Education Elements

FEBRUARY 27, 2024

Did you know that New York State has nearly 800 public school districts? (Source: nysed.gov ). This ranks New York in the top 10 states with the highest number of school districts per state (Source: nces.ed.gov ). Within those districts exist some of the largest and smallest in the country. In a small village between the Shawangunk Ridge and the Catskill Mountains, Ellenville Central School District (CSD) serves 1,475 students in seven different communities.

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Education Elements

JANUARY 2, 2024

When asked what my favorite story is, one of the first titles that pops into my mind is Hamlet. But Hamlet is not my favorite story - not even close. I like it, sure, but the reason it pops into my head is because it was one of my favorite units in high school. The brilliant educator Ms. Nelson thoughtfully designed the unit, and the experience still resides in my mind twenty years later.

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Education Elements

DECEMBER 12, 2023

As a kid, I loved designing and building things! All my dolls had their own custom- made furniture and Lego cars. I recently had the opportunity to design and build a maker space for educators to implement making and tinkering in their libraries and classrooms. Talk about a dream project-it was easy to get caught up in the fun of purchasing new equipment, gathering supplies, and designing experiences.

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Education Elements

NOVEMBER 28, 2023

In a previous blog, “Implementing the Best in Imperfect Conditions” Chelle Minnihan and I skimmed the surface of three essential conditions for effective implementation. Now, we venture deeper into these crucial aspects and how they can help you achieve your district’s goals.

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Education Elements

NOVEMBER 21, 2023

I recently returned to work from parental leave after adding a healthy and happy baby to our now family of four. My parental leave included a multitude of experiences, ranging from the tranquility of morning stroller walks to the inevitable sleepless nights, and from supporting our toddler in adapting to the arrival of the new baby to the constant rhythm of diaper changes.

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Strategy 167

Education Elements

OCTOBER 23, 2023

In their 2nd year as a campus, South Texas ISD Virtual Academy saw very strong academic results - outperforming both their region and the state of Texas on end-of-year testing. However, they lacked insight into their students' perception of their experiences at school. Did students feel cared for, or academically challenged in their classwork? Reflecting on research that shows more positive student perceptions contribute to continued academic growth, principal Maribel Valdez decided to conduct t

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Education Elements

OCTOBER 10, 2023

Burnout rates are high among principals. How can we promote self-care? The past few years have been tough on school leaders. Principals have been putting out fires and coping with unexpected situations. Many principals admit that their careers have become very stressful with work overload, breakdown with communication, and values conflicts. Principals are challenged to handle pressure, student achievement, and working harmoniously with diverse stakeholders.

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Education Elements

SEPTEMBER 12, 2023

Picture this.You are a Principal conducting a classroom observation, witnessing a teacher skillfully utilize data to drive instruction, and form small groups tailored to individual student needs. Suddenly, a crackling voice interrupts through the walkie-talkie, demanding your attention.You are needed in room 203 for a discipline matter, then in the girls' 5th grade bathroom for a busted pipe, and finally, to join an IEP meeting.

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Education Elements

SEPTEMBER 5, 2023

Imagine a school district as a ship navigating the vast and ever-changing ocean of education. Just as sailors rely on the North Star to navigate across uncharted waters, school districts can best stay on course with their own guiding light, an instructional framework.

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Education Elements

AUGUST 29, 2023

The constantly evolving education landscape makes nurturing educators' development a crucial priority. The success of schools and districts depends on designing successful, meaningful, and innovative professional development experiences that ignite teachers' passion for continuous improvement.

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Education Elements

AUGUST 1, 2023

Schools across the country work tirelessly to provide positive educational experiences for their students, staff, and the larger community. Yet, there are times when they fall short of this goal. They may experience high teacher turnover, a poor school climate, and low student achievement, just to name a few challenges. In our work, we see that with the right support systems in place, we can collectively improve school performance and meet the needs of students and educators.

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Education Elements

JULY 25, 2023

I support school teams nationwide through the process of unpacking survey and focus group data from their communities. One consistent trend across school districts is that most adults overestimate their ability to understand and empathize with their students’ experiences at school. Even teachers who regularly work directly with students and have the best intentions tend to misrepresent students’ feelings and beliefs about their academic and social experiences at school.

