Blog

Education First is proud to once again seek applications for teacher-led projects that foster social and emotional learning (SEL) skills in students in grades PK-12 through the NoVo Foundation Social Emotional Learning Innovation Fund. We will award up to $5,000 to individual teachers or groups of teachers to implement an innovative project in their classrooms and schools in the 2018-19 school year. Awardees will also have...
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Teachers are the most important in-school factor affecting student achievement, and state leaders play a critical role in ensuring every student has equitable access to excellent teachers. High-quality teacher evaluations are an important component of comprehensive systems to ensure that all students are being taught by effective teachers. From them, districts and states can generate data that can positively impact...
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Education First envisions a world in which income and race no longer determine the quality of one’s education.  Yet we know that combating persistent and prevalent inequities in our education system requires individual, organizational and systemic change. We are addressing this through our Race, Inclusion, Diversity and Equity (RIDE) agenda. At our last all staff retreat we honed in on...
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As we’ve previously written on this blog, systemic racism is real, ubiquitous and insidious—and that, in our role as advisors to education leaders, we have an obligation to do something about it. A new study from researchers at Stanford, Harvard and the U.S. Census Bureau provides even more evidence for that position. The authors examined racial and ethnic disparities in...
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In 2010, 46 states joined together in two different consortia (PARCC and Smarter Balanced) to create higher-quality, next-generation state summative assessments. Though these new tests have been consistently highly rated, today only 20 states are participating in either consortia. So what has happened to state assessments, where are they headed in the next couple of years and—most importantly for those who see the value of...
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Teachers have a unique view into some of the issues holding their schools back, but rarely have the time or resources to clearly define the problem or explore ways they can use leadership to address these challenges. The Teacher Leadership in Action grant opportunity is designed to provide teams of Massachusetts teachers with the initial funding and coaching support they...
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Go deeper. That’s the impetus behind a new web site, www.selforteachers.org, devoted to showcasing teachers’ instructional practices in social and emotional learning (SEL) that we at Education First are launching with support from NoVo Foundation. For the past few years, we’ve worked with NoVo and partners such as the Collaborating Districts Initiative to study and write about how districts and...
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When students first arrive at the Hogwart’s School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, they are required to participate in their first placement test before they can even sit down to dinner.  As they crowd into the Great Hall, they must each put on the magical Sorting Hat to determine which House they will join during their time at school.  Though this...
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With the support of the Joyce Foundation, Education First has facilitated a Community of Practice with chief talent officers in Indianapolis, Minneapolis and Chicago on their efforts to improve teacher preparation in their districts. In the coming weeks, we will feature blogs from each of the chief talent officers about what they’ve learned. There’s no question that student teaching is...
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In the 2016-2017 school year, my school, Washtenaw Alliance for Virtual Education, was lucky enough to receive funding from the NoVo Foundation for an SEL grant that would allow us to focus on bringing in mental health professionals to better train our educators to use trauma-informed therapeutic approaches in our school. The results of that work have proven to be...
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