Deer Valley's Commission on 21st Century Educational Challenges brings teachers, administrators, counselors, parents and students together to reshape Arizona's school system. The Commission recently attended a weeklong summer program to hear from experts including McREL's vice president of policy and planning services, Laura Lefkowits, who leads McREL's Future of Education services.
One of Sioux Falls' elementary schools will soon embark in a pilot program to teach all of the children a foreign language. McREL Lead Consultant Jane Hill says the benefits of starting language instruction early on are debatable. Children at a young age are not well-grounded in English, so they don't benefit from their previous knowledge of English. However, early instruction helps improve native accents and stimulate brain development.
In this article, McREL Lead Consultants Jane Hill and Kathleen Flynn—authors of the best-selling ASCD book, Classroom Instruction that Works with English-Language Learners—explain how teachers can engage English-Language Learners in classroom lessons, expand their understanding of English, and accomodate different stages of language acquisition without minimizing instructional time for native English speakers.
The innovative Tools of the Mind curriculum for preschoolers, co-developed by McREL's Principal Researcher Elena Bodrova, improves key cognitive functions and self-control among at-risk students, according to a new study reported in the November 30 issue of Science magazine.
Principals of Sterling's RE-1 Valley School District received Power Walkthrough software and training from McREL last week. McREL's Power Walkthrough system allows administrators to collect and analyze data about teacher practices in short, three- to five-minute observations.
A recent article in the December issue of District Administration quotes McREL's president and CEO, Dr. Tim Waters, in a debate about the value of administrative unions to protect school administrators. Waters pointed out that McREL's research findings on the positive impact of superintendent tenure, reported in School District Leadership that Works, could also be extended to other administrative roles, such as principals and assistant principals.
McREL's Jacinta Behne helped NASA bring information about the space agency's Genesis mission to rural schools in a two-day lecture tour in Hays, Kansas.
Participants of the Iowa education summit discussed innovative education solutions to improve student achievement, and heard presentations from experts including McREL Senior Consultant Jill Conrad. Visit McREL’s Future of Schooling site to learn more about our efforts to identify and track trends that are likely to shape the future of education.
Clint Waara, community development officer and regional assistant vice president for Wells Fargo in Sioux Falls, S.D., has joined McREL's Board of Directors.
School administrator salaries in Fox Valley, Wis., are earning more money than ever before. McREL's CEO, Tim Waters, reports that these salaries may be necessary to recruit and retain administrators who can handle the job and make a difference in student achievement.
Middletown School District has seen many significant improvements over the past five years, thanks to the efforts of Superintendent Steve Price. The Ohio School Boards Association recently extended Price's contract in light of his success, citing McREL's research on the effects of superintendent leadership.
In a letter to the Rocky Mountain News editor, McREL's Vice President of Communications, Bryan Goodwin, cites research from McREL, which suggests that "improving schools is both a science and an art."
Leading provider of quality interactive online education, Jones Knowledge Group® (JK) has signed a contract to bring online Classroom Instruction that Works courses to K–12 teachers in one of the most remote places in the world: the North Slope Borough district in Barrow, Alaska.
McREL Principal Researcher Bruce Randel was recently quoted by the Sioux Falls Argus Leader in an article about the improvement in NAEP scores for S.D. students.
Anthony (Tony) R. Davis, a former principal and university instructor, has joined Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning (McREL), as a principal consultant on the leadership team.
Former principal and education consultant Dana Frazee has joined Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning (McREL) as a principal consultant on the Field Services team.
Jackie Kearns-Barber, an educator with more than 30 years experience in administration and leadership, has joined Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning as a principal consultant on the leadership team.
Commissioner Dwight Jones today announced the launch of Forward Thinking, a new plan in which McREL and the Colorado Department of Education will work to increase the graduation rate and close the achievement gap in all Colorado schools.
Teachers in Rockingham County School District, N.C., are looking forward to the new school year. Teachers are benefiting from participation in McREL's Success in Sight program, which provides them with research-based, proven school improvement strategies. Administrators and teachers are confident that the district will see significant improvements over the course of the school year.
Seattle's new superintendent of public schools, Maria Goodloe-Johnson, is ready to rebuild the community's confidence in Seattle's school system. Goodloe-Johnson has big plans for school administrators, teachers, and students, based in part on McREL's research on effective school leadership summarized in School District Leadership that Works.
Students in Aurora Public Schools returned to school five days earlier this year. The district hopes the additional instructional time will give students more time to prepare for state tests next spring. McREL’s Bryan Goodwin notes that research supports adding time to the school calendar, as long as the additional days are used wisely. "It all depends on what you do with that extra time," he said.
This week's PEN Weekly Newsblast features an article from the spring edition of Changing Schools, McREL's free publication for school administrators, policy makers, and teachers.
Teachers from Rocky Mount Public Schools are benefiting from McREL's on-site professional development. Last week, 25 teachers attended a Mathematics Leadership Institute, where they learned how to improve their mathematics instruction and create learning-centered classrooms. In July, 25 science teachers will have the opportunity to attend McREL's Designing Effective Science Lessons—a similar training experience for science teachers.
