How one state is developing its own micro-credentials for teachers
The flexibility of micro-credentials for teacher PD has inspired Delaware Department of Education officials to begin developing their own professional development badges. The state has also been updating its regulations so teachers can apply micro-credential PD badges they’ve earned to re-licensure hours, says Alyssa Moore, a department education associate for digital learning. Along with using Digital Promise’s platform, Delaware has just launched a pilot with 17 micro-credentials in literacy as part of a statewide early learning initiative. Another 12 micro-credentials are being developed. The state is also now training assessors to evaluate teachers who are seeking micro-credentials in mastery of growing early readers.
Building The Pipeline
Excellent educators are made, not born, and it takes a system-wide approach to build the workforce. This issue examines how to build a strong, diverse pipeline from pre-service and induction to expert practice and leadership. It highlights the roles of K-12 systems, higher education, government, and non-profit organizations.
Kamala Harris Deserves a More Important Job
From a New York Times opinion piece: Harris is too smart and energetic to be just the vice president, a position with few official responsibilities. I’d love to see President-elect Joe Biden give her a more important job: his de facto secretary of rural development, in charge of closing the opportunity gap, the connectivity gap, the learning gap, the start-up gap — and the anger and alienation gap — between rural America and the rest of the country.
State Workforce Development Policies
This Policy Snapshot captures state legislative activity in 2020 concerning workforce development. Drawing on 308 bills introduced in 41 states and the District of Columbia, it identifies four trends in legislation: data and information; financial incentives; governance and planning; and education, work experience and credentialing.
The Impact of Florida’s Developmental Education Reform on Introductory College-Level Course Completion
Florida’s Senate Bill 1720 allowed many students to bypass developmental education and enroll directly in introductory college-level courses. We use an interrupted time series design to introductory college-level courses enrollment and passing rates in English and math for three cohorts of college students prereform and three cohorts postreform. Based on a cohort-by-cohort comparative analysis, we find that cohorts after the reform are more likely to enroll and pass introductory college-level courses in their 1st year of college, indicating that the reform may help to accelerate student success in college. Further, we find that Black and Hispanic students experience even greater gains in passing rates than White students, effectively narrowing the racial/ethnic achievement gap.
Every Summer Counts: A Longitudinal Analysis of Outcomes from the National Summer Learning Project
The largest and longest study of its kind on summer learning programs reveals short- and long-term benefits among students who consistently attended voluntary, five- to six-week summer learning programs. The findings suggest that these programs can be an important component of how school districts support learning and skill development among children in low-income communities. The study, conducted by the RAND Corporation, followed nearly 6,000 students in five urban school districts from the end of 3rd grade through the spring of 7th grade, comparing students selected to attend the summer programs prior to 4th and 5th grade to those who applied but were not selected.
An Approach to Using Student and Teacher Data to Understand and Predict Teacher Shortages
This resource describes an approach to identifying patterns of teacher shortages that was developed collaboratively by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and Regional Educational Laboratory Central. The approach uses widely available software and data and can be adopted or adapted by other education agencies that wish to understand and predict teacher shortages.
Principal Preparation Guidebook: The School Leadership Initiative
The George W. Bush Institute’s School Leadership Initiative (SLI) is working with a cohort of four districts to improve how they prepare, recruit, support, and retain principals. This guidebook, which focuses on Principal Preparation, is the fourth in a series. Each guidebook addresses one or more components of the Bush Institute’s Principal Talent Management (PTM) framework. As shown, the framework components include: Principal Preparation, Principal Recruitment and Selection, Principal Supervision, Principal Professional Learning, Principal Performance Evaluation, Principal Compensation and Incentives, and the Working Environment for Principals. No one sequence is right for addressing these components. However, all SLI cohort districts have found it helpful to start with establishing leadership
standards, which define the knowledge and skills expected of principals in that district.
In 2020, the top 3 tools and publications downloaded by educators from Education Resource Strategies
1. Decision Points: Steps school district leaders must take to create strategic “COVID Comeback School Models.”
2. COVID Comeback Models: Possible student groups, schedules, staff roles and more for district and school leaders planning for a safe shift to hybrid models.
3. Key Trade-offs Calculator: A tool (and video guide) to assess the feasibility and tradeoffs of your district’s school models.
