Every School Has Bright Spots It Can Build on
When our team of coaches and consultants begin working at a school, we always take an assets-oriented approach, finding what’s working well and can be replicated and built upon, supported by good evidence-based strategies and processes. Together with teachers and school leaders, we identify these bright spots, recognize them for what they are, and learn to leverage them to help launch a schoolwide journey toward improvement, engagement, innovation, and accelerated achievement.
It’s in this spirit that we launch 2021 with new resources to help schools adapt to and overcome adversity, including two white papers and a blog series that all contend online and in-person learning are not opposites. Rather, the skills and relationships you build in one format can carry over, making you even more successful in the other.
Wishing you a 2021 full of the best gifts there are: joyful, successful teaching and learning!
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Bryan Goodwin, CEO, McREL International
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The switch to online learning in 2020 was a shock and a steep learning curve for us all, but many teachers also found a few good things that can endure when we return to classrooms. In this white paper, some of McREL’s school improvement coaches and consultants share how the teachers they work with have seized the digital moment to focus even more deeply on students’ needs and master techniques that will help them succeed in any format or learning environment. Download the free paper.
And in case you missed these recent publications over the holidays, our special report on student engagement, produced in collaboration with student researchers, found that students perceive teachers as caring and effective (or not) for reasons that transcend online or in-person format. And our white paper on classroom walkthroughs looked at the origins, theory, and uses of walkthroughs, and offered adaptations for online and hybrid models.
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Creating the Environment for Learning is an on-demand, self-paced professional learning course for teachers that explores the key ingredients for establishing a classroom environment that supports high levels of engaged student learning. This 3-hour short-form course gives practical, research-based insights and tips for building a positive climate, setting up intentional structures for learning, engaging students with feedback that reinforces effort and nurtures growth, and more. Learn more and sign up as a team or as an individual here.
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The Six-Phase Learning Model: Online Adaptability
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In a blog series based on the book Learning That Sticks, Bryan Goodwin shows that the six-phase brain-based model for learning is just as applicable to remote learning as in-person. The reason? Our students’ brains absorb new information in predictable ways, regardless of where the information comes from. This means that teachers have the opportunity to look beyond computers vs. bricks-and-mortar, and instead craft lessons and activities that tap into what’s happening within students’ brains at any given moment in the learning process. Read the first two posts of the series now.
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Free Webinar With New England ISTE
Get more tips and insights on how to use the six-phase model for learning to design and deliver memorable online instruction. Join New England ISTE and Bryan Goodwin on Tuesday, Feb. 9, at 7 p.m. ET for a webinar on tools and tactics that teachers can use right away, wherever they’re teaching. Learn more and register.
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A selection of research news that ties into our work on leadership, instruction, school improvement, and professional learning here at McREL.
Violence and student mobility. Exposure to violence and geographic mobility can each damage student learning. A study of Baltimore students says these phenomena should not be considered in isolation: As parents seek better conditions for their children by moving them out of schools where violence has occurred, they may inadvertently be harming their chances of keeping up academically. Read the paper, which was co-authored by McREL’s Faith Connolly, in the American Educational Research Journal.
Measuring the impact of effective schools. A working paper from a team studying Chicago high schools supports a point McREL has been making for years: A school’s overall effectiveness (as opposed to a narrow focus on just test scores) can significantly impact all students’ achievement, but especially for those students who enter school less educationally advantaged. Download the paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research.
Autonomy as key to academic engagement. Scholars are keen to learn what leads students to feel engaged with academic work so that teachers can develop strategies based on this insight. A new Taiwanese study identifies a precursor to engagement in eighth graders that could be useful: nurturing students’ autonomy, which helps them contribute more to their own success. Read the paper in The Journal of Educational Research and for more on student engagement, McREL has published several free white papers recently related to this topic.
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Grant Opportunities for Schools, Districts, and State Systems
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Every month we compile this list of current and upcoming grant opportunities that schools might use to fund a variety of improvement efforts. If you need cost-effective assistance with planning and writing an application proposal for any of these grants, contact us at info@mcrel.org. And if your grant project requires an external evaluation, we can be your partner.
Common abbreviations: institutions of higher education (IHEs); local education agencies (LEAs); and state education agencies (SEAs).
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Inclusion across the Nation of Communities of Learners of Underrepresented Discoverers in Engineering and Science (INCLUDES)
The INCLUDES program seeks collaborative efforts to enhance preparation of, increase participation in, and ensure contributions from historically underrepresented and underserved groups in STEM, which will lead to new STEM talent and leadership to secure our nation’s future and long-term economic competitiveness. These grants can range from $1M to $2M per year. Letters of intent were due Oct. 5, and applications are due Jan. 26, 2021. Learn more.
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Personnel Development to Improve Services and Results for Children with Disabilities—Improving Retention of Special Education Teachers and Early Intervention Personnel
This program aims to help SEAs and Part C lead agencies in their efforts to (1) address state-identified needs for personnel preparation in special education, early intervention, related services, and regular education to work with children, including infants and toddlers, and youth with disabilities; and (2) ensure that those personnel have the necessary skills and knowledge, derived from practices determined through scientifically based research, to be successful in serving those children. These grants can range from $700,000 to 750,000 for up to 36 months. Applications are due Feb. 9, 2021. Learn more.
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Project AWARE (Advancing Wellness and Resiliency in Education) SEA Grants
This program aims to build or expand the capacity of SEAs, in partnership with mental health agencies overseeing school-aged youth, and with three LEAs to (1) increase awareness of mental health issues among school-aged youth; (2) provide training for school personnel and other adults who interact with school-aged youth to detect and respond to mental health issues; and (3) connect school-aged youth who may have behavioral health issues, and their families, to needed services. These grants can be for up to $1.8M per year for up to five years. Applications are due Feb. 15, 2021. Learn more.
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Research Networks Focused on Critical Problems of Education Policy and Practice
Through this grant program, the National Center on Education Research (NCER) will focus resources and attention on specific education problems or issues that are a high priority for the nation, and establish both a structure and process for researchers who are working on these issues to share ideas, build new knowledge, and strengthen their research and dissemination capacity. Under this competition, NCER will consider only applications that address one of the following topics: (1) Adult Skills Network, which includes Network Lead and Research Teams; and (2) Digital Learning Platforms Network, which includes Network Lead and Platform Development Teams. These grants can range from $1M to $3.8M for up to five years depending on the chosen topic and role. Applications are due Feb. 25, 2021. Contact us for more information.
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Transformative Research in the Education Sciences
Through this grant program, NCER will support innovative or unconventional research that has the potential to lead to new scientific paradigms, new and more effective approaches to education practice or policy, or transformative technologies that substantially increase learner outcomes. Under this competition, NCER will consider only applications that demonstrate the potential to produce a major impact in an area relevant to the Institute’s mission through innovative or unconventional research. These grants can range from $500,000 to $3M for up to five years. Applications are due Feb. 25, 2021. Contact us for more information.
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As a growing organization, we’re expanding our team of educators, researchers, project managers, and communicators to provide supports and services to more schools, districts, and education agencies. Interested in joining our team? Check out these current openings on the McREL careers page:
- Managing Researcher (Honolulu)
- Research Director (Honolulu)
- Research Associate (Denver)
- Researcher (Denver)
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Learn more about how our coaching, professional learning, and analysis services can help your school or system reach its goals.
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McREL International
P 800.858.6830 | F 303.337.3005
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