Middle-school students in teacher Jen Schneider’s classroom spend at least an hour each week exploring their own projects and questions. In this commentary, she shares how the Genius Hour approach has been a powerful change-maker in the classroom.
Full Story: EdSurge
ACT test data reveal persistent achievement gaps between “underserved learners” and those without “underserved” characteristics. ACT Chief Executive Marten Roorda said that while gaps were expected, “we didn’t know it was this bad.”
Full Story: The Washington Post (tiered subscription model)
Formative assessments are helping some states, such as New Hampshire, Texas and Illinois, cut down on the number of high-stakes tests. Educational consultant and testing expert Susan Brookhart says this approach can be more powerful than traditional standardized testing.
Full Story: District Administration magazine online
Federal programs associated with teacher training and after-school funding would remain intact under a spending bill approved by a bipartisan vote this week that would provide $2.05 billion for Title II. The measure rejects cuts to such programs proposed by the Trump administration.
Full Story: Education Week (tiered subscription model)
Educators should experience project-based learning with their students, but time for such efforts may be lacking, asserts instructional coach Andrew Miller. In this blog post, he writes how project slices can help give teachers the student perspective.
Full Story: Edutopia online
Teresa Donnellan is an editorial assistant at SmartBrief.
____________________________________
This “most read” feature reflects the most read items in ASCD SmartBrief from the previous week. Sign up for ASCD SmartBrief to get news like this in your inbox, or check out all of SmartBrief’s education newsletters, covering career and technical education, educational leadership, math education and more.