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Is Your Glass Half Empty or Full? Lessons From Kelsey Tainsh on Shifting Perspectives to Improve Schools
Kelsey Tainsh knows what it means to overcome adversity. At 15, a brain tumor caused her to become paralyzed. She didn’t let that stop her, though.
In her featured session at the 2023 Making Schools Work Conference, she talked about how a change in perspective can change everything, and what that means for your classroom.
Combining Education With Job Skills: Tips From the 2023 Making Schools Work Opening Address
In his opening address at the 2023 Making Schools Work Conference, Adam Welcome talks about how the changing economy means we need some changes to the way we teach.
Job experience and skills are more important than ever, and what those job skills will be are changing too. In this post, we give you insights into his opening address.
“WIG” Out With Daniel Rock: Tips on Using Data Effectively
In the first two posts of this
4-part series on the 2023 Coaching for Change Conference, we’ve
talked about general
coaching tips and
ways to make your teachers feel appreciated. This week, we
are moving onto something a little bit more complex: data.
Thank You for Being So Great: Tips from Shelly Gibson’s Session on Encouragement
If you ever want to feel special, just go to a presentation by Shelly Gibson. That’s the case, at least, when she is talking about how to make teachers feel appreciated.
What We Learned at the 2023 Coaching for Change Conference
Sometimes seeing an abandoned
hallway is scary…like if you are stuck in the middle of a horror
movie, for example.
Other times, it is a bad sign…like if you are throwing a big house party, it’s two hours after it was supposed to begin, and still nobody has showed up!
Still, though, at other times, it’s a sign of a success…like at the 2023 Coaching for Change Conference, where you could walk down any hallway during a session and not see anyone (because everyone was so involved in the great lessons being presented.)
Giving Feedback: The art of speaking up to collaborate and empower
An occasional series from the Doctoral Scholars Program on postsecondary topics
When I first started my Ph.D. program, I was taken aback that none of the talks offered to graduate students focused on how to give feedback to others. Plenty of workshops discussed how to receive feedback, but coming from an industry where feedback was encouraged and expected, I felt we were missing a part of a very important equation.
Pursuing the Ph.D. – How to Get Your Research Published
An occasional series from the Doctoral Scholars Program on postsecondary topics
Publishing a journal article is a significant milestone for a Ph.D. student’s academic journey. It showcases your contributions to your respective field and acts as a validation of your research skills and expertise. The process of publishing can often seem overwhelming and time-consuming, but with the right approach, it can be a relatively smooth experience.
Boosting College Success in the South
SREB Student Success Advisory Council Releases Report
Increasing college success outcomes is a collective goal of our country. Gains in college completion in the South will contribute significantly to moving the needle in the right direction for college completion.
Putting Yourself Before Your Work
An occasional series from the Doctoral Scholars Program on postsecondary topics
After working in research in one capacity or another for the past six years, the most common topic I hear about when speaking with fellow students is stress. We just can’t help but mention the stress of working on a time crunch, the stress of submitting grants, the stress of funding; stress is always an underlying theme to our careers and one that appears to have no end. However, not all is doom and gloom. There are many ways in which we can try to balance our work-related stress, and below are two which can get overlooked.
Structuring Your Dissertation Committee
An occasional series from the Doctoral Scholars Program on postsecondary topics
In graduate school we are bombarded with decisions. We decide whether to be quantitative, qualitative or mixed-methods researchers, what classes to take, and what topic to expand on for our dissertation. One of the most important decisions we make, though, is deciding which faculty members will sit on our dissertation committee.
No Longer Alone
Instructional Coaches Find Their Peers at SREB Conference
Being an instructional coach can be a lonely journey.
Just ask LaTonya Bolden, a former high school math and science teacher who now works with teachers and schools across the country as a school improvement coach for SREB.
Becoming a teacher-coach wasn’t always easy for Bolden, who suddenly had to work with teachers in academic subjects outside her own and with teachers in early- and middle-grades schools. She also found herself mainly working with adults all day.
