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Getting the Balance Right
Reconsidering the Mix of Teacher Licensure Measures
The SREB Teacher Preparation Commission called on state leaders to adopt practice-based assessments. These tests assess candidates’ readiness to lead a classroom and to apply lessons learned during coursework and clinical experiences.
Practice-based assessments have diagnostic value, meaning they provide performance data that educator preparation programs can use to identify strengths and opportunities for improvement. State agencies could use the assessment data to determine how they will provide technical assistance to preparation programs.
Tips from Women of Color on Succeeding in Academia
Finishing the Ph.D. and Advancing in Higher Education
Women represent a majority of Ph.D. students nationally, but overcoming hurdles relating to both gender and race can make life in academia especially challenging for women scholars.
That was a major theme among scholars and experts at the 2018 annual Institute on Teaching and Learning, hosted by the SREB-State Doctoral Scholars Program and its partner programs.
Teacher Salary Proposals
SREB states, 2019 and 2018
Teacher salaries are in the news, and we’ve been getting some questions about what actions SREB states are taking during this year’s legislative sessions. Here are proposals so far in 2019. Bonus: 2018 actions.
‘I almost wasn’t’: Ph.D. graduates, experts urge self-care
A critical topic that often gets overlooked in the drive to earn a Ph.D.: taking care of yourself.
The issue was on full, courageous display at the 2018 Institute on Teaching and Mentoring, the nation’s largest gathering of underrepresented Ph.D. students and graduates of color. At the banquet celebrating the previous year’s newly minted graduates, many spoke of their emotional and health struggles during their long journey to the doctorate.
Cyberattacks: Helping Schools Fight Back
Nearly 60 percent of U.S. school districts report cyberattacks infrequently — every month or less, according to a recent Consortium for School Networking report. But in November, David Couch, K-12 Chief Information Officer at the Kentucky Department of Education, made a startling announcement. Couch told the SREB Legislative Advisory Council that he’d seen over 4 billion attempted cyber-attacks in one year in his state.
In This Together: How States Foster Safe Learning Environments
As legislatures convene regular sessions, we at SREB have observed an uptick in bills focused on school safety. Some propose dramatic changes in the way school districts hire and train security personnel, develop emergency plans, or address students’ mental and emotional health. Others make technical changes to standing laws in order to lower the barriers districts face in creating safe learning environments.
Reflecting on 25 years
of the Institute on Teaching and Mentoring
As one of only three people who have attended every Institute on Teaching and Mentoring, Dr. Robert (Bob) Belle, the longtime associate director of the SREB-State Doctoral Scholars Program, reflects on the Institute’s growth and importance, marking the 25th year of the conference.
National Cyber Security Awareness Month
Technology security is a
global issue for education, government, military, 
business and private individuals. Each October,
the topic is highlighted to bring attention to the issue.
According to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, National Cybersecurity Awareness Month is celebrating its 15th year since inception. Homeland Security provides information on its website.
Standing on the Shoulders of Giants
An appreciation of Dave Spence
The 10 commissions during his leadership at SREB, his ceaseless efforts to prepare high schoolers for college and college kids for graduation and graduates for careers — it was always about the students. Everything else came second.
Unsung Heroes of America’s Schools
Assistant principals are critical to school success
Assistant principals supervise the hallways and the lunchrooms. They observe teachers and coordinate testing. They serve as the first line of response for discipline referrals, guide wayward students with humor and compassion — and do their best to make their principals look good.
It’s a lot, but most assistant principals truly love their jobs and know that what they do is critical to their school’s success.
How States Can Get Teacher Evaluation Systems Right
Insights from our partners at Education First
High-quality teacher evaluations are an important component of comprehensive systems to ensure that all students are being taught by effective teachers. From evaluations, districts and states can generate data that can positively impact teachers and students in numerous ways. This is why states have invested so much in them – since 2009, 37 states have updated their evaluation systems – and why they are so important to get right.
It’s All About Community
An interview with Ansley Abraham
What’s the best advice to propel a doctoral candidate toward a successful completion of their Ph.D. goal? According to Dr. Ansley Abraham, director of the SREB-State Doctoral Scholars Program, it boils down to connecting with “people who are vested in your success.”
Dr. Abraham has been doling out that advice to doctoral students for over 25 years. In the article below, originally published on the blog – Grad | Logic: Navigating the Ups and Downs of Graduate School, Dr. Abraham shared some of his wisdom in an interview with Dr. Chris Golde.
Small-Town School, A Pacesetter
Georgia Schools Sets Pace Nationally for HSTW
A small-town high school has become one of Georgia’s highest-performing schools, with graduation rates comparable to those in North Atlanta’s wealthiest suburbs.
Unlike schools in many upscale suburbs, Camden County High School in Kingsland, about 35 miles north of Jacksonville, Florida, draws 45 percent of its 2,500 students from low-income families. The school is among many across the country that have used SREB’s High Schools That Work school improvement framework — newly updated, but first introduced more than 30 years ago.
Why It’s Critical for States to Move on Educational Technology
Educational technology, once the wave of the future, is now part and parcel of modern education — it supports innovative teaching methods, personalized learning models, and data systems that lead education policy makers toward better real-time decisions.
A 21st-century education is almost unimaginable without up-to-date technology, and states that address these issues now will send their best-prepared students out into the digital world.
How to Close the Readiness Gap Now for Our High School Seniors
Readiness Courses can keep students who are almost ready for college out of remedial classes
Get students the preparation they need during the high school years — not in college, when they have to pay for it.
Too many students graduate from high
school thinking they’re ready for college, only to find
themselves stuck in remedial classwork once they get
there. This is a tragedy for the students. They believe —
and why not? — that if they’re admitted to college they have what
it takes to succeed there.
Students Revved Up About Learning
A New Advanced Career Curriculum
SREB and its partner states have long advocated students will respond to rigorous assignments that engage them cognitively and challenge them to use high-level academic skills to complete. Assignments that require students to struggle, think critically and try numerous approaches to solve complex projects take learning to a new level.
Not Made for Math? Think Again
How to Turn Every Student Into a Math Person
Adrienne Dumas has heard it from kids for years, like so many teachers and parents: “I just don’t have a math brain.”
A math teacher at Northwest Rankin High School in Flowood, Mississippi, Dumas disagrees, and with good reason — her Algebra 1 and geometry students have a 100 percent passing rate for the past three years on the state test. Dumas and other teachers offer their tips for math success in a recent SREB High Schools That Work newsletter.
New Research Points to Continued Promise of Pre-K
Researchers continue to examine the long-term impacts of pre-K participation, and more sophisticated methods and better data may help solidify the consensus that has already emerged: investing in early childhood education plays an important role in preparing young children for success in the early grades and pays off in the long run.
Math Classroom Strategies Steal the Show
Joy Hofmeister, Oklahoma State Superintendent of Schools, visited Moore High School in December to look at its technology program. And she did, but she also got a pleasant surprise when principal Mike Coyle showed her to an Algebra 2 classroom.
Mathematics department chair Nancy Nix reported that the superintendent was “blown away by the level of student engagement and mathematical discourse.”
STEM Is Not Too Hard for Students — When It’s Done Right
It is no secret that in the modern economy, STEM fields are in constant need of qualified workers. There simply are not enough people with STEM skills to fill vacancies, even though those who hold STEM degrees make 26 percent more than their contemporaries who hold non-STEM degrees. Countless studies have chronicled various reasons why too few students participate in STEM education; however, a new survey from Pew Research Center finds that the number one reason students are not studying STEM might be that they view these fields as too difficult.