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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 …

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4 Dimensions of Emotional Intelligence for Students

Emotional intelligence is different from general or common intelligence. It’s the ability of an individual to monitor their own emotions, to monitor the emotions of others, to understand the differences between them, and to use all of this information in order to guide their actions. This is about accurately understanding the emotions of oneself and others, as well as expressing emotions in a way that’s accessible. A high level of emotional intelligence is an essential aspect of learning. The ability to develop the skill of emotional understanding is a driver not only in the realm of relationships but also in …

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4 Major Types of Educational Leadership

There are four major styles of leadership which apply well in the educational setting. While each of these styles has its good points, there is a wide berth of variation, and in fact, transformational leadership is truly an amalgamation of the best attributes of the other three. Let’s explore how servant leadership, transactional leadership, and emotional leadership compare to transformational leadership. 1.   Servant Leadership Servant Leadership takes the focus from the end goal to the people who are being led. There is no sense of self-interest on the part of the leader, who steps back and supports only the interests …

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5 Studies That Will Blow Your Mind

Just when it seems like most trends are predictable, you find a few that just run against common knowledge and intuition. Read on to discover five study results that might shock you. Too much homework makes students poor. Seriously. This is a finding from Trends in Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). Gerald K. LeTendre, an education professor at Pennsylvania State University, explains how homework can be economically stressful. “If we step back from the heated debates about homework and look at how homework is used around the world, we find the highest homework loads are associated with countries that have …

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4 Ways School Administrators Can Discover Their Unique Leadership Style

Each administrator has his own unique personality traits. So as can be expected, some leadership models will appeal more to some administrators than others. The natural differences in personality among various leaders lead to preferences that run below the leader’s awareness. What often happens due to these personality traits is that a leader develops judgments, and responds to his or her environment by focusing on certain leadership aspects more than others. Variations caused by factors such as age, upbringing, and gender have been shown to affect the way personality is developed and expressed. Practices are also influenced by the interaction …

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High School Dropout Rate: Causes and Costs

On Monday I dug into the current state of high school dropouts and where American students today stand in historic statistics. In my research, I discovered that while dropout percentages are much lower today than they were a few decades ago, there is still a lot of room for improvement. Today I want to look at the underlying causes of the dropout mentality and how every student who does not earn a high school diploma hurts society as a whole. My hope is that in discovering shared traits among dropouts, we can achieve higher high school graduation rates as a …

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Principals: 4 Factors to Consider When Engaging in School Reform

Our society is giving more and more attention to improving student learning. This expectation has resulted in a growing expectation in some states and districts for principals to be effective instructional leaders. Consider these statistics: nearly 7,000 students drop out of U.S. high schools every day and, every year approximately 1.2 million teenagers leave the public school system without a diploma or an adequate education. There are 2,000 high schools in America in which less than 60% of students graduate within four years after entering ninth grade. The situation is not much brighter for students who do earn a high …

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The 7 Qualities of Learning-Centered Leadership

A revolution is taking place in school leadership. New policies call for higher academic standards and accountability. So-called “accountability systems” include more methods to develop and monitor school change. Researchers have joined the fray, adding their opinions about the reinvention of instructional leadership in schools. More focus on student results leads to local changes aligned with the performance goals of the educational system. The general presumption is that these changes will come automatically, since public reporting of school outcomes creates pressure for reform.  The development of direct incentives that yield innovation, efficiency, and solutions to performance problems will also be …

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3 Reasons Why School Districts Should Revitalize Underperforming Schools

As we’re still working with an ever-growing achievement gap, it’s worth considering who should be the key players in reforming our lowest-performing schools. School districts need to take some of the lead in this. Let’s look at why: School districts have the power to emerge from bureaucracy and make a true difference. There are many questions and critical issues facing schools as districts evolve from their bureaucratic roots. These questions include the roles that should be kept at the district level, those that should be eliminated, or those that should be passed on to others. Districts also have to look …

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New Teacher? Here Are 15 Ways to Prepare for an Evaluation

Each school system has a process for measuring and evaluating their teachers. In most districts, all teachers are evaluated by an administrator and provided feedback at least once annually. New teachers, however, typically have more than one evaluation. This section will give you an overview of what to expect before, during, and after an evaluation, as well as how to prepare for each. Prior to an evaluation Before an evaluation, most administrators will schedule a time with you, and some of those administrators will even let you choose the class that you know will be the most likely to shine …

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