concepts of courses without taking up too much class time.油
• A Districtwide油Focus on Writing:油Establishing a central writing location, analyzing individual and cohort data, and leveraging student success stories to effectively tell your district���s literacy achievements.油

***All attendees will be able to safely download supporting resources to put these ideas, including ���writing to learn,��� into action. 油

Speaker

Dr. Paige Whitlock, Ed.D, Literacy Director, NoRedInk

Sponsored by

The post Writing To Learn: Improving Student Achievement and Supporting Districtwide Goals appeared first on District 91心頭istration.

Brawley’s district transformation ensures that students start coding, building robots and playing esports in elementary school, continuing with those subjects through 12th grade. Students also have opportunities to compete with their classmates, other schools and other districts all along the way.

“As far as science, technology, engineering arts and math goes, I would put Compton at the forefront in terms of what’s happening in the space for K through 12 education,” Brawley asserts. “If you were to attend one of our esports competitions, you would think you’re in a basketball gymnasium in the championships or playoffs.”

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Last year, drones were added to the district’s STEAM offerings in middle and high school. STEAM subjects engage students who were not previously involved in school activities, and they can now participate during and after school and in summer technology camps.

“They’re involved in esports, they’re involved in robotics, they’re involved in drone competitions,” he explains. “We’ve been able to reach a different student population, in terms of their interests, and we’ve been able to cultivate that and take things to a new level.”

And it’s all geared toward career paths that, for some, will run through a four-year college. Brawley was inspired to make Compton a STEAM district by a visit he and his team took the headquarters of one of the world’s leading tech companies about 10 years ago.

“I was just shocked with what I saw because there were no workers that looked like me or the kids that we educate���there weren’t Black and Mexican people working there,” he explained. “So we came back with a mission to eliminate that opportunity gap for the students that we serve. We knew that if we didn’t come back and implement something dramatic… we weren’t doing our job.”

The state of California recognized Compton USD for making the largest math and ELA gains of any district where 90% of students come from low-socioeconomic households, or are English learners, in foster care, experiencing homelessness, or from other historically marginalized groups. The graduation rate during Brawley’s tenure has risen from 58% to 93%.

Compton USD educators reached these benchmarks by continuously monitoring progress with his administrators and educators. For instance, he has monthly data chats with his principals. “People usually look for a type of leadership, right? ‘Transformational leadership,'” he concludes. “But my leadership comes through teaching people how to become better leaders. I try to implement that with the individuals who serve under me.”

The post Superintendent Darin Brawley: How to empower a rising school district appeared first on District 91心頭istration.

I became passionate about finding the right cutting tool for every student, so my collection includes loop scissors that spring apart, tiny scissors for people with small hands, scissors with blunted tips and scissors that don���t even use the traditional opposing blade method of cutting but get pushed across the top of the paper like a computer mouse. I believed that I could find scissors that almost any child could use somewhere in my collection.

I know that other educators may never fall in love with scissor collecting quite like I did but more and more of them are certainly recognizing the need to become familiar with the principles and practices of adapted and accessible art. Since the pandemic, districts around the country have placed more emphasis on social-emotional learning and the need to adapt classroom practices to be accessible to more students.

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The ongoing is also likely contributing to the increased attention on adapted art. Students who used to do art with their special education teacher are now more likely to join general art classes, where they may require some scaffolding.

Whatever brings them there, all students deserve to be welcomed into art class and art-making. Based on my decades of experience, here���s a look at the benefits of adapted art, along with two essential best practices for ensuring the art spaces and materials in your district support self-expression for every student.

Benefits of accessible art

Simply put, accessible art is the practice of adapting the media, techniques or tools of an art project so that any student can be as independently creative as possible. My primary experience has been working with students who have physical challenges, but adapted art also provides access for students with cognitive, developmental or emotional challenges.

Adapted art can have important benefits for students well beyond the art classroom. Often, students who have physical challenges will discover that they can be much more independently creative when they use an adapted grip on a pencil, marker, or crayon, and will begin using those tools in their academic classes.

Some students face social or emotional challenges, and art class is the main reason they come to school. Some students feel free to be expressive in art class, even if they don���t talk about their art. They may simply enjoy making it or journaling about it. They may have a favorite character or favorite colors, and drawing or using them can provide comfort or a feeling of stability that helps them transition between classes or activities. This is also something to keep in mind when considering adaptations for a student. Incorporating the characters or colors a student loves into an art project can help keep them engaged.

