Student Voice Matters
This national campaign, launched by Youth on Board, encourages schools to give students opportunities to provide feedback on teacher practice and classroom culture in order to improve teaching and build student-teacher relationships. The site includes a dynamic gallery of students sharing why they feel student voice matters in the classroom as well as a video… Read More ›
Why Change Schools: Section One, Module B
This module was designed to promote discussion and build support for student-centered education reform. It explores topics that can help move the participants from an individualistic view of education to a mental model which treats education as a common endeavor. It strives to leave participants with several important takeaways including the common purpose of education,… Read More ›
Maximizing Competency Education and Blended Learning
This brief is based on a two-day conversation with twenty-three incredibly insightful people who work in competency education, personalized learning, and blended learning. There are several parts to the paper, including: an exploration of the relationship between personalized learning, competency education, and blended learning and the concerns about equity that arise in each; issues that district… Read More ›
Transformation
This three minute video discusses reshaping the classroom and system so that learning is personalized, and students have a true voice in their education. We envision an education system where learning transcends the traditional school calendar and setting. We envision a system where students progress based upon mastery of a skill or topic, rather than… Read More ›
Telling Stories Out of School: Reframing the Education Conversation Through a Core Story Approach
This toolkit is designed to help leading voices in the education sector to build support and cultivate demand for an excellent public school system by building public understanding of issues such as assessment, instruction, and systemic supports and reforms. This set of materials is intended to support communicators in explaining many of the central issues… Read More ›
Achieve Hartford! Website
This organization works to reduce the achievement gap in Hartford. They provide data on current reform progress and school performance in Hartford, commission issue-based research on relevant reform topics to inform a variety of stakeholders, and build coalitions of community partners. One of its major community projects is a push to build public support for… Read More ›
The Basics of Differentiated Instruction
This presentation, presented as the 2003 Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development Summer Conference on Differentiated Instruction, Chicago Illinois, gives an overview of differentiated instruction based mainly on the work of C.A. Tomlinson. Highlights include a visual representation and lists of specific instructional strategies to support students of varied readiness, interests, and learning profiles. It… Read More ›
New Teacher Survival Guide: Differentiating Instruction
This 13-minute video features a new chemistry teacher working with an expert in differentiated instruction to modify a lesson. The goal: to meet the needs of the diverse learners in her classroom. The teacher tries several strategies, including tiered word problems and group work, and discusses her successes and challenges. To facilitate sharing and self-reflection,… Read More ›
Leadership Teams Pursue Powerful Instruction
This six minute video features the story of a high-poverty school using leadership teams to transform teaching to become more focused on student-centered learning. It includes footage of teams in action, discussing topics such as methods for formative assessment. To facilitate sharing and self reflection, The Teaching Channel provides free videos highlighting real teachers implementing… Read More ›
Teaching ELA: Evidence & Arguments Series
This video series highlights a student-centered approach to teaching the ELA core standard “Evidence and Arguments.” Three videos follow the lesson planning, teaching, and post-analysis. The lesson includes many ways to experience a text through close reading, group work, group feedback, a Socratic discussion, and writing a persuasive blog post. An experienced teacher discusses the… Read More ›
Parent Leadership Training Institute
This website trains parents in the greater Hartford, CT area to become change agents and advocates for their children. It includes a pdf overview of the topics covered as well as helpful tips on recruiting and interviewing parent participants and lessons learned about organizing groups of parents to become advocates. The institute also has a… Read More ›
Youth On Board
This website, a program of YouthBuild USA, facilitates/co-facilitates a number of groups to develop young leaders and give them a voice in education reform. Of note, the Boston Student Advisory Council (BSAC) involves representatives from each local high school in decision-making at Boston Public Schools, addressing issues such as small school design, school safety, graduation… Read More ›