Education Elements

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Reimagining Education to be Responsive, Representative, and Data-Informed: 3 Phases to Rochester’s Transformation

Education Elements

Picture this: sunrise in Rochester, NH, where the promise of a fantastic day starts with the aroma of fresh coffee and the delightful sight of pastries from the local gem, Potter's House. If you haven’t visited, you're missing out on a slice of Rochester's personality—hard working, welcoming, curious, and determined. During a recent trip, while gearing up for one of our sessions, we made sure to kickstart the day with something sweet.

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Rising Student Absenteeism: We Need to Change the Way We Do Things

Education Elements

Schools across the country are grappling with fewer students in classrooms, causing a ripple effect on learning, funding, and engagement. Research shows that the number of chronically absent students has nearly doubled , from about 15 percent in the 2018-2019 school year to around 30 percent in 2021-2022. Millions of students miss 10% of the school year or more—whether excused or unexcused—and substantial increases in chronic absenteeism were prevalent across every state that captures this data.

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An Investment in Equity Is an Investment in Positive Student Outcomes

Education Elements

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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Racing to Implement the Science of Reading: Setting a Pace for Achieving Success

Education Elements

During speeches in January, several state leaders kicked off the year with strong commitments of money and resources to improve literacy in their schools through the immediate implementation of evidence-based reading instruction, often referred to as the “science of reading.” The governors of New York and Massachusetts offered guidelines, not mandates, for school districts to focus on adopting reading instruction practices and materials that are evidence-based.

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How a $5 lesson can help districts avoid a multi-million freefall when ESSER funding expires

Education Elements

In 2009, Professor Tina Seelig looked over her class of Stanford business students and assigned a simple challenge. Working in groups, the students were given $5 and 2 hours to make the highest possible return on their money. They had a week to plan their strategy with almost unlimited creativity. At the end of the challenge, each group gave a 3 minute presentation to share their process and results with their peers.

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Aligning Your District’s Initiatives: How to Achieve Coherence & Impact

Education Elements

Our schools operate at a rapid pace as they are dynamic environments with a number of moving parts. As leaders, we are continually attending to matters of teaching and learning, making sure our curricula are rigorous and standards-based, checking in on culture and learning outcomes using data to measure results…and much more. Undeniably, there is a long list of priorities.

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Another change!?!?: Three Considerations for Selecting High-Quality Instructional Materials

Education Elements

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.