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Trends Survey Data Groups 205

Education Elements

JUNE 27, 2023

As we reflect on the past school year and prepare for next year, it is helpful to evaluate the Social Emotional Learning (SEL) practices and how they served to shape the culture of learning and development in your schools. According to the CASEL’s (the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning ) framework, “SEL is the process through which all young people and adults acquire and apply the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to develop healthy identities, manage emotions and achieve

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Education Elements

JUNE 20, 2023

One of my family’s favorite pastimes is playing the board game The Settlers of Catan. The winner is the first player to earn ten victory points. There are a variety of ways to earn victory points, which means that winning the game is a matter of both luck and strategy. The last time I played Catan , I started the game “lucky” by rolling the highest number and getting to place my settlements first.

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Education Elements

MAY 30, 2023

The concept of Strategic Planning can be intimidating at first glance. If you haven’t gone through the process yourself, you may be familiar with the concept but have questions like “What does strategic planning mean? What does it entail? Isn’t that normally done by the CEO or the leadership team?

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Education Elements

MAY 22, 2023

Over the past few years, State Education Agencies (SEA) and Local Education Agencies (LEA) have been tasked with creating Covid 19 recovery plans. These plans were a way to recognize interruptions with academic progress and mental health for our students and think through how to best support them. During this time, Education Elements partnered with the South Carolina Department of Education (SCDE) to ensure districts across the state have the essential information and resources to holistically a

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Education Elements

MAY 1, 2023

Teachers have a tremendous impact on the learning and lives of their students and communities, and planning a unique and powerful teacher appreciation week is one way to celebrate their incredible contributions. School and district leaders can use the strategies below as a starting point to plan meaningful ways to recognize all that they do, every day.

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Education Elements

APRIL 4, 2023

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APRIL 4, 2023

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Education Elements

MARCH 28, 2023

The bright morning sun floods in through the yawning glass windows and casts long shadows in the front of the classroom. My colleague and I and about ten-odd teachers sit huddled at the desks near the back; some of them are poring over resources on their screens, others using markers, pens, and paper cutouts on small chart paper. INDEPENDENT PRACTICE, the text underneath one of these cutouts proclaims.

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Education Elements

MARCH 22, 2023

School districts face an increasingly competitive market as districts grapple over teacher talent. In Texas, the state implemented a grant system called the Teacher Incentive Allotment (TIA), where districts create criteria for designating “Master” teachers to reward their top performers.

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Education Elements

MARCH 21, 2023

It’s the time of year when hiring managers and principals are gearing up to recruit and onboard their staff for the upcoming school year. As we prepare for this hiring season, most of us have team members who were promoted, or pre-existing vacancies, and newly retired staff which creates additional open roles to fill. Undoubtedly, there are some big shoes to fill, but where are the people?

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Education Elements

JANUARY 9, 2023

Recently I attended an event called, “Synergy in the Sciences to Support Literacy Instruction” hosted by Lexia Learning. It was a small round table discussion, including higher education leaders, researchers, politicians, policymakers, and district administrators. As the Chief Learning Officer of Scholarus Learning , I was there to provide inputs on how change might be implemented since Scholarus works with thousands of schools providing consulting, surveys, and custom curricula.

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Survey Education Elements Learning Education 198

Education Elements

NOVEMBER 22, 2022

Your organization has just been officially placed on the school improvement or district accountability list. As a leader, this likely comes as no surprise to you. In fact, you may have already taken steps over the last several months to make significant improvements around climate, instruction, curriculum, and leadership. However, for your staff, and likely the rest of the community, this announcement can be jarring and bring a range of emotions - embarrassment, discouragement, and even anger.

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Survey 192

Education Elements

NOVEMBER 21, 2022

The stories, run in newspapers across the country each week, paint a desperate picture: a Pre-K teacher in Texas juggling two classrooms alone; classes across the country led by a recurring series of long-term substitutes with no formal training ; a school district in Pennsylvania forced to shorten school days due to lack of staff; districts in North Carolina reporting hundreds of vacant teaching positions even as the school year begins.

