Webinars

Strong school leadership is critical for shaping productive learning environments, supporting teachers, and influencing student outcomes. This webinar, co-sponsored by AASA, explored district policies and practices that can lead to the presence of strong leaders in schools and shared examples of districts that have successfully implemented such practices.

Effective principals produce better outcomes for their schools. Two comprehensive studies on principal learning, commissioned by The Wallace Foundation, explore the roles universities, states, and districts all play in ensuring that principals get the preparation and ongoing support they need to be successful. Researchers from the Learning Policy Institute and RAND Corporation shared highlights from these studies, followed by a panel discussion on research implications.

Making timely, effective connections between research, policy, and practice can be a difficult task for researchers, policymakers, and educators alike. In this webinar, leaders in education discuss the challenges and opportunities in putting evidence into practice to improve outcomes for children and students—including showcasing different models being developed in California.

California's commitment to expand transitional kindergarten (TK) to all 4-year-olds in the state by 2025-26 will require the addition of up to 11,000 new lead teachers. In this webinar, experts from across the state discuss how teacher residencies can play an important role in expanding a well-prepared TK workforce to help meet this need.

With the return to school in the wake of COVID-19, it is critical that educators and families be able to appropriately and equitably assess young students. At this webinar, we connect and dig deeper into the characteristics of high-quality assessment in the early grades. Presenters share examples of high-quality assessment practices from preschool through the early elementary grades and recommendations to support their implementation.

Experts share examples of effective student-centered approaches being used in schools, focusing on the social, emotional, and mental health of students. They also discuss mentoring to develop social and emotional learning skills and ways that districts can utilize federal COVID-19 relief funds to meet short-term needs, accelerate learning, and develop relationship-centered schools.

Panel members discuss the policies and practices that can ensure high-quality early childhood education and care for all children. They also discuss five main policy levers, focusing particularly on curriculum and pedagogy, and workforce development. The webinar took place in conjunction with the release of a new OECD report on meaningful interactions in early childhood education and care.

Between historic bipartisan investments to stabilize and expand access to child care in 2020 and new proposals from Congress and the Biden Administration, the nation is poised to significantly increase access to quality early childhood education. To do this, we need a vision for a new and better system. In this webinar, experts discussed long-term federal policy solutions to build a comprehensive, equitable, and integrated early learning system.

How can school districts advance equity and opportunity in partnership with students, teachers, and families? In the final webinar of a five-part series, panelists discussed strategies for how to evaluate existing district work on diversity, equity, and inclusion through intentional conversations and strategies. Strategies discussed include allocating resources equitably, providing students access to deeper learning, and supporting social and emotional learning.

How can districts assess students’ experiences and needs and provide targeted supports for accelerating learning? In the fourth of a five-part series, panelists discussed strategies to assess students’ social and emotional well-being, as well as to illuminate student growth and learning through authentic diagnostic and formative assessments. Panelists also explored best practices to avoid separating students into tracks and to foster heterogeneous groups.