CEO’s Message: It’s Always Time To Support Educators
The world has been focused on how to support students and families through the recent shutdowns, reopenings, and re-shutdowns, and rightly so. But at the same time, we should recognize the emotional (and, often, physical) toll on teachers, support staff, school leaders, and other educators who are working hard every day to deliver great education for all students in this new paradigm.
Our Hawaii-based colleagues have published some self-care guidance for teachers that has found a wide audience in the Pacific region and beyond, and as you’ll read below, the head of our Learning Services team says that in a world full of things we can’t control, we at least can learn how to respond to change effectively. Now more than ever, the best time to support our coworkers and ourselves is, well, now.
Bryan
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Bryan Goodwin, CEO, McREL International
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New Paper Explores a Better Way To Create Online Learning
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Combining and building on ideas from change management, improvement science, and inside-out systems development, this new paper by Kris Rouleau from McREL’s Learning Services team offers seven guiding principles for district leaders who are looking for a better systemwide approach to online learning.
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Three Characteristics of High-Quality Questions in the Classroom
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Also from Dr. Rouleau: Questioning is the second-most-used teaching technique (after teacher talk) but not all questions are created equal. In this video, you’ll learn how to ask your students higher quality questions in the classroom that will prompt them to think more deeply about the concepts and content they’re learning.
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Districts Try New Approaches to Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion
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School districts nationwide are trying to do better at equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI). McREL staff recently contributed to a webinar series on the subject sponsored by Discovery Education and covered by District Administrator magazine, where they discuss key steps being taken by districts, including hiring EDI directors, reviewing policies, prioritizing student voice, recruiting more teachers of color, and ensuring curriculum and professional learning are more culturally responsive.
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Curious Conversations Build Better Classroom Relationships
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When someone politely expresses curiosity about us, we’re more likely to open up. And when a teacher expresses curiosity about their students—asking about their interests, their families, their out-of-school activities—the resulting air of mutual supportiveness can actually boost student achievement. That’s why McREL CEO Bryan Goodwin is an advocate of developing resources and strategies that help stimulate curiosity in teachers, students, and the rest of us. In this new blog post, Bryan looks at research on the surprising benefits that a simple conversation can bring, and how this understanding can turn entire schools into more curious and joyful places.
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A Formula for Better Learning: Quiz More, Grade Less, and Give Your Students Second Chances
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Learning is seldom a one-time event. If you’ve ever crammed for a big exam at the end of a semester, you may have had a sneaking suspicion that even if all that effort got you the grade you needed, the knowledge you gained would go in one metaphorical ear and out the other. It wouldn’t stick with you over the long term. If information can be retrieved and then forgotten that readily, does it even really count as knowledge?
We know from research and brain science that learning is an iterative process—which can point us to some different ways to think about assignments, tests, and grading to support deeper learning. In the September 2020 issue of Educational Leadership, Bryan Goodwin and Kris Rouleau explain how using frequent, ungraded quizzes can be more helpful than infrequent, make-or-break tests, because they help students identify knowledge gaps and exploit the brain’s urge to fill them in.
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In case you missed earlier announcements, here are a few of our newest professional learning resources for teachers and school leaders.
Books
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On Demand, Self-Paced PD Courses
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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.
To Aid Learning, Take a Break. EdSurge interviewed John Sweller, the learning scientist best known for his cognitive load theory, on how to get around the limitations of the brain’s working memory. His advice fits neatly with Bryan Goodwin’s observations and McREL’s Six-Phase Model for Learning: that teachers can design more-effective lessons if they know what the brain can (and can’t) do with new knowledge at various points along the learning process. Read the interview. “Error Monitoring” Can Boost Curiosity and Learning. Yes, we can learn from our errors—but a new University of Southern California study suggests the conditions need to be right. Researchers took brain-activity measurements on children at Montessori and traditional schools working on math problems. Both groups wound up with the same number of right answers, but the Montessori kids lingered over the ones they found difficult, whereas the traditional-school kids skipped them in favor of problems they found easier. Study co-lead Mary Helen Immordino-Yang said she’s concerned traditional teaching methods squelch curiosity, limiting students’ ability to learn. Read the study (free access from USC). How Do Schools Influence Student Success? It’s commonly acknowledged that teachers have a huge influence on student achievement, but what about entire schools? The American Educational Research Journal considers whether researchers can measure the effects of schools (in this case, middle schools) on academic outcomes. They found that while teacher effects are easier to measure, school effects are also present, and future research perhaps ought to blend the two. For policymakers, this could have the benefit of identifying more and less effective school models. Read the article (subscription required).
