Least Restrictive Environment | Project Success A Learner Selecting Vocabulary for a Sentence Frame Shirley Wilson demonstrates how to use a sentence frame for students with physical or severe disabilities in a video that is two minutes long. The learner helps select the vocabulary strips which have the word and an icon on each. A Learner Spells His Name Using a Smart Board (Example 1) Shirley Wilson demonstrates a technique for teaching children to spell their name using the Smart Board. A Learner Spells His Name Using the Smart Board (Example 2) Shirley Wilson demonstrates a technique for teaching children to spell their name using the Smart Board. Administrator Co-Teaching Resources Featured resource Watch the videos to hear from district level administrators who talk about the benefits of the co-teaching training. Advanced Phonics This video shows phonics lessons that can be enhanced through multi-sensory learning activities. Coaches' Connect 3-31-2014 Featured resource Coaching Approaches & Perspectives Collaborative Problem Solving
mylanguage360 Teacher Excellence Narrows the Achievement Gap By embracing research-backed instructional design, consistent PD, and strong, caring relationships, all boats are rising and teachers have gone from surviving to thriving at this once-failing middle school. Once among the worst-performing middle schools in the state, Cochrane has been making great strides by narrowing its achievement gap and doubling student performance in the past three years. Credit: Zachary Fink The bell rings and most of the ninth-grade students in Ms. Once the song is over, the students settle into their seats, and Ms. Lessons from a Public School Turnaround Running Time: 05:15 min. This is one of the dynamic ways that students learn -- and retain -- lessons at Cochrane Collegiate Academy, a once failing middle school in Charlotte, North Carolina, that's now on the rise. The brisk, energetic start to class is an example of an activating strategy, one of several research-based methodologies used in every class by every teacher at Cochrane. Challenges of Poverty
WHAT WORKS IN EDUCATION The George Lucas Educational Foundation Skip to main content Sign InRegister Facebook Edutopia on Facebook Twitter Edutopia on Twitter Google+ Edutopia on Google+ Pinterest Edutopia on Pinterest WHAT WORKS IN EDUCATION The George Lucas Educational Foundation Edutopia's Schools That Work series highlights practices and case studies from K-12 schools and districts that are improving the way students learn. Share712 Share Blended Learning: Making it Work in Your Classroom At P. About Schools That Work Dive into case studies of successful schools, programs, and learning strategies with helpful how-to videos, downloads, and in-depth articles. Advertisement Features Travel Journals: Student-Created Textbooks What Makes Project-Based Learning a Success? Learning Expeditions: Rethinking Field Trips Nine Strategies for Reaching All Learners in English Language Arts Resources and Downloads for Differentiated Instruction 10 Takeaway Tips for a College-Bound School Culture Integrate the Arts, Deepen the Learning Preparing Students for Career Success prev next P.K.
How Principals Can Grow Teacher Excellence At Cochrane Collegiate Academy, teachers credit their principal with helping them continually improve their practice through effective PD, ongoing support, and mutual trust. Cochrane principal Josh Bishop (right) makes sure his teachers receive strong support and consistent PD -- up to 90 hours every year. Credit: Zachary Fink At Cochrane Collegiate Academy, in Charlotte, North Carolina, high-quality teachers have been an important part of turning the school around, and many of them credit their principal, Josh Bishop, for helping them reach their full potential. Here are some of the ways that Bishop brings out their best. 1. By providing the following kinds of PD, you can make sure your staff gets the most out of these sessions: Research-based: Let research guide your strategies. 2. Following the flipped-classroom model, Bishop has "flipped" his faculty meetings. Providing adequate time for professional development can help improve student performance as well. 3. 4. 5. 6.
How to Engage Underperforming Students Narrowing the Achievement Gap By focusing tightly on instructional strategies and PD, educators at Cochrane Collegiate Academy saved their school from closure. In just three years, they have doubled student performance, and they continue to reach higher. The educators have developed an instructional model called Interactive Learning (IL). Shana Oliver, the school's academic facilitator, runs the training sessions for these best practices, and she helps the teachers see and experience how they can incorporate all ten into one lesson. Interactive Learning Non-Negotiables Essential Question What is the intended goal of the lesson? With essential questions, teachers really have to be intentional about what they want the students to be able to do, and it has to be at the highest-level of learning. Activating Strategy An activating strategy is something that gets students actively thinking or making a connection with the material being presented that day. Relevant Vocabulary Limited Lecture Rigorous
Twice as Many Students Meet State Standards Classroom strategies backed by research and ongoing teacher development are helping to narrow the achievement gap at this Title I school. See the infographic below for more details. Sources: North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education. Infographic: Maili Holiman Key Accomplishments From the 2007-08 school year to 2010-11, the percentage of students in grades 6-8 at Cochrane Collegiate Academy meeting North Carolina's math standards increased by 74 percent, and the percent meeting reading standards increased by 64 percent. The Power of Professional Development According to the principal and teachers at Cochrane Collegiate Academy, a major reason for the growth in student performance is a signature strategy for classroom instruction and professional development called Interactive Learning. Goals to Work Toward Why Cochrane's Professional Development Works For further information: