|
The Trump administration rescission of federal school discipline guidance and proposals to arm teachers is making our schools more like prisons and less like centers of learning. In this Forbes commentary, Linda Darling-Hammond discusses the wide body of research showing that these policies backfire and real school safety will come from investments in social-emotional learning and restorative justice practices.
|
A new Learning Policy Institute report looks at how California’s Instructional Leadership Corps (ILC) is changing the paradigm for teacher learning. Rather than using outside consultants, who often conduct one-time workshops that are less likely to provide meaningful, sustained learning, ILC taps the expertise and experience of local teachers, principals, and superintendents who are trained and supported to provide ongoing professional development to peers in their own districts—and, in many cases, to other schools and districts in their regions.
|
Teachers and district leaders are leveraging performance assessments to provide students with opportunities to explore interests and issues of their own choosing as they show what they know and are able to do. These authentic assessments create structures and processes for students to bring their full selves to the learning, creating culturally relevant and context-rich projects that can also address community concerns.
|
EdPrepLab brings together 15 of the nation’s leading teacher and principal preparation programs to collaborate on further developing and documenting models for preparation that equip educators to advance deeper learning and equity, and that can inform other programs across the nation.
|
California has an opportunity to invest in its children by investing in its educators. To do so effectively, the state should consider a multi-dimensional approach that includes a true infrastructure of support, higher professional standards, and competitive compensation. With these investments and holistic approach, California will be one step closer to setting its youngest learners on a path to good health, academic success, and economic security later in life.
|
Social and emotional skills, habits, and mindsets—such as self-awareness, self-regulation, communication, compassion, and empathy—can set students up for academic and life success. A new case study by the Learning Policy Institute looks at a preservice and inservice programs preparing teachers to integrate social emotional learning into instruction.
|
School finance issues are taking center stage in many states, but the language used to communicate about funding isn't always clear and helpful. For building trust and understanding, it matters how we talk about school finance issues. The latest research on communicating about school finance issues are distilled into helpful do's and don'ts.
|
In some California school districts, students of color are reaching extraordinary levels of academic achievement—defying trends and exceeding the performance of students of similar backgrounds in other districts across the state. A new report by the Learning Policy Institute examined which districts have excelled at supporting the learning of students of color as well as White students, taking into account their socioeconomic status.
Decades of research show that whole child education is essential to students' academic and life success and can reduce the negative effects of poverty on achievement. Speakers at this briefing examined federal policy levers that state and local policymakers can use to invest in research-based whole child approaches to learning, including integrated student supports, community schools, and other approaches that foster academic enrichment.
|
Too many U.S. schools employ harsh, zero-tolerance discipline policies resulting in suspensions and expulsions for minor offenses that can push students out of school and onto a path to prison. A new report by the Learning Policy Institute shares the research on the negative impacts of zero-tolerance and exclusionary discipline policies, provides details on research-based approaches that actually make schools more safe and inclusive, and addresses the potential consequences of the Trump administration’s rescission of federal discipline guidance.