Sometimes adapted art can even help with behavioral challenges. I worked with some eighth-grade students who weren���t allowed to use scissors because their teachers feared they would hurt themselves or others. I gave them adapted scissors that only had an inch-long blade. Those scissors slowed them down so they weren���t as impulsive and they had more control as they cut. Their skills and self-esteem both began to improve.

I often tell teachers to build an adapted art kit before students ever make it to their class. Start with a few pairs of commonly helpful adapted scissors, different kinds of pencil grips and some specialized markers and paintbrushes. Then you can fine-tune it over time to better meet the needs of your individual students and the routines and practices of your classroom.

Setting up a universally accessible art classroom

A classroom that is well-planned to meet the needs of a variety of students often ends up being universally accessible to everyone. Spaces that are accessible to students in wheelchairs, for example, also tend to be great for students who like to stand while they work.

Slanted work surfaces can be helpful for these students as well, and higher tables ensure students in wheelchairs have enough room to get close to their workspace. There might be a bucket to provide students access to water, because those in wheelchairs and those who are short may not be able to lean over a sink.

In terms of supplies and media, a well-provisioned adapted art classroom includes buckets or baskets on the table with adapted tools. These include adapted scissors, pencils or paint brushes with grips, smelly markers, triangle-shaped erasers and adapted glue bottles. It���s important to make them accessible to everyone so that the students who need them don���t have to self-identify to use them by asking the teacher or otherwise making it clear that traditional tools and supplies are challenging for them.

I have found that many students find adapted scissors interesting and fun to use whether they need them or not, effectively erasing any stigma associated with using them. When everyone is using these tools, they become cool and no one gets singled out.

Building a community around adapted art

As you plan your physical space, remember that adapted art isn���t just about the tools. Helping students create independently can sometimes be a challenge for support staff or other adults. Communication between the adults in the room is key to ensure that everyone is on the same page about expectations around when to jump in and help students.

At the beginning of a new school year, connect art teachers and special education teachers to discuss students��� strengths and challenges related to art-making. What are students interested in? Do they have a different idea about their strengths and challenges than their teacher?

Art teachers tend to be lone wolves, simply because there is often only one in a school. 91心頭istrators can help them build a network by connecting art teachers from around their district to share what they���re doing to make art more accessible for all their students. To gather ideas from around the country, they can join the issue group, Art in Special Education or the (91心頭RTS), which is part of the Council for Exceptional Children.

Just as our students need a little extra support sometimes, so do art teachers, and building a community around accessible art empowers us to help students explore their creativity on their own terms.

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Carter describes herself as a shy child who, perhaps for that very reason, was often chosen as a narrator for high school plays. At first, she thought the drama teacher was picking on her by forcing her into the limelight. “She said ‘I see something in you you don’t yet see in yourself,'” Carter recalled. “Music, and the arts in general, that is where I found my voice as a kid.”

Finding that voice is a gift that she has long been passionate about passing on to her students in Mississippi’s Meridian Public School District, says Carter, who received the at last month’s AASA, The School Superintendents Association conference.

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She realized early on as a teacher that music and the arts are productive ways to channel younger students’ boundless energy and engage them further in their learning. As an administrator, Carter convinced a previous superintendent to place a music teacher in every elementary school.

As superintendent, she has continued to invest heavily in young, energetic middle school band directors to bolster feeder programs into Meridian’s high schools. A partnership with the ensures that all students have access to instruments.

“The arts, music, represent opportunity, voice, doors that normally would not be open to kids from impoverished backgrounds,” she asserts. “It means so much more than let’s just put an instrument in a kid’s hand or let’s give kids a chance to sing. And what I love is children are starting to see it.”

Meridian’s musical and theater performances are now as well-attended as athletic events. Carter has also expanded professional development to help teachers embed music and the arts in subjects across the curriculum.

“It’s the great equalizer,” she notes. “For kids from impoverished backgrounds, school is a safe place. Even when you look at the challenges students face today, in any part of the country, arts and music can be an escape for a kid.”

Her efforts to embed music and the arts throughout her district’s curriculum are paying off in even bigger ways: improved grades, higher attendance and greater student engagement. Very few students who participate in band get into trouble in school and their attendance and grades are better. And an increasing number of Meridian graduates are earning college arts and music scholarships, she notes.

