Posted on

6 Best Practices for Internal Communication in Public Schools

Written by Eric Walters and Karen Gerberry Internal communication may be more important than many think. 42% of communication is  delivered   through   other   people.  Whether  it  is  information   needing  to  be communicated  to  teachers,  students  or  administration  a  student  success  is highly dependent on the frequency and quality of communication. Successful communication between teachers and parents is most common in schools with well-informed, effective educators. Schools, realizing this, have implemented practices to communicate valuable information within their school systems. What are some of these strategies and what benefits do they provide to these school districts? Developing New Policies School systems …

Continue reading “6 Best Practices for Internal Communication in Public Schools”

Posted on

Five Indisputable Reasons Why You Should Be Implementing Value-Added Assessment

Educational assessments traditionally examine a single set of knowledge, at a single point in time. However, modern educators know that knowledge is something that can be gained and lost over time, and must thus be constantly reassessed (and, potentially, re-taught) in order to ensure proper retention. Value-added assessment is designed to ensure that students are learning, by comparing their current knowledge and skills against their previous knowledge and skills. In essence, this type of assessment focuses on student growth, rather than comparisons to other students or accomplishments of specific achievement levels. Value-added assessment provides an objective way of evaluating teachers …

Continue reading “Five Indisputable Reasons Why You Should Be Implementing Value-Added Assessment”

Posted on

Parental involvement in early childhood learning: A stitch in time saves nine

**The Edvocate is pleased to publish guest posts as way to fuel important conversations surrounding P-20 education in America. The opinions contained within guest posts are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official opinion of The Edvocate or Dr. Matthew Lynch.** By Khaula Mazhar In today’s increasingly busy world, parents have less and less time to spend with their young children and often miss out on this extremely important time in a child’s life. Children are developing more and more behavioral problems. They are stressed out at ages when they should be enjoying their childhood. Research has …

Continue reading “Parental involvement in early childhood learning: A stitch in time saves nine”

Posted on

The Real Purpose of Assessments in Education

Assessment is a key part of today’s educational system. Assessment serves as an individual evaluation system, and as a way to compare performance across a spectrum and across populations. However, with so many different kinds of assessments for so many different organizations available (and often required) these days, it can sometimes be hard to keep the real purpose of assessing in view. So, what’s really at the heart of all these assessments? The purpose of assessment is to gather relevant information about student performance or progress, or to determine student interests to make judgments about their learning process. After receiving …

Continue reading “The Real Purpose of Assessments in Education”

Posted on

How to Help Your Child Cope with ADHD

**The Edvocate is pleased to publish guest posts as way to fuel important conversations surrounding a P-20 education in America. The opinions contained within guest posts are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official opinion of The Edvocate or Dr. Matthew Lynch.** By JaVohn Perry A lot of parents wonder what to do once their child is diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder, commonly referred to ADHD. This is a very good question because it’s not enough to just know that your child has the disorder. It’s imperative to know what the next steps should be. Form …

Continue reading “How to Help Your Child Cope with ADHD”

Posted on

Is your child taking a test? When is the right time?

Francesca Gino, Harvard Business School Standardized tests have become the primary tool for determining a student’s academic ability. Legislators and administrators use test data to evaluate the effectiveness of schooling on children and create curriculum. Their use is supported by two fundamental assumptions: that the tests do not have a bias, and that they accurately assess a student’s academic knowledge. A typical standardized test assesses a student’s knowledge base in an academic domain, such as science, mathematics or reading. When taking a standardized test, it is assumed that the substance of the test and its administration will be the same …

Continue reading “Is your child taking a test? When is the right time?”

Posted on

2 Concepts that Illustrate How Fun Math Actually Is

President Obama’s Race to the Top initiative emphasizes STEM learning, particularly in mathematics, in order for more students to make it to high school graduation and the college degree beyond it. At its core, mathematicians’ median annual pay in 2013 was just over $101,000 – and is expected to grow by 23 percent by 2022. Take into account all of the computer science, technology and engineering jobs that are also rising rapidly, and it’s easy to see why students today NEED math proficiency and why it is up to P-12 educators to instill both aptitude and an interest in the …

Continue reading “2 Concepts that Illustrate How Fun Math Actually Is”

Posted on

The Call to Teach: Urban Legends

Each day 8,000 American students drop out of high school. Over the course of a year, that amounts to 3 million total students who give up on the American right to education through 12th grade and decide they will be better off without a high school diploma. Within those numbers are even more telling statistics that show students of color and from low socio-economic brackets are dropping out in much greater numbers than their white middle- and high-class peers. In my new book The Call to Teach: An Introduction to Teaching I explore the “real world” of teaching, particularly how …

Continue reading “The Call to Teach: Urban Legends”

Posted on

The First Year Teaching: Getting to know your students

By Matthew Lynch During the early days of your teaching career, it can be easy to get overwhelmed by the all the tasks associated with your occupation, and to forget the real reason you are in the classroom: your students. Good relationships with students will help you to create and maintain an effective learning environment. If students see that you truly care, they will trust you and want to learn what you are teaching. It is for these reasons that your relationship with your students is crucial for effective classroom management. As every student is different in many ways, from …

Continue reading “The First Year Teaching: Getting to know your students”

Posted on

Multicultural recruiting: What colleges do it best?

By Matthew  Lynch At least on paper, America’s colleges and universities are interested in creating a diverse student population. Though not perfect in practice, U.S. college campuses are increasingly becoming more nuanced in their population makeups in order to more accurately represent the greater population. Part of this is just a reflection of a changing society but some of it has to do with schools effectively recruiting a student body that has plenty of diversity. This includes recruitment efforts to bring in low-income, first-generation college, immigrant and other minority students. While nearly every college or university has a diversity policy …

Continue reading “Multicultural recruiting: What colleges do it best?”