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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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Discovery Research PreK-12 (DRK-12)
Eligible applicants: SEAs, LEAs, IHEs, and other educational organizations.
This program supports enhanced learning and teaching of STEM by preK–12 students and teachers through three research and development strands (assessment, learning, and teaching) focused on STEM education innovations and approaches, particularly those addressing immediate challenges in preK–12 education. These grants can range from $450,000 to $5M. Applications are due Oct. 7. Learn more.
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Education and Human Resources (EHR) Core Research
Eligible applicants: SEAs, LEAs, IHEs, and other educational organizations.
This program supports proposals for fundamental research that advances knowledge in one of the following tracks: (1) Research on STEM learning and learning environments, (2) research on broadening participation in STEM fields, and (3) research on STEM workforce development. These grants can range from $500,000 for three years to $2.5M for five years. Applications are due Oct. 7. Learn more.
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Strengthening Community Colleges (SCC) Training Grants
Eligible applicants: IHEs (community colleges).
The SCC program seeks to increase the capacity and responsiveness of community colleges to address employers’ skill development needs; offer accelerated career pathways to dislocated and unemployed workers, incumbent workers, and new workforce entrants that will enable them to gain skills and transition from unemployment to (re)employment quickly; and address the new challenges associated with COVID-19 that necessitate social distancing and expanding online and technology-enabled learning. These grants can range from $2M for a single institution to $5M for a consortium for four years. Applications are due Oct. 8. Learn more.
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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 are due Oct. 5 and applications are due Jan. 26, 2021. Learn more.
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Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL)
The AISL program seeks to advance new approaches to and evidence-based understanding of the design and development of STEM learning opportunities in informal environments; provide multiple pathways for broadening access to and engagement in STEM learning experiences; advance innovative research on and assessment of STEM learning in informal environments; and engage students of all ages in learning STEM in informal environments. The AISL program supports six types of projects: (1) Pilots and Feasibility Studies; (2) Research in Service to Practice; (3) Innovations in Development; (4) Broad Implementation; (5)Literature Reviews, Syntheses, or Meta-Analyses; and (6) Conferences. These grants can range from $250,000 to $3M for a up to five years depending on the project type. Applications are due Jan. 12, 2021. Learn more.
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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:
- Communications Specialist (Denver or Honolulu)
- Managing Researcher (Honolulu)
- Project Management Professional (Denver or Honolulu)
- Research Director (Honolulu)
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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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Copyright © 2020, McREL International. All rights reserved.
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The last school year ended with school buildings closed across the region and around the country. The new one has begun with widely varying approaches in different schools and communities as well as enormous uncertainty about how long some school buildings will remain closed and how long others can remain open as the COVID-19 pandemic continues. With infection rates fluctuating and scientific knowledge evolving rapidly, REL staff spent much of the summer trying to provide evidence-based support to educators and policymakers. As you’ll see in the items below, we’ve identified promising practices for remote learning, offered a tool to help educators learn what works in their own schools, addressed the implications of trauma from the pandemic, and produced the nation’s first quantitative comparison of the likely relative effectiveness of different reopening approaches for mitigating the spread of COVID-19. We hope this work is helpful to you in planning for what is sure to be a very unusual and challenging 2020–2021 school year.
When schools are forced to shutter their doors, educators need effective remote learning strategies. Check out these newly released infographics and fact sheets to understand promising practices in remote learning—and identify what is or isn’t working in your own schools.
Tips for Supporting Elementary Writing Skills at Home
We are proud to announce that Kevin Dehmer, 
We’ve also worked with our colleagues at the nine other RELs across the country to gather resources on recruiting and retaining teachers: check out the teacher recruitment resources 
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12 Unique Blogs Are Written By Professors
