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In this re-posting of a Q&A first published as part of the Hunt Institute’s blog, The Intersection, LPI President Dr. Linda Darling-Hammond describes the opportunity ESSA presents to advance educational equity in our nation’s schools and offers examples of how states are capitalizing on ESSA requirements to address longstanding disparities and better support marginalized youth.
Education experts and school leaders from across California convened for a day of thought-provoking panel discussions and workshop sessions that explored how California schools can best serve students who are most at risk in the current climate, including immigrant students, LGBTQ and other groups.
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The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) requires states to include at least one measure of school quality and student success in their accountability and improvement systems. In response, states are including measures related to social emotional learning (SEL), from chronic absenteeism to school climate surveys. This blog explores strategies for understanding and supporting SEL in schools and districts.
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We at the Learning Policy Institute denounce the hatred that motivated recent events, while we mourn for those engaged in peaceful protest who were hurt by the senseless violence and for Heather Heyer, who lost her life. And we remember with respect and deep gratitude the many others over hundreds of years who courageously stood and often gave their lives in the cause of civil rights and social justice.
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When students return to school in the upcoming weeks, many will enter one of the more than 100,000 classrooms across the country staffed by an instructor who is not fully qualified to teach. This is because many districts, facing ongoing teacher shortages, are hiring underqualified candidates to fill vacancies. While shortages tend to draw attention to recruitment issues, a new report, just released by the Learning Policy Institute (LPI), finds that 90% of the nationwide demand for teachers is created when teachers leave the profession. Some are retiring, but about two thirds of teachers leave for other reasons. Addressing early attrition is critical to stemming the country's continuing teacher shortage crisis.
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The National Writing Project’s College, Career, and Community Writers Program demonstrates the power of effective professional development. Through this program, experienced teachers share their knowledge, and the collective program knowledge and resources with new program participants, providing the type of leadership opportunity that research shows can be critical to the growth and satisfaction of veteran educators.
Researchers discussed seven evidence-based key common elements of effective teacher professional development identified in a new review of 35 methodologically rigorous studies of professional development programs to improve students’ academic outcomes. Practitioners shared how their approaches to professional development are aligned with the research and are improving outcomes for students. Panelists also discussed promising, evidence-based investments in school leadership, including those contained in ESSA state plans that take advantage of the optional Title II, Part A leadership set-aside.
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California’s complex early childhood education landscape is difficult for parents, caregivers, and providers to navigate. The system also remains underfunded, with a significant gap between the needs of California families and the availability of care. This blog draws on findings from LPI’s report, Understanding California’s Early Care and Education System, to make the case for a more coordinated and better resourced system for early learning.
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In addition to providing students and families with much-needed services and supports, well-implemented community schools can be a successful strategy for whole-school transformation. That's the finding of a recently released brief, Community Schools: An Evidence-Based Strategy for Equitable School Improvement, published jointly by the Learning Policy Institute and the National Education Policy Center. This LPI Blog post features a Q&A with the study authors, who detail their approach and findings, describe the four interdependent features of community schools, and discuss how well-implemented community schools can be used as a targeted and comprehensive intervention for school improvement under ESSA.
At this July 18 briefing, panelists shared findings from the report Encouraging Social and Emotional Learning in the Context of New Accountability. Speakers discussed opportunities states and districts have under the Every Student Succeeds Act to broaden their definitions of student success to include students’ social and emotional learning (SEL).