Michael Strong’s Post

UConn Stamford and UConn’s Neag School of Education have received $2.8 million from the U.S. Department of Education to recruit, support, and mentor Hispanic and under-resourced students to pursue a master’s degree in education. The five-year partnership, Sueños Scholars: Supporting Latiné Teacher Dreams, will ultimately increase the number of teachers from historically marginalized communities in Connecticut.

Fordham Institute Report: 1. Charter schools reduce academic inequality by closing student achievement gaps. 2. Charter schools raise the overall quality of public schools. 3. Creating more charter schools will improve the quality of K–12 public schools and reduce inequality in America. “This virtuous cycle helps young people in charter and district schools develop knowledge, relationships, and an identity. These are the building blocks for creating a self-directed life and what the economist Deirdre McCloskey calls “a new liberty of permission” that allows young people to pursue opportunity and human flourishing. These studies should motivate policymakers and local community members to create more high-quality independent public schools of choice that are accountable for results.”

So grateful for the opportunity to present with Gavin Leslie at The Australian Association for Research in Education 2024 Conference at the University of Western Sydney today. Our paper, "The practices of viewing parents as experts in inclusive education: An invitation to change culture" is yet another invitation to schools and educators to meaningfully draw on parental expertise as part of parent-school partnerships. Ultimately a shift in educational culture that perceives parents as equal partners with expertise not only better reflects policy intentions but will also benefit disabled students by enhancing their chance for academic and well-being success alongside their peers.

Inspection needs to be ‘high stakes’..?! I agree that a school carrying out its statutory duty is high stakes. The high stakes we want diminished though, are the risk of impact on school leaders well-being and lives based on the whims of an individual on a specific 2 days, the anxiety in the lead up to inspection and the worry over unfairness in the system.

Definitely check out Education Forward Arizona's Education Progress Meter for information statewide and specific to your area.

I recently met with early childhood directors affiliated with the Ohio Association for the Education of Young Children (OAEYC) to talk about the science of reading and how it applies to preschool-aged children. Did you know that the opposite – early childhood research informing the science of reading – is also true? ICYMI: in the May/June 2023 issue of The Reading League Journal, I wrote about the “Contributions of Early Childhood Research to Reading Science.” These include shifting to an emergent literacy (rather than readiness) perspective, identifying key emergent literacy skills and effective practices to support the development of these skills, highlighting the critically important role of oral language, attending to home and early childhood environments as these support literacy development, and emphasizing the benefits of shared book reading and literacy-related play. This article can be accessed via the Reading League Journal for subscribers: https://lnkd.in/evcXTWw3 Or, you can request a copy directly from us by emailing EL3@osu.edu.

Yale University, in collaboration with the City of New Haven and local partners, this fall launched a $10 million initiative to fully fund graduate studies for more than 100 teachers. The program supports people who commit to teaching in the New Haven Public Schools.

This is exciting news and reflects what I am seeing in my classroom (5 class periods of 30+ students). 🎉🎉🎉 "These gains for California’s most vulnerable students are likely due in large part to the investments made by Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration and efforts to target inequities in life circumstances and educational opportunities. These include programs like the California community schools initiative that provides wraparound whole child supports, the expanded learning opportunities program (ELO-P) that provides academic support and enrichment after school and over the summer, the literacy coaching initiative, and the equity multiplier — all targeted to high-poverty schools. Attracting and keeping better prepared teachers in these schools has also been enabled by the Golden State Teacher Grants for new teachers and incentives for accomplished veterans who are National Board certified.” We must keep up the work of investing in academic & wrap around support services for students who need it most. We must also support teachers - reducing extraneous responsibilities, making sure they have the time to build an engaging curriculum that helps their students continue to make gains academically & with SEL/wellness.🙏

Haeny Yoon, Associate Professor of Early Childhood Education at Teachers College, discusses her research on play-based learning for young learners, adults and everyone in between in this episode of “Studio Dialogues: Research Uncovered.” Learn more from researchers like Yoon in TC Academy at Teachers College, an accessible professional development suite from Teachers College: https://lnkd.in/ev_3RYqc

Since California State University, Long Beach and Cerritos College partnered in 1999 to develop the first formal California Community College-California State University (CSU) educator preparation pathway, thousands of students have transferred seamlessly to CSU teacher preparation programs, completed their bachelor’s degrees and teaching credentials and joined the workforce as educators in California’s P-12 schools. READ MORE: