We get stuff done in our work for one reason: We believe – really, truly believe – that every child in this country deserves a great education, and we want to help make that happen. Check this blog for our thoughts on timely topics and issues, and relevant resources that can inform your work right away. Send your comments, suggestions for future blogs and resources to us at info@education-first.com, and let us know what you think.
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Preparing Student Teachers During the Transition to a Virtual Learning Environment
As states and localities take the necessary precautions to keep communities safe and healthy during the COVID-19 pandemic, teacher preparation programs and their partners face a challenge of their own: how they will adapt their programs to continue to support and train teacher candidates. This challenge is especially salient for teacher candidates currently completing their student teaching and no longer...
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Making the Most of “Going Virtual” in Response to COVID-19
Across the US and the world, educators, businesses and communities are making daily shifts in operations in response to the rapid spread of COVID-19. To slow the spread and keep us safe, public health experts recommend that people avoid being in groups of 10 or more. Many organizations are opting to transition to a virtual environment or to host convenings...
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Who we are and why we want to tell stories about teacher preparation
Authors: Sarah Beal (US PREP), Sarah Cohen (NCTR), Anne Douglas-Rowald (IC4EP), Francesca Forzani (TeachingWorks), Erika Abelon and Erin Gehant (NYCDOE), Cassandra Herring (BranchED) and Carlos Villagrana (CTAPP) Teachers matter, and so does their preparation. It’s a tall order to provide quality preparation for the roughly 100,000 teachers hired each year in the US, but we have ample reason for optimism....
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Creating a Movement in Vermont to Support Today’s Students
Advance Vermont leads a statewide partnership of representatives from business, education, government, nonprofits and philanthropy with a unified goal to increase educational attainment in Vermont for the benefit of residents, communities and the economy. As part of its work, Advance Vermont raises awareness and builds support for a policy agenda by collecting and analyzing data on postsecondary outcomes, and facilitating...
Read more >Topic: College and Career Readiness, College Readiness and PersistenceFocus Area: Engaged StudentsService: Networks and Collaboration, Policy Solutions -
Announcing the 2019 NoVo Social and Emotional Learning Innovation Fund Awardees
In partnership with the NoVo Foundation and Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, we are thrilled to announce the 2019 teacher and district awardees of the Social and Emotional Learning Innovation Fund! Since 2016, the Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) Innovation Fund has celebrated educators who practice innovative ways to support and center students’ social, emotional and academic needs, and who strive to...
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Using Design Thinking with Districts to Improve Formative Assessment Practice
Design thinking — which encourages a focus on users and rapid experimentation — can help identify and address a range of problems by focusing on those most affected by the problem. Originally designed for a business context, what might a design thinking process look like in a school district, where local politics, established policies and well-intentioned bureaucracy can stifle even...
Read more >Topic: Assessment -
“We Are the Future”: A Conversation about Student Voice in Policymaking
The Rhode Island Alliance for College and Career Readiness (RIACCR) is pursuing a policy agenda focused on promoting equity of educational opportunity and outcomes for all students in Rhode Island. A key part of the Alliance’s strategy is empowering students to be directly involved in policy design and advocacy. Through the statewide organization Young Voices, more than 10 Rhode Island...
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Grant Opportunity to Support SEL and Equity in Your Community
Education First, in partnership with the NoVo Foundation, is proud to announce the 2019 Regional SEL Convening grants. The goal of the Regional SEL Convenings grants—an outgrowth of the SEL Innovation Fund and national SEL in Action Convenings hosted by the NoVo Foundation—is to help district and school communities create a convening that builds educators’ and other adults’ capacity to meet...
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The Value of a Network: What We’ve Learned from Supporting the New England Alliances for College and Career Readiness
Last summer, two members of the MaineSpark Coalition traveled to Manchester, NH, to learn about something called “community mini-grants.” They’d heard that the New Hampshire Alliance for College and Career Readiness—recognizing the need for community engagement in a state that prizes local control above all else—had just awarded five small grants to organizations directly serving students. MaineSpark’s leaders were trying...
Read more >Topic: College Readiness and PersistenceFocus Area: Engaged Students -
Apply for Grants to Support SEL Innovation
Education First, in partnership with the NoVo Foundation, once again seeks applications for teacher-led and district-level projects that foster social and emotional skills in students in grades PK-12. We will award up to $5,000 to individual teachers or teacher teams and up to $25,000 for district-level grants to implement an innovative project in their classrooms, schools and/or districts in the...
Read more >Topic: Social and Emotional LearningFocus Area: Engaged StudentsService: Grantmaking Strategy and Effectiveness
