Dr. Jeffrey R. Williams, director of access and urban outreach in the Office of Enrollment Management at the University of Missouri-Columbia, has joined the Board of Directors of McREL.
San Diego Unified School District has contracted McREL to help establish a new method of evaluating principals and other administrators. Many of the administrators are not regularly reviewed, making it difficult for the district to identify and capitalize on successful leadership, or identify opportunities for improvement. The new system will be based, in part, on McREL's Balanced Leadership Profile.
After attending McREL's Rural Principal Forum, Deputy Superintendent and High School Principal Nicholas Schafer will be bringing new information and ideas back to his district to help design the curriculum and develop a strategic plan for his district.
The Dearborn Public School District (DPS) Board of Education is following McREL's recommendation to ask for stakeholders such as teachers, central office staff, principals, parents, and union members to assist the Board in setting goals for the next five years.
McREL and the Gesell Institute for Human Development have begun a year-long effort to update the widely used Gesell Developmental Observation (GDO), a tool used by schools to assess the development of children entering kindergarten or preschool.
McDonald's Restaurants recently hosted a Passport to Play Day at Silverlake Elementary School in Middletown, Del. Passport to Play is designed to teach children mental and physical health following the criteria outlined in the National Association for Sport and Physical Education's National Standards for Physical Education. The health, physical education, life skills, art, geography and language arts curricula included in Passport to Play have been aligned with the McREL Compendium of Education Standards.
McREL has been chosen by Collier County School District, in Immokalee, Fla., as a partner in a three-year project to create a national model of enhanced effectiveness and collaboration for two separate afterschool programs—a community learning center and a supplemental educational service.
McREL has been chosen by Summit School District, in Frisco, Colo., as its professional development provider in a three-year state initiative to close the district's achievement gap.
Fifteen researchers and evaluators from McREL will share their expertise on a wide range of topics in 12 different sessions at the 2008 AEA Conference, scheduled for Nov. 5–8 at the Downtown Hyatt and Convention Center in Denver.
McREL will present three highly interactive sessions designed to help educators maximize their use of technology at the T+L conference in Seattle, held at the Washington State Convention Center from Oct. 28–30.
Tools of the Mind, an early-childhood curriculum co-developed by McREL Senior Researcher Elena Bodrova has been getting attention in the research world of late. But researchers aren’t coming to the same conclusions about the effectiveness of the program, which aims to help youngsters control their impulses, recall and use what they’ve learned, and adjust when circumstances change—skills known as executive function.
McREL Principal Consultant Dr. Sammye Wheeler-Clouse is helping Waverly-Shell Rock schools in Waverly, Iowa, plan for their future. Overcrowding, frequent flood damage, and limited land for expansion have created a serious problem for the schools in the district. Wheeler-Clouse is helping bring educators and the public together to discuss options for the district's school.
Managing change is critical for Loudon County Public School District in Virginia. This successful district is one of the fastest-growing school districts in the United States. Despite their success, the district felt they could do better, and contracted McREL to help them lead change efforts in their school to create "A Climate for Success."
A 2007 study of Tools of the Mind—an early-childhood curriculum co-developed by McREL Principal Researcher Elena Bodrova to improve executive function in young children—found that students taught with Tools of the Mind outperformed their peers, and that the benefits can last for years.
Vision Magazine quotes McREL's early childhood expert, Elena Bodrova, in an article about the importance of play in developing executive function in young children. Bodrova points out that children are having a harder time self-regulating, a critical component of higher executive functions, than they did 60 years ago.
A recent article discussing the importance of using the right research to make decisions affecting education policies quotes McREL's A Policymaker’s Primer on Education Research: How To Understand, Evaluate & Use It, which points out that "Without access to information from research about education practices, policymakers are more likely to make decisions that are ineffective or even harmful."
A recent article discussing ways to maximize a school or district's return on investment for technology purchases lists McREL as one of the most common and most reliable sources for cutting-edge research.
On August 8, McREL will host an interactive live Web cast featuring a presentation by scientist Lucy McFadden, co-investigator of NASA’s Dawn Mission and a member of the National Science Foundation (NSF) team who went to Antarctica in 2007 to search for meteorites.
Melvin J. Sussman, an educator with more than 35 years experience as a teacher and administrator, has joined McREL as a principal consultant on the leadership team.
The School Administrators of South Dakota and the South Dakota Department of Education are bringing McREL's Balanced Leadership Academy to Brandon Valley School District superintendents.
