Leading Educators

"Over-scaffolding often shows up when all students are representing their thinking in a singular way; in other words, students are imitating the teacher instead of demonstrating their own thinking," says Rebecca Eden Allen, an experienced math instructional coach. This year, Rebecca and Leading Educators supported leaders in select District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) to tackle this issue head-on with tailored coaching sessions for math teachers. These sessions focused on shifting instructional moves to better balance support and independence, and they're making a significant difference. In this ⚡ NEW PAPER ⚡, we offer three reflection tools for exploring the effectiveness of your coaching strategy to inform future planning: https://hubs.la/Q02DKLTs0

📐 Teachers play a crucial role in shaping students' mathematical identity and aspirations. Making math relevant to their lives takes intention. Michelle Smith, a math coach in Baltimore City Public Schools, shares how the districts' partnership with Leading Educators to provide job-embedded professional learning on strong math practices is helping teachers be more collaborative and pinpoint what their students may need to learn. “During a planning session with one teacher, we sat side by side and wrote down our definitions of math vocabulary terms in our own words," Michelle says. "This hands-on approach made the concept feel authentic for the teacher, and she had an idea: to have students create a word cloud of different words related to the vocabulary terms we study each week and add them to a word bank. As we discussed further, she expressed uncertainty about how students would put certain terms in their own words. For example, when talking about the term 'origin', she realized it might be challenging for students to describe it in their own words because it’s where everything starts. Providing these instructional strategies and seeing the teachers’ light bulbs go off made me realize that these activities aren’t “extra”; they’re integral to our authentic classroom instruction and are what’s best to meet the needs of our students. Witnessing this process with one of the sixth-grade teachers I’m working with this year was truly exciting." 💡 Read more about how City Schools is working to grow a thriving math system: https://hubs.la/Q02HfmK40

Meet one of our Professional Learning Partner Guide certified providers, Leading Educators. This thoughtful team crafts creative, practical solutions that drive equitable change across all levels of the education system. Learn more: https://lnkd.in/eEmReW9g

Public schools play a crucial role in fostering a sense of belonging among students, yet recent data reveals that nearly 40% of US high school students do not feel connected to their school. Join us next week (July 24, 12:00 - 1:00 PM ET) for a virtual discussion on strategies to enhance student belonging from our latest white paper, A Crisis of Student Belonging. The discussion will include the roles that teachers, curriculum, and school structures can play in fostering a supportive and inclusive environment. Register now at https://bit.ly/3XUqszB . #edpolicy #K12

Leadership doesn't have to be lonely! This month, we highlight how Leading Educators partners are making real progress towards ambitious goals by leveraging the power of shared ownership and intentional collaboration.

School leaders have one of the most important jobs in the world, but too few principals receive robust development on instructional leadership. That's why we created Open Up Opportunity, a tool designed to help leaders reflect, establish shared instructional priorities, and invest others in their goals for the next year and beyond. While it was specifically designed for and alongside principals, it contains dozens of curated resources that can help you take your next step no matter where you are in your instructional leadership journey. Get started: https://hubs.la/Q02GKl8v0

This summer has been flying! Between family and work travel, I am catching up on everything that happened in the past month. I am grateful for the opportunity to have been able to support Charleston County School District's Kaleidoscope Learning Summit hosted by the Acceleration and Transformation Schools this past June. Even though it was at the end of the school year, you would never know because the building had such great energy. Amazing sessions on Strategic Planning, Coaching, DDI, and other topics were all led by amazing CCSD Educators, including Teachers, Coaches, APs, Principals, and District Specialists.  It's always a pleasure to be in the same space as Christopher Emdin, who delivered another amazing keynote. The former middle school math teacher in me appreciated the push around what it means to truly "transform" in our K-12 field, as in a math context, many of the transformations only actually result in a change in location, but none of the other attributes.  I also saw one of my all-time favorite facilitators, Andrea Fitzgerald, lead a session for First Year Teachers. There are so many gems in there that I wish I had when I started my career as an educator. A huge shout out to the Acceleration Schools Team, led by Jacqueline Haynes, and the Transformation Schools Team, led by Quenetta White, for designing and executing this amazing event. It was also great to have CAO Michelle Simmons and Deputy Superintendent Dr. Luke Clamp there to support as they look to spread the work throughout the district. As an added personal bonus, I even saw Audrey KS Lane E3 Management (Educate, Empower, and Elevate), which is always a win. While somehow the summer is already coming to an end, I am excited to build on our work to support the students and families of Charleston, SC. Caley Jones Jayuntay Williams Colleen Carr ~MSW, Ed.S Monica Smalls Tonya McIntyre Mia Pace Ikecia Sigh Reanna Patterson Leading Educators

Researchers assert that a high-quality curriculum can increase teaching quality. Here’s the challenge: Less than half of educators report that their principal encourages them to use the recommended or required curriculum. This may feel like cause for panic. But there are two big reasons for hope: 🌟 High-quality instructional materials have never been more available, affordable, or adaptable. 🌟 At least 13 states have created mandates, supports, and strong incentives for districts to implement quality curricula. Ready to build support that scales? We can help. https://hubs.la/Q02Gqw-Q0

Things are winding down in The Windy City, but it has been such an incredible week in Chicago with members of the Council of the Great City Schools. It's been a pleasure getting to see some of my Leading Educators colleagues, including Adan Garcia, MPP, M. Keli Swearingen, Laura Meili and Mary Kay Murphy Plus, it was a real joy to join our partner Leenet Campbell-Williams of Detroit Public Schools Community District in highlighting some of the transformational work she and her team are leading to "Rise Up" and improve instruction and student outcomes across the district. Even before the pandemic struck, leaders in the district noticed a concerning trend: there was stagnation in elementary reading achievement, and math proficiency was persistently low. These issues signaled a pressing need for improvements in instructional strategy. With partnership from Leading Educators, DPSCD adopted Tier 1 curricula and implemented curriculum-aligned cycles of professional learning for two years, but principals perceived them as disconnected from school priorities. What did they do to address this? You can read about part of their journey to build instructional leadership here: https://lnkd.in/ebtciqhR

Implementing a comprehensive AI policy is complex, but districts can empower teachers now to help students develop AI literacy skills without using AI tools. According to a panel of educators and experts in a recent Education Week webinar, "Lessons in artificial intelligence literacy shouldn’t be confined to just high school computer science classes. They should be spread across all content areas and grade levels." Read more: https://hubs.la/Q02Gh_j00 From the webinar: 💡 Schools can approach AI literacy for younger students by building on existing computational thinking skills, often without using technology. 💡 Students should learn to scrutinize responses and identify "deepfake" videos, photos, and AI-generated misinformation. 💡 Students need critical thinking skills to evaluate AI-generated information across various contexts to determine its accuracy. 💭 How is your district leading the way in AI literacy? Share your approaches in the comments below!