Educators and families have high expectations for themselves and each other and both feel overwhelmed when their students aren’t succeeding. On occasion, differences involving culture, perception and perspective, cause assumptions and misunderstandings that can make communication and partnership efforts complicated. With this understanding, I’ve come to learn a few lessons
Lakewood Elementary is a school on the rise. After more than 12 years as one of the lowest performing schools in Florida, the school’s district – Pinellas County Schools – selected LSI to partner with Lakewood as its external operator. LSI’s mission at Lakewood since 2018 has been to help faculty
The biggest impact of our project was that students created change on a larger scale than they thought was possible. My students wanted to be heard in the world outside of this classroom. After the project they said, “What’s the next big thing that we are going to try to
By Michael D. Toth, coauthor of The Power of Student Teams. Originally published in Education Week. Technology provides many powerful opportunities to support student learning, but sometimes it can be used as a crutch rather than as a tool. Here are a few guidelines that educators can consider to ensure
You are viewing an excerpt from the Learning Sciences International (LSI) monthly FTEM newsletter. a resource that helps to inform current users of the Focused Teacher Evaluation Model on the best practices for effective evaluation. We recommend also reading Planning for Success and Using the Protocols to Plan. Review of
By Michael D. Toth An excerpt from an article published in The Learning Professional. In a traditional teacher-centered classroom, the teacher works harder and harder to move students to greater learning gains, especially students on the short end of achievement gaps and those with complex needs in mainstream classrooms. A
In schools and districts throughout the United States, LSI’s Applied Research Center is transforming core instruction and leadership practices. It’s always exciting to see the results, and to hear about community celebrations like this one in Illinois. Keep up the fantastic work, Bowlesburg Elementary! The transformation began when the school
Most of us, particularly in education, have participated in book studies before. You may be thinking back to an obsession with Nancy Drew or Harry Potter books from your younger days—or poetry and niche subjects in college. If you teach reading, you’ve also overseen book studies (of sorts) in the
When you have an opportunity to spend three days with Dylan Wiliam, Thomas Guskey, Susan Brookhart, and Jay McTighe, you can bet you’ll learn a LOT about assessment practices. If you joined us at the 2019 Formative Assessment National Conference, you know what we mean when we say you’ll also
This week I was a few chapters into the wonderful book Reading Champs, by Rita Wirtz, reading about dipthongs and consonant blends, when the memories came flooding back; not too clearly, mind you, because I’ll be 7 in June. But clear enough. Reading Rita’s book took me back to an