When Carter became superintendent in 2016, Meridian was designated as a low-performing, failing district. Now, the system is “right on the cusp” of being recognized as high-performing.

“When I started, it was ‘You have to get test scores up, you have to get test scores up,'” she concludes. “Ultimately, it became, if I do what���s right for students, if we create opportunity for them, voice for them, help them see their potential, the test scores will come.”

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“Relationships within the classroom are essential to optimize student success on every level,” Dolente says. “When students feel connected to their teachers, administrators, counselors, and school community as a whole, they thrive and flourish both academically and emotionally.”

The current student success priority in Dolente’s New Jersey district centers on college and career preparation. The district operates an early college high school and seven different CTE academies that have most recently expanded into electrical and HVAC training. “We teach the importance of individuality, diversity, and being comfortable with who you are,” Dolente adds. “For students to realize their full potential, a variety of pathways must be available to them.”

Day-to-day student success

One of the biggest shifts in how K12 leaders approach student success is most evident in the evolving role of school counselors, who once focused mainly on getting the most at-risk students on track and helping graduating seniors get into college. “We haven’t shifted away from risk, we���ve shifted risk to include prevention,” says Mary Walsh, executive director of Boston College’s Center for Thriving Children, which recently released . “We’ve shifted from a focus just on academics to include other aspects of childhood and adolescence.”

A key component of this big change is a commitment among K12 educators to expand opportunities for students, particularly those from socio-economically deprived areas who have been underresourced. Another shift is identifying each individual student’s strengths and needs, rather than lumping kids together based on academics or other factors, Walsh adds.

The guidelines are based, in part, on successful interventions developed by K12 leaders across the U.S. education system. “One of the most important things we learned is that the most effective approaches are built into the day-to-day operations of a school,” says , the Center for Thriving Children’s director of systemic impact who led development of the guidelines. “Educators are reviewing each and every student comprehensively and creating a plan that not only addresses a student’s needs but is about cultivating strengths and opportunities.”

The student success guidelines encourage district leaders to take stock of their current student support programs, build consensus around enhancing those programs and develop a budget to fund the changes. These steps should also include revamping staff roles and responsibilities to fortify a system of integrated student support. Finally, districts should also partner with community organizations to augment student success services and track data to determine which enrichment and intervention programs are most effective, Gish explains.

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“We’re providing a roadmap of all the current practices that can be brought into alignment to drive the right resources to the right child at the right time,” Gish concludes.

Are you overlooking the arts?

The arts���from multimedia to music to theater���should油be a central component of any district’s student success strategy, says Mary Dell���Erba, the assistant director of the .

While students need support in developing their artistic skills, the arts can also be put into service of learning in math, English, science and other core subjects. Countless research has proven that students who are engaged in the arts perform better in academics, civic engagement and workforce outcomes, Dell���Erba points out.

The arts teach young people to process and express their emotions, to express what they���re going through and help them explore their own identities. When students take on a role in a drama or a musical, for example, it gives them an opportunity to step into another person’s perspective. Dance, which is often wordless, can actually help students develop their ability to communicate. These experiences can be the “hook” that keeps students engaged in other content areas, she says.

“For a lot of young people, what they���re doing in their art rooms is why they want to go to school,” Dell���Erba adds. “We should be making sure young people have a space where they feel safe to express themselves to try new things and to learn new skills that will serve them as artists and as people who live in a community.”

91心頭istrators can also guide all of their teachers in integrating arts into subjects such as math, science and history. Music is a perfect match for educators who want to use the principles of rhythm to teach math concepts. Dance can support literacy by helping students communicate certain ideas even before they have the right words. “Arts education is education���it���s not something extra,” she says. “Embedding arts into other subjects advances learning in both areas.”

How about homework?

Here’s another area of student success where there is no “one-size-fits-all” answer when it comes to when or how much homework teachers should assign. There are some guidelines based on a student’s age and some other factors, says , a Duke University professor emeritus who has researched homework extensively.油

“Homework goes wrong when too much is assigned,” Cooper says. “It can also go wrong if parents don���t understand the objective of the assignments.”

Homework for younger children should be short and simple, lead to success, and show that things they enjoy doing at home are connected to what they’re learning at school. Communication is particularly important in the early grades so everyone is on the same page about the purpose of homework, how long it should take and when it should be completed.

