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Five Professional Learning Transformations for a Post-COVID World

As schools continue to recover from the tragedy of a global pandemic, they can look to new opportunities emerging amidst the trauma and grief. These opportunities include a return to the primacy of relationships among adults and students, the abandonment of ineffective practices such as inspirational monologues without meaningful interaction, and dramatic improvements in professional learning. To realize the latter, educators need to drive toward five transformations in professional learning. Although we have long known the inadequacies of traditional approaches to PD, the constraints imposed on schools by the pandemic create a sense of urgency that should make us intolerant of such ineffective practices.

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Gender Gap at the Top

Creating the best pipeline for senior leadership means encouraging women to apply

A school board’s most important responsibility is hiring and evaluating the district superintendent, but a major concern is that the percentage of women superintendents is far from being representative. Several education experts offer advice on how boards can build a leadership pipeline for women.

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Too Many Standards? My Four Answers

WELL BEFORE the global pandemic caused a wave of school building closures and consequent learning losses, teachers complained there were too many standards for student learning. The problem was that, however well-intentioned and thoughtfully designed, state standards all su!er from the same faulty assumption: Students need only one year of learning. That assumption always has been questionable, but after students in 2020 lost at least six months of learning (and many would argue they lost more), teachers in 2021 are facing students who may be two years or more behind their current grade level. The idea of teaching and assessing three years of learning in a single year is preposterous. Fortunately, some practical solutions are available.

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