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March 2019
FEATURED NEWS
Upcoming Webinars
Education Elements hosts a range of webinars around various topics, such as school leadership development, personalized learning implementation, strategic planning, and more. Keep up to date with all the Education Elements webinars and be sure to join us to get your learning going!
Thursday, March 7, 2019 1:00 pm ET
Thursday, March 28, 2019 11:30 am ET
ON OUR MINDS
Authentic Collaboration Models at Warren Township
This year, the Metropolitan School District of Warren Township adopted a new foundational ELA curriculum and used a variety of teacher collaboration models to support its successful implementation. Warren is an urban public school district outside of Indianapolis serving a diverse community of approximately 12,500 students. The district adopted the new curriculum as part of their continuous effort to personalizing learning for students and ensure there is excellent, on-grade-level instruction in every classroom. Each school developed teacher collaboration models to support professional learning that would ensure the curriculum was implemented in a meaningful and relevant way.
Every school identified a collaboration model and customized it to fit the needs and culture of their staff. As a result, best practices were universally adopted that felt authentic and could live meaningfully in each school. The district gave all staff using the new ELA curriculum a survey in August, which they distributed again in December. They saw a 9.2% overall percentage increase in the use of the curriculum by teachers, with a 17.4% increase specifically in middle schools, who began the year as the grade-band with the lowest usage. The hard work of teachers, school administrators, and district leaders has built a strong foundation which is allowing them to focus more on instructional practices and student outcomes.
Embracing Responsive Organizational Practices in Charleston County School District
We have been working in partnership with Charleston County School District’s 17 PL Innovation Schools as they have implemented personalized learning and built more responsive and innovative school cultures. Wando High School has shared their experiences hitting a plateau in their PL implementation, because “the staff was aware of the vision for the work but unclear on the indicators of the implementation and how the school was measuring success.”
The 21st Century Learning Team at Wando used Rule #3 from The NEW School Rules: 6 Vital Practices for Thriving and Responsive Schools to refine the responsibilities of their 21st Century Learning Team, so they were able to efficiently tackle the communications and strategic challenges that had been holding them back as a school. Wando’s embrace of responsive organizational practices has been mirrored by other district leadership teams, as they have revamped their meeting structures and communication practices to create a more nimble and efficient approach to leadership.
DESIGN SPOTLIGHT
PL Champs at Loudoun County
We have been working with Loudoun County, Virginia, which is one of the fastest-growing public school districts in the United States. Education Elements is in our fourth year of personalized learning implementation with the district, and we are now working with 55 schools across the district. While having the ability to operate across 55 schools is incredible, it also presents opportunities to consider capacity and ongoing support.
We have established a group of district leaders called ‘PL Champs’ who are working alongside us to sustain and grow our work in Loudoun. The PL Champ role was created to build fluency of PL at the district level and to increase the level of tailored support we are able to provide to schools. We are so proud to be able to work alongside a district of this size who are constantly thinking of ways to encourage innovation, and creating opportunities for support for all learners. Follow their journey on Twitter at #LoudounPL.
RESOURCES
Innovative Leadership Development for School Districts
The complete guide to developing more innovative educational leaders.
How Personalized Learning Aligns with Social-Emotional Learning
A brief that illustrates how to use the Core Four to align PL and SEL in a way that is tangible for teachers and leaders.
FEATURED BLOGS
5 Myths to Bust About Blended Learning, What It Is, and the Benefits It Has for Students
By Jenny White and Chelsea Waite - Guest Authors Over the past several years, more and more schools across the U.S. have been implementing blended-learning strategies for their students. What is blended learning? It is a formal education program that must have three components.
Takeaways for School Districts from the Latest Happenings at Harvard
By Dana Britt - Guest Author Last August, my Education Elements “familEE” of consultants and district partners supported me on a new journey to the Technology, Innovation, and Education masters program at Harvard University. Through my experience so far, I’d like to share the following lessons and takeaways for K-12 districts.
Mar 16-18 ASCD Empower, Chicago, Illinois Anthony Kim, CEO and Founder and Keara Mascarenaz, Managing Partner of Education Elements, presenting: How to Break Old Habits to Create a Better Future, Sat Mar 16 1:45-2:45 pm. Reach out to Jill@edelements.com if you'd like to meet up.
Mar 17-18 PA Association for School Administrators, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Anthony Kim, CEO and Founder Education Elements will Keynote March 17, 6:00-7:00 pm.
Check out more events we're hosting and where we're presenting on our Events page.
A career at Education Elements is unlike any other. It’s not just what we do, it’s who we are and how we do it that makes this place so unique. We come to work every day because we love what we do. You can love your job too.
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