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Education Elements

NOVEMBER 15, 2022

The creation of a shared instructional vision brings many benefits to a school or district. An instructional vision can provide a shared understanding of what instructional excellence looks, feels, and sounds like. It aligns classroom practices to a clear set of principles and expectations. It can also bring instructional unity to any district plagued with uncertainty about instructional practices.

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Education Elements

NOVEMBER 8, 2022

And just like that, summer has ended, and pumpkin spice lattes are back. It’s that time of year: the Winter Holidays are among us! Like other times during the year, this is a great moment to pause and be intentional about centering educational equity in your school and district. Consider these 5 tips as we head into the holiday season.

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Education 249

Education Elements

SEPTEMBER 28, 2022

Feedback has the ability to strengthen your new initiative or culture. But give a lousy survey, and you can set your school or district back in terms of trust, and you may lose the ability to gather important input in the future. Don’t turn a positive opportunity into a negative.

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Survey 181

Education Elements

SEPTEMBER 20, 2022

Graduate profiles are becoming increasingly popular in districts and can function in a multitude of ways. From formulating the basis for an instructional vision to getting started with performance based grading, graduate profiles clearly articulate outcomes for learners and provide critical guidance for staff and leaders. A graduate profile may also be referred to as Portrait of a Graduate, Profile of a Graduate, Journey of a Graduate, or Journey of a Learner.

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Education Elements

AUGUST 15, 2022

School leaders, teachers and parents have had to navigate difficult conversations in the last few years. During the panedemic, they explained to students that the learning will be shifting again to virtual, that collaboration will look and feel different, that although “sharing is caring,” let’s pause on the sharing of supplies for now. The skill it takes to navigate these discussions with students and children is already complex; but add the sensitivity needed to when students are grappling wit

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Education Elements

AUGUST 9, 2022

When working on surveys for a large school district, I heard it all. We don’t trust you with our survey data. What did you do with last year’s survey? This survey takes too long. What am I supposed to do with this survey data? Often when these responses arise, it’s due to poor survey design, poor follow through, and a less-than-authentic approach – all of which can erode trust and lead to unsupported claims.

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Education Elements

AUGUST 1, 2022

You have just spent months engaging your community, identifying your priorities and getting your wording just right. It feels like you are inches from the finish line as you think about rolling out your final plan to the community. This is certainly a huge feat and worth a celebration but you are not quite done yet!

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JULY 3, 2022

Addressing the staffing shortage in public schools may seem like running a marathon barefoot, uphill, and in the sweltering sun. When faced with an ever-expanding school and district improvement checklist, it’s human nature to pick the seemingly more manageable task first. Why not run the morning mile on the padded track instead of the impossible race?

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Education Elements

JULY 2, 2022

To meet the needs of an ever-changing tomorrow , school districts must continue to grow and evolve. At its most desired state, a classroom is a laboratory of innovation and its teacher, a "mad" scientist - working everyday to make connections between students and the content. Unfortunately, the chaotic uncertainty of the last two years have left educators fighting to survive, leaving little time for experimentation.

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Meeting Classroom Personalized Learning Education 182

Education Elements

JUNE 21, 2022

If you lead a district, school, or department, or if you are a teacher yourself, then you may have seen that civil discourse that relies on evidence is increasingly under attack. We might experience this, at times locally in our Board meetings, and nationally in the broader conversation.

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Education Elements

MAY 16, 2022

"Feedback is a gift." Most of us have heard this common phrase as educators, coaches, and professionals. But if feedback is a gift, why does receiving it sometimes trigger uneasiness, anxiety, and stress?

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Education Elements

MAY 9, 2022

We all know that teachers should feel appreciated every day. As a former high school science teacher, I was filled up by the positive notes from students, small gifts, and verbal affirmations received during teacher appreciation week. Recognition is an important way for teachers to feel appreciated; we believe that in our four essential elements of teacher belonging ( Agency, Development, Equity, and Wellness ), appreciation is relevant to all categories, especially Development and Wellness.

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