Blog

May 19, 2020 Conversations Around Diagnostic Assessments Should Include Educator Expertise

There has been no lack of discussion and debate about how schools can best address the COVID-19 pandemic while still ensuring students are learning and supported. A recent survey of more than 5,500 educators and advocates conducted by The Collaborative for Student Success sought to...

May 13, 2020 Directions of Attachment

During this COVID-19 crisis, it is more important than ever to understand trauma and the impact of trauma on ourselves, our students, and their families. Equally as helpful is understanding the directions of attachment people show when they are coping with trauma. These styles of...

May 8, 2020 Using School Finance Data to Increase Equity

A large amount of money is spent every year to support our schools, teachers and students. With the passage of ESSA, states are now required to collect and report the actual per-pupil expenditure of every school in each district across the state. This information is...

May 7, 2020 AZ Educator Highlights Importance of the Arts Amid Pandemic

“Close every door to me, hide all the world from me, bar all the windows, and shut out the light” (Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat). Despite social and physical distancing, artists all over the world have found ways to create, collaborate, and share their work....

April 27, 2020 Preparing the Supports Students Will Need When Schools Reopen

As we approach spring this year, schools all around our county are closed. These closures are for much longer than the one week traditionally given for spring break. With the novel coronavirus in our midst, things are far from traditional everywhere you look. Some school...

April 24, 2020 Rethinking My Relationship with Assessments

Mention the phrase “high-quality aligned assessments” to any current classroom teacher and you will get either an eye roll or a snicker in objection to the validity, or a master’s thesis of how fabulous they are. Prior to this year, I would have put myself...

April 14, 2020 The Importance of Critical Standards in Remote Learning

As schools throughout the nation have closed their doors, some for the rest of the month and others for the rest of the year, schools and districts have been faced with the task of determining how to provide instructions to instructions remotely. Some states have...