“I miss the kids, I miss that daily interaction that I had with the students, because a lot of times that’s what kept me going,” Bolden said. “Interacting with adults is a little different.”
Bolden and other educators now working as instructional coaches — who focus on helping K-12 teachers hone and improve their classroom instruction — gathered in May for the first SREB conference designed just for them.
Momentum grows for open educational resources
After first-ever conference, leaders can tap additional workshops on using OER to support students
SREB continues to build momentum from the first conference of its kind — the Open Educational Resources and Dual Enrollment Conference: Making a Case for Student Success, held in Atlanta in late February — by embarking on more ways to bring education leaders together around this topic.
School and District Strategies for Addressing Student Mental Health Crises
As we approach two full years of pandemic-related school closures and disruptions, more schools are reporting crisis-level threats to students’ mental health and social and emotional well-being.
Emotions are running high as students are thrown back into social situations after a year or more of isolation. Anxiety and depression are on the rise. More students are dying by suicide, and waitlists of those seeking school-based therapy are long.
Meeting Workforce Demand Won’t Happen With Teacher and Faculty Shortages
States aren’t connecting all the dots between education and workforce development, and it's hurting our economy.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know we’re experiencing record worker shortages in certain careers.
SREB has analyzed data on the economy, labor markets and education, and asked: In what ways is our economy tied to the success of our schools and colleges? How can we improve our economic future through education?
Teacher shortages, workforce issues demand bolder solutions from states
By Stephen Pruitt, SREB President
Across the SREB states, many leaders are realizing the need for action on one of the biggest challenges in education: ensuring every student has a well-prepared teacher in every class, every year, no matter where they live.
I know personally how teachers can impact students’ lives. I started my career as a science teacher in Fayette County, Georgia, and I’m still humbled when former students tell me how I helped them become who they are as adults and find satisfying careers to pursue.
To See Teacher Compensation, Look at More Than Salaries
Teacher Pay Is Increasing. So Is the Cost of Benefits
This spring, the National Education Association released its annual teacher pay analysis a bit earlier than usual. This data is widely used across the nation as the main source for average teacher salaries by state. The headline for 2021: Teacher salaries are going up by an average of 1.5% across the nation, and average spending per pupil is up 5%.
This is fantastic news ─ no bones about it.
It’s also not the whole story.
WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT TEACHER SHORTAGES — AND HOW STATES, DISTRICTS CAN RESPOND
What do we know about teacher shortages in each state and across the country? How severe are they? What has caused the shortages — and how can leaders help solve them?
SREB joined leaders from EducationCounsel, FutureEd at Georgetown University, and state and local school systems for an online event Nov. 8 to answer these important questions. (See the video of the event at the end of this story.)
HOW OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES CAN HELP MORE STUDENTS TAKE DUAL ENROLLMENT
Expensive textbooks and other classroom materials can keep students from taking dual enrollment courses if those costs aren’t covered.
The result: A lack of opportunity for many students to get a head start on college.
States, colleges and universities are making headway on this challenge. Some of the pacesetters shared their insights in a webinar led by SREB and the Midwestern Higher Education Compact in October 2021.
Why Open Educational Resources matter in the future of education
A Q&A with SREB’s Charlotte Dailey
Charlotte Dailey joined SREB in 2021 to lead our work on open educational resources. We spoke with Charlotte about why OER matter and why she works in this field.
For those who don’t know, what are open educational resources and why do they matter to the future of education?
Open educational resources are materials that can be accessed freely. They are openly licensed and available to be reused, remixed, revised, retained or redistributed. Materials that are truly OER have few to no restrictions for use in learning.
How States Can Elevate the Teaching Profession
Restoring respect and value
Good schools depend on excellent teachers, in every classroom. SREB is helping states examine and redesign state policies to elevate the profession and end teacher shortages.
I want my daughter to have the best teachers every school year. What parent doesn’t? Yet in too many schools, the only teachers available are uncertified or brand new, with no experience.