A new report released by REL Central at McREL found only 11 percent of students eligible for supplemental educational services in the seven-state region served by the laboratory are actually receiving them.
For several years, the Knappa School District in Oregon has been integrating technology into classrooms and training teachers to use it effectively with help from McREL. Now, the district is ready to embark on an ambitious plan to provide computers to every student.
ASU professor James Christie, co-author of McGraw-Hill’s "Doors to Discovery" play-based literacy curriculum, is working with McREL researcher Kim Atwill to evaluate the long-term impacts of the curriculum on student achievement.
Sioux Falls is placing more emphasis than ever before on teaching students "21st Century Skills." The article quotes McREL Senior Director Howard Pitler, who points out that the new skills, such as the ability to collaborate and think on their feet, are aligned with the job market's expectations of new employees.
Students in a pilot program in Upper Dauphin Area (Pa.) High School are using materials produced by McREL to learn about nanotechnology, a relatively new area of science that is already benefiting everyday life.
This 20-page booklet offers research-based principles to guide effective vocabulary instruction and strategies for translating the research into classroom practice.
Today's children focus so intently on the toys they own, they often fail to develop executive functions such as memory, cognitive flexibility, and self-regulation. McREL Principal Researcher Elena Bodrova suggests activities that can help stimulate the development of executive functions in young children.
McREL consultants Sarah LaBounty, John Ristvey, and Anne Tweed will present at the upcoming 2008 National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) National Conference March 27–30 in Boston, Mas.
McREL researchers Helen Apthorp, Kim Atwill, Sha Balizet, Andrea Beesley, Elena Bodrova, Tedra Clark, Jenna VanBerschot, and Bruce Randel will present at the upcoming 2008 American Educational Research Association (AERA) Annual Meeting March 24–28 in New York, N.Y.
In collaboration with Edinboro University of Pennsylvania, McREL will begin work on a three-year study, Visualizing Science with Adapted Curriculum Enhancements (ACE), through a $1.5 million Mathematics and Science Special Education Goal 2 Research Grant, offered by the U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences.
McREL will be presenting four sessions at the upcoming ASCD annual conference March 15–17 in New Orleans, La. Visit us in the exhibit hall (Booths 263 and 265) for free McREL publications, to ask questions of McREL presenters, or to speak with us about working at McREL.
As the Tonawanda City School District struggles with high turnover, parents and school leaders are working to stabilize leadership positions in the district, citing McREL's research on the positive impact of superintendent tenure on student achievement.
McREL Lead Consultant Elizabeth Hubbell presented the results of a recent technology audit to the North Platte Board of Education in February. One of the key findings from the audit was that many teachers were willing to integrate technology into their classrooms, but were struggling to update their learning environments to align with their teaching practices.
A recent report from the Donnell-Kay Foundation found that the achievement gap between rich and poor students in Colorado has more to do with the expectations placed on different groups of students than on their financial status. This report cites findings from McREL's study, High-Needs Schools - What Does it take to beat the odds?.
Over the past few decades, the way children play has changed dramatically. Throughout most of history, play helped children develop their "executive functions" to help them learn and grow. Now, however, play focuses on activities that don't stimulate this mental development. McREL Principal Researcher Elena Bodrova points out that today's children have much more difficulty with self-regulation (one of many executive functions) than children did 60 years ago.
TV Junkie: Faces of Addiction, part of an HBO documentary series on addiction, has been released as an educationally-enhanced DVD with educational content contributed by McREL. The DVD has been well-received by both educational institutions and police forces in educating Americans on the effects of addiction.
The Georgia Virtual Academy is an online, self-paced school for more than 2,500 Georgia students in grades K–8. McREL president and CEO, Dr. Tim Waters, comments that this type of model may become more prevalent in schools of the future.
As the school board for Topeka's Unified School District 501 finalizes contract negotiations with their next superintendent, they are looking for a long-term commitment. The school board is hoping Kevin Singer will remain in the district for a long time, citing McREL's research linking superintendent tenure to improved student achievement.
McREL Principal Researcher Elena Bodrova and Vice President of Research & Evaluation Jean Williams responded to a December 8 column, which suggested that all-day kindergarten and high-quality preschool programs would likely be costly and ineffective. Bodrova and Williams acknowledge research which suggests the benefits of quality early-education may diminish over time, but point out that, when combined with high-quality primary education, the benefits last well into middle-age.
