What Teachers Are Talking About This Week
March 10, 2016 | Sign up to receive The Teachers Edition.
 ED Officials Hear from Educators in ESSA Listening Sessions, Negotiating
For the last several weeks, U.S. Department of Education officials have crisscrossed the country, collecting feedback from a range of stakeholders about the new Every Student Succeeds Act. Later this month, a committee of educators -- including the teachers and principals pictured at right, along with state officials, paraprofessionals, and others -- will gather at ED to hash out regulations on parts of the new Every Student Succeeds Act. The committee will advise ED in its effort to promote equity and excellence for all students by providing states and school districts with timely regulations so that they can plan ahead and support students and educators. For the full list of negotiators and their charge, see this Education Week summary.
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 Watch What Happens When Michelle Obama Shows Up to Class Unannounced
First Lady Michelle Obama stopped by two Washington D.C. elementary schools to surprise students as they cooked with some of the produce from their school gardens. Obama, who has pushed for healthy eating and fitness initiatives during her tenure, was greeted by a young boy who jumped from his seat and ran into her arms while others sat staring at her in disbelief (Stein, Washington Post).
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Seven experienced principals reflected on what they wish they knew going into their first day as a principal. Common themes included the importance of relationships and the value of great mentors. Says one Tennessee principal: "Principals operate in a fishbowl. Everybody sees everything you do. That's really hard to deal with in the beginning ... When you trip, everybody sees you fall. But more often than not, you don't trip" (EducationDive.com).
In line with a requirement to assess more than just academic skills, some schools are adopting measures to assess skills like self-control and conscientiousness. Some say those are difficult skills to measure; others say they're important even if the measures are imperfect. Even the NAEP and PISA tests will start to measure students' social-emotional skills. Most of these tests will rely on students' self-reporting (Zernike, NYTimes). Take the grit test for yourself here.
A report from the Center for Community College Student Engagement highlights a disconnect between students' perceptions of college readiness and their actual preparedness. Of some 50,000 students surveyed, 86 percent reported that they were academically prepared to succeed in college, yet 68 percent had to take remedial courses. The report shares ways in which colleges are thinking creatively about remediation and acceleration.
Millions of American teenagers stumble through senior year, barely completing required coursework or unable to make up enough ground to graduate. Many who do enter college are placed in remedial classes, some of which are too daunting or expensive to lead them to move onto credit-bearing classes or ever complete a degree. A new report from the nonprofit Jobs for the Future suggests the creation of a "transition zone" between high school and college to replace the traditional 12th grade experience and to get kids more ready for the future.
Taking a page out of Google's playbook - where employees take advantage of the 20 percent rule and where they work on a project of their own design for about one day per week - some schools are asking students to pursue their own interests in the classroom as well. According to one New Jersey teacher, "In college people start asking you that question: 'What do you want to do with your life? What are you interested in? But oftentimes we fail to ask students that at a younger age." Students' interests vary during adolescence, and they become better problem solvers and show greater curiosity and independence as they grow older, according to teachers (The74Million.org).
 White House Wants Your STEM Ideas
Research shows that early exposure to STEM has positive
impacts across the entire spectrum of learning, but our schools and early childhood programs often
lack resources and capacity to focus on early STEM learning in
developmentally appropriate ways. That’s why the President and this
Administration want to identify best practices and technologies that support our youngest learners with early STEM education. Organizations involved in philanthropy, industry, advocacy and more that are focusing on this work at the local level are invited to submit their commitments to early STEM education and may be invited to participate in upcoming White House events.
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Why I'll Never Disparage Teacher Certification Exams Again
"When I’d mention to people that I was studying for the elementary certification tests, and that the math one in particular was pretty tough, I’d get a certain kind of look," says Peter Sipe as he reflects on hitting the books for the Massachusetts exam. He was humbled. He was motivated. But studying for it was the only way to meet the challenge (edexcellence.net).
What do school leaders do that leads to significantly improved student learning? Find out in this report how Illinois, the only state to be ranked in the top two for school leader development policy, is able to provide the systemic supports that ensure all new school leaders are learning what they need to improve student academic performance in all of their schools.
Cross-sector Collaborations are Gaining Support. Learn more about public-private partnerships in education from a new report, Collective Impact and the New Generation of Cross-Sector Collaborations for Education: A Nationwide Scan. Read more in this EdWeek blog (Hinton).
 5. "We don't do any summative work any more -- nothing's final, we just want to move them forward always" (Teacher, New Hampshire).
4. "A written exam in our world isn't enough. Before, you were studying for a test; now you're building up toward learning a skill" (CTE Teacher, New Hampshire).
3. "We don't pause and think about what we need in K-12 education. I have whiplash as a superintendent" (Superintendent, Connecticut).
2. "Hopefully ESSA will cause us to rethink how we talk to and about teachers" (Teacher, Colorado).
1. "We have to realize that assessment of a five-year-old is only about assessment of their parents" (Teacher, Colorado).
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