Natrona County School District, located in Casper, Wyo., has developed four scenarios for the future, which will help it address the future needs of its students. The district contracted with McREL to develop the scenarios, which were acted out by a local theatrical troupe. “This is a different sort of planning methodology than what school districts are used to using,” said Laura Lefkowits, McREL’s VP of Policy and Planning. Click here to watch the video.
The Orlando Sentinel interviewed McREL Principal Researcher and large-scale assessment expert Bruce Randel for an article on problems with Florida’s statewide assessment. Randel described trends in the testing industry that may have led to errors on the FCAT test.
McREL and the University of Southern Mississippi are partnering on a $1.2 million project funded by the Mississippi State Department of Education to prepare experienced educators to go out into school districts and provide leadership training for building-level administrators.
A new 113-page report created by a special task force in Kettle Moraine recommends the district abandon a top-down leadership approach, increase community outreach and change how it communicates, with the aim that the changes would help it remain flexible as technology and global competitiveness alter expectations for how students are prepared. The report is the culmination of a year-long scenario-planning project that the task force conducted with consultation from McREL.
After two years of work, the Kettle Moraine School District's Transformation Task Force has released recommendations for what it will take to lead the district into an uncertain future. To prepare for this future, the district has worked with McREL to develop possible future scenarios that will help them understand what steps they can take to ensure the district remains successful regardless of what the future may bring.
Instead of reading a report, a group of local actors will act out four scenarios for the Natrona County school board that the district could face in the future. These scenarios, intended to guide discussions about the future rather than predict it, were developed with the help of McREL's Future of Education program.
Six teachers will present the technology skills they acquired from participants of last year's McREL Technology Solutions (MTS) program. MTS is designed to train select staff members on the use of technology in the classroom. Those staff members then pass that training on to other teachers, building capacity for self-sustaining technology integration throughout the school or district.
Minnesota, Iowa, North and South Dakota and Nebraska joined together in a first-of-its kind regional forum on American Indian student achievement, sponsored by the North Central Comprehensive Center. Education officials are working together to teach American Indians their native languages and cultures in school to help increase their interest in completing their education.
Students at Yampa Valley High School, an alternative school in Steamboat Springs, Colo., consistently check McREL's online compendium of standards and benchmarks when working on projects. "We hit national standards and benchmarks for high school students instead of (standards) just for Colorado, but we are definitely hitting Colorado's standards," teacher Karla Setter told the Steamboat Pilot & Today.
McREL and Jones Knowledge®, Inc. have teamed up to create a series of professional development courses for teachers based on McREL's Classroom Instruction that Works: Research-based Strategies for Increasing Student Achievement.
The Kettle Moraine School District's Transformational Task Force is working with McREL to explore four possible scenarios the district may face in the future. These scenarios allow district planners to prepare for a variety of possible changes the district may experience during the next decade.
Cynthia Bjork, a multilingual former staff developer, literacy and bilingual education specialist, and college instructor, has joined McREL as a principal consultant.
Dr. Joanne Ihrig, a former principal, superintendent, and college instructor, has joined McREL as principal consultant, working primarily with Balanced Leadership.
Assessment and data expert JT Lawrence has joined McREL as a lead consultant working in school improvement with the Field Services group, specifically with the North Central and Great Lakes West Comprehensive Centers.
Dr. Sammye Wheeler-Clouse, former assistant superintendent for learning services at Adams 12 Five Star School District in Thornton, Colorado, has joined McREL as a principal consultant.
The North Carolina GlaxoSmithKline Foundation is launching a new Ribbon of Hope mini-grants program. Over the next three years, the Foundation will award mini-grants of $25,000 to North Carolina community-based nonprofit organizations to support local programs in health, science, and education. McREL is collaborating with the Foundation to collect and manage mini-grant applications and evaluate the program.
McREL researchers Andrea Beesley and Lynn Waldorf will present at the upcoming 2007 Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association (AERA) April 9–13 in Chicago. Ill.
McREL's report on Grand Island Independent High School has revealed that there are misconceptions of the school between central office administrators, faculty, students, and the general public which "have led to myths about GISH, the myths have led to rumors, and the rumors have become facts in the minds of the public."
McREL Board of Directors member Judy Catchpole is one of 13 educators who received the 2007 John Vaughn Excellence in Education Award from the North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement.
Sikeston R–6 school district in southeast Missouri received the Commissioner of Education's Award of Excellence for Professional Development. One of the significant factors leading to this award was Sikeston's involvement in McREL's "Close the Gap" consortium, now in its third and final year.
McREL principal researcher Elena Bodrova has provided extensive early childhood training to teachers in Wisconsin since 2004. This press release from the University of Wisconsin-Platteville announces the expansion of this program for the next three years.
The Rockingham County Board of Education will implement sweeping changes in all 25 schools next year based on what they've learned from McREL's Success in Sight school improvement program.
McREL researchers recently visited with several focus groups at Grand Island Senior High (GISH) in Grand Island, Neb., to look at school culture, educational leadership, student learning experiences, organizational structure and the school improvement process.
This article about increasing diversity in northwest Louisiana schools cites McREL's quarterly newsletter, Changing Schools, in noting that the No Child Left Behind law requires states to develop English-language-proficiency standards and implement English-language-proficiency tests.
