Blog

It has been a pleasure meeting with many of you to learn more about your community and work. Last week, I had the pleasure of meeting with Craig and Dana from Learn4Life. Learn4Life gives students control of their learning! Students enjoy personalized learning through one-on-one attention in a safe, secure learning environment. They currently serve over 60,000 students nationally who are primarily in high school. To learn more about this remarkable cooperative member, you can visit...

Two years ago this month, schools closed their doors in 185 countries. According to UNESCO , roughly 9 out of 10 schoolchildren worldwide were out of school. It would soon be the biggest, longest interruption in schooling since formal education became the norm in wealthier countries in the late 19th century. At the time, I spoke with several experts in the field of research known as "education in emergencies." They gave their predictions for the long-term implications of school closures in...

As many of our nation’s young people returned to school campuses to reconnect with teachers, coaches, and classmates this fall we rejoiced in their voices and comradery from the bus stops, classrooms, and playgrounds. These sounds take on a greater meaning as we reflect on the significant learning and relational losses that the COVID-19 pandemic has imposed on students globally. With the recent declaration from the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent...

In 2011, two of us, John Kania and Mark Kramer, published an article in Stanford Social Innovation Review entitled “ Collective Impact .” It quickly became the most downloaded article in the magazine’s history. To date, it has garnered more than one million downloads and 2,400 academic citations. More important, it encouraged many thousands of people around the world to apply the collective impact approach to a broad range of social and environmental problems. Independent evaluations have...

Collective efficacy occurs when teachers in a school believe that, as a team, they have the power to help their students learn more effectively—and this belief is based on their own shared experiences of success. A culture of collective efficacy does not simply happen; it is built intentionally. I have learned this in my work at Lead by Learning , a nonprofit connected with the Mills College School of Education that partners with schools and districts to foster collective efficacy. At the...

Shelley Paul and Jill Gough had heard that doodling while taking notes could help improve memory and concept retention, but as instructional coaches they were reluctant to bring the idea to teachers without trying it out themselves first. To give it a fair shot, Paul tried sketching all her notes from a two-day conference. By the end, her drawings had improved and she was convinced the approach could work for kids, too. “It causes you to listen at a different level,” said Jill Gough,...

Trauma-informed teaching isn’t just about reaching students who have a history of adverse childhood experiences and may have specific learning needs as a result. It’s also about managing the emotional reactions that both students and teachers may have when sensitive topics are introduced into the classroom. AN APPROACH TO TEACHING STUDENTS ABOUT INDIGENOUS PEOPLES When teaching the history of the Americas, excessive empathy for Indigenous peoples often impedes inquiry and learning. This...

Established in 2006 by Dr. Debbie Reese of Nambé Pueblo, American Indians in Children's Literature (AICL) provides critical analysis of Indigenous peoples in children's and young adult books. Dr. Jean Mendoza joined AICL as a co-editor in 2016. Please visit the website by clicking here, https://americanindiansinchild.../best-books.html?m=1 American Indians in Children's Literature is used by Native and non-Native parents, librarians, teachers, editors, professors, and students. It is...

Sharing - information from a community partner: The new infrastructure bill has $19.2 Billion dollars for this free nationwide smartphone program. The program is predicted to last the next 5 to 10 years. Super easy and quick to sign up. Takes less than 3 minutes. Here is a special link to sign up: https://www. safelinkwireless.com/ Enrollment/Safelink/landing? PromotionCode=WASL710 The applicant just needs to input the last 4 digits of their S.S.#. The new infrastructure bill has $19.2...

NEW EPISODE OF THE 180 PODCAST Listen: Jeff Duncan-Andrade: The Purpose of Education Should Be Youth Wellness "When you find the tenacity and the will to show up to school in a society that teaches you to hate yourself for the color of your skin and the texture of your hair, the language that your parents speak, the neighborhood that you come from, and you still show up? How do we not have institutions that see that as the most important ingredient for intellectual development?" — Jeff...

By Todd Gazda, CommonWealth, August 31, 2021 ONE CANNOT HELP but be troubled by the events that have transpired across our country over the past few years. The high-profile instances of racism and racial violence we’ve experienced are merely the most recent of in a string of discrimination and injustice brought about by the deeply imbedded systemic racism, violence, and inequity still prevalent in our society today. These incidents dramatically underscore the fact that a substantial amount...

When children encounter police because they were a witness to violence or a traumatic event, they can sometimes show up to school the next few days feeling upset, setting off a cycle of poor school performance or acting out, whether in school in person or virtually. Unless a teacher knows the student experienced recent trauma, the child could end up in trouble instead of receiving support. The District Attorney's Office, the San Diego County Office of Education, local law enforcement, and...