As kids get older, particularly in high school, homework should guide them in integrating multiple subjects while also teaching skills like time management that help prepare college-bound students for the independent study demands of higher education. When it comes to workload for students in middle and high school, Cooper does encourage administrators to bring teachers of different subjects together to ensure students aren’t being assigned too much homework.

The type and scope of homework should be based on the stage of a student’s learning. For example, homework in a Spanish 1 class may feature heavy practice and repetition while higher-level science or history classes should require students to use inquiry, creativity and other cross-disciplinary skills to complete their assignments.

“Teachers and administrators should also be aware of the families that their school servicing,” Cooper adds. “There are differences in the demands that students have at home and differences in parental attitudes. It’s important to recognize whom you���re serving and remain in communication about what you���re doing and why.”

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That starts with showing girls the diversity across industry, academia, and entrepreneurship, and the roles, ages, and backgrounds of the people who are advancing technology and STEM, says Imafidon, who delivered Wednesday’s STEM keynote at the 2023 in New Orleans.

“We working with young people under this premise of everything being free, everything being fun and there always being food to get them to see themselves as innovators, to get them to understand the value they bring,” said Imafidon, whose latest book is called油. “We’re also giving safe spaces to explore that they might not get at school or at home or in the messages they get from the media.”

The educators cultivating the innovators of the future should be driven by three guiding principles: creativity, providing those safe spaces to explore, and altruism. Younger students can often be turned off by STEM if the instruction is too rigid in its focus on the right and wrong answers. “It’s about giving folks an opportunity to explore on their own terms,” she explains. “There’s a lot you can create, a lot of problems you can solve, and things like this open up your options rather than closing them down.”

Altruism in STEM means prioritizing solving problems rather than the “faster, bigger, stronger” mindset that dominates the tech industry. “Our young people have grown up seeing problems live and in very high definition so they care a lot about a lot of different problems,” she says. “Creating leaders of the future is about creating folks who solve problems compared to what the current tech industry sees as being of the utmost importance.”

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She also encourages administrators and educators to maintain a growth mindset and commit to knowing more next month than they knew last month, and be willing to step outside their comfort zones consistently. They should also view their districts, schools and classrooms as startups that are constantly experimenting, learning from their mistakes and making improvements.

“The point of an experiment is you don���t know what happens next,” she says. “You have to be willing to have your hypothesis proved wrong.”

Finally, K12 leaders must ensure they are always including people with a range of backgrounds and experiences in decision-making and other key roles. To illustrate this point, Imafidon shared a photo of a display she found at a girls’ school in London that depicted the great scientists of the past. All of the images were of dead white men���with beards. “As we cultivate the leaders of the future, we have to make sure we’re doing so in an environment where they fully understand the leaders of the past.”

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“It had to be happy a vision���nothing dark or morbid,” Piccinini explains. “Because restrooms are where kids will go to hide if they’ve failed a test, or broken up with a boyfriend or girlfriend, or had a fight with their parents.”

Because the murals were created during COVID lockdown in 2020-21, the nine juniors and seniors needed permission from their parents to work alone in the school.

One student painted a “fairy theme” with dark blues, grays and purples. Another chose a psychedelic, 1970’s theme. A third student took their inspiration from punk music. Kids signed their names along with their graduating class.

The artists also got to choose the color for the rest of the bathrooms, which were repainted by building staff. The murals have now been covered with plexiglass for protection, although, Piccininni adds, there has been virtually zero vandalism despite various widespread social media challenges encouraging students around the country to try to steal sinks and do other damage.

“As that different atmosphere was created, kids were more respectful,” the principal says. “We created the idea that these are not just bathroom doors���it���s somebody���s artwork.”

Piccininni got the idea for the bathroom murals while the 3,500-student school, part of the sprawling Clark County School District, was closed for almost the entire year during the 2021-22 COVID lockdown. He was the only person allowed in the 400,000-square-foot building, which, he says, reminded him of the haunted Overlook Hotel in Stephen King’s classic horror story, The Shining.油

“It was a very lifeless place,” he says. “This was something we did to try to create a different atmosphere for kids when they came back in person.”

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Act One previously took Title I students in Phoenix and Tucson on arts-related, in-person field trips. But the organization realized there were plenty of students in the vast rural areas outside those cities who weren’t being reached, says Beth Maloney, the nonprofit’s director of arts education.

The organization’s two sets of 50 traveling VR headsets are Wi-Fi-enabled, so they work in communities where internet access is less reliable. Act One is now working on expanding its content library, and its current experience capitalizes on the popularity of the mural movement in the U.S.

Along with Arizona’s vibrant history of public art, the VR field trip brings students to the Detroit Institute, where major works of Mexican artist Diego Rivera are on display. In another ���chapter��� of the field trip, Phoenix-born muralist Joseph Perez, who now works in Chicago, brings students into his studio and shows off murals in the city. “In between chapters, students are taking off the headsets and having guided discussions,��� Maloney says. “Half the learning experience on any field trip is talking to friends and comparing the things seen and all the processing that goes along with that.���

The organization also has built-in accessibility features, such as Spanish subtitles and the ability to raise and lower the brightness of the images and the field trip can be experienced on a tablet with headphones for students who aren’t comfortable being fully immersed.

���We’ve heard a kid say, ���This art is dope.’ We’ve heard a lot of kids say, ���This experience is lit,’��� Maloney says. ���They feel like it speaks to them, and that’s about as great a thing as we could have possibly built.”

More from 91心頭:油Has virtual reality reached a moment of deeper engagement in K-12 learning?

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On the eve of the recent SpaceX flight, Dr. Sian Proctor, a geoscientist, science communicator, and the pilot of the four-person crew, said her wish was to inspire the next generation of women and girls of color to ���reach for the stars.���

As the fourth Black female astronaut to go to space, Proctor is not only a pioneer in space trave but also in science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics.

Today, women represent nearly half of the workforce in the U.S., but make up only 27% of those employed in science, technology, engineering, and math. Among the women who have made it into this workforce, few are women of color.

This lack of representation makes it difficult for girls���particularly Black, Latinx, Asian, and indigenous girls���to recognize what they’re capable of accomplishing in STEAM fields. Increasing the visibility of female role models is critical to counteracting negative stereotypes about women in STEAM (Kekelis & Joyce, 2014) and this important work must extend to our classrooms libraries.

In the words of professor Rudine Sims Bishop, diverse books have the power to function as ���windows, mirrors, and sliding glass doors.��� Dr. Proctor’s story, for example, is a worthy mirror that many young girls of color will hold aloft to see reflections of themselves, and in the same way, it will be a window for others to look through to further recognize the potential of girls as leaders in space exploration.

Significantly, such stories can also enable families to go through and participate meaningfully in this world���to recognize, encourage, and support the hopes, dreams, and aspirations of these young girls.

Literature carries within it the potential to offer readers a realistic, authentic reflection of their own lives and experiences, which makes it possible for them to see themselves as part of the larger human experience. Reading then, not only becomes a means of self-belief and self-affirmation, it also becomes a reaffirmation of our place in the world for those who may not otherwise have a voice���it’s a means of encouraging agency.

Helping students, particularly those who are marginalized, find their mirrors is a big responsibility that teachers must embrace because it has lasting implications for their lives beyond the classroom. ���When children cannot find themselves in the books they read, or when the images they see are distorted, negative, or laughable, they learn a powerful lesson about how they are devalued in the society of which they are part,��� explains Bishop (Bishop, 1990).

Our classroom libraries should empower all girls from diverse cultural backgrounds. As students read books featuring women and girls in STEAM, teachers should encourage their students to ask these essential questions of themselves:

• Define self: What are your passions, your values, and your goals?
• Develop resilience: How do you stay strong when life puts obstacles in your way?
• Engage with others: How do you work with other people to make a difference?
• Build capacity: What can you do to make the world a better place?

This conversation also shouldn’t be limited to girls. Books can be one of the few places where children of all identities can meet people unlike themselves and can learn to understand and embrace differences.

Educators can use books featuring girls and women as leaders in STEAM as starting points to have crucial conversations in the classroom that will help all students tackle bias and shatter misconceptions and stereotypes.

Children develop their world view and values from the stories that they are surrounded by and all students benefit when they are part of an inclusive classroom community that fosters positive representation. When students see multifaceted representations of girls as leaders, innovators, and critical thinkers, they will deepen their appreciation and encouragement of these capabilities in the girls and women in their families, communities, and society.

Duriya Aziz is senior vice president and publisher for Scholastic International, and is a mentor for Scholastic’s .油

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