This last week I received a tee shirt from a friend. Across the front were the words ALLEGEDLY RETIRED. That’s very true for me. When I left my position as superintendent of a county school system, I lasted all of 20 minutes. Then it was time to get on with what I had come to believe was one of the most important things we can do — engaging families.

I realize that’s not what most of us signed up for. We all thought we were going to teach high school math, middle school science, or kindergarten. We like the age of the kids or the subject(s) or both and this is what we’d planned to do. Our university instruction gave us a couple of hours in one class on families so clearly it wasn’t a high priority. At least that’s what I thought.

The new school year is always a good time to make a fresh start in so many ways. Here, at SEEN, we thought one of the most basic ways to make a fresh start and an impact at the beginning of the school year was to focus on something we, as people, rarely do well: talking.

When starting a new school year, every administrator thinks about how to bring about positive change. We hear a lot about making data-driven decisions, and yes, I’ll bet every school district waits for those all-important standardized test scores to arrive and begin to analyze what is going well and what needs to change. Schools, in general, seem to align themselves in terms of excellent, high performing schools, low performing schools and all the rest that fall somewhere in the middle. 

As educators we are, by the nature of our work, faced with many opportunities to have difficult conversations. These occur with students, with parents, and sometimes even with each other.  Our job is, at its core, to help people grow and learn. To do this we have to be able to address and talk about things that might be uncomfortable. In this article, we are going to explore the idea of having difficult conversations: It’s my hope that by the end of this you have some new tools to do so.

For individuals with disabilities, the success of intervention depends on many variables. Providing evidence-based effective treatment, ongoing staff training and feedback, and identifying appropriate goals, for example, all influence the extent to which meaningful progress might occur. 

On February 14, 2018, the shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland Florida became the spark that once again ignited a national conversation about violence in schools. 

As a parent, I am grateful that my daughters not only received a great education but had no major safety issues throughout their years in school.  However, as a security technology professional, I recognize that our school campuses are woefully in need of a major security facelift.  While school incidents have been on the rise, funding has typically not been allocated to school security investments over the past few years.  

In what has become a standard three-year code cycle at a national level, the International Code Council (ICC) and its supporting committees revise and update the International Codes and standards to evolve with industry trends in design, manufacturing and safety practices.  Every three to six years, the time comes for all 50 states to review the new code changes provided by the ICC.

The start of the school season brings the start of the fall and winter sports. Many of us equate fall sports, especially, with one word: football. While this is a natural and correct assumption, there are other fall and winters sports that people are just as excited about like: soccer, volleyball, wrestling and, of course, basketball. You can find fans split between all sports in upcoming months – cheering and lamenting on the sidelines for their teams and players. While fans are enjoying the games, they may notice some changes in the way high school games are played this season:

Since 1946, the USDA Child Nutrition Programs has maintained a mission of providing healthy school meals to children all across America in grades K12. Today, this federally funded program serves lunch to 31 million children and breakfast to 14 million children every day. Although the program was created to provide nutritionally low-cost or free school meals to children in need, students and their families from diverse socio-economic backgrounds are realizing the value a healthy school meal can offer for their students mental and physical performance.

Parent engagement in the classroom is all the rage in the EdTech market. Most recently, the conversation in schools has shifted from, “we’re doing everything we can” to “what we’re doing isn’t working” and “how do we make it better?”

Having spent my entire career in education, a career spanning nearly 50 years, I have seen many changes impacting how instruction is delivered. And in those 50 years, nothing has impacted change more than technology and the Internet. As with most change, there have been both positive and negative outcomes. But I acknowledge that whether a given change is positive or negative will often depend on one’s own perspective.

Main Idea (Summative) Comprehension

This complex skill happens to have a large role in reading comprehension overall. Instruction in main idea comprehension has been identified as one of the instructional practices with greatest impact on reading comprehension by many leading experts in the field. Main idea comprehension also appears frequently in instructional practices (such as close reading) and reading assessments.

This writing between my daughter and me probably looks quite familiar to you. Most likely, you have engaged in this type of writing many times over the last few years. Though it might not resemble the type of writing that left your fingers aching, required many trips to the pencil sharpener or came back to you with red marks indicating a multitude of mistakes, it is writing nonetheless­—writing that has been changed by technology.

If you work in the district curriculum office, this statement may be what keeps you up at night: Districts and schools have worked diligently to implement the College and Career Standards.

While many colleges offer special programs for students with learning disabilities (LD) and other learning challenges, Landmark College is one of the only accredited colleges in the United States designed exclusively for students who learn differently, including students with learning disabilities (such as dyslexia), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Professional development for faculty is critical to their success both in the classroom and in their scholarly pursuits. In general, professional development activities are an important part of any career. Professional development opportunities provide professionals with strategies and examples of how to grow as a person and advance their careers in a positive direction. 

Score a touchdown with your students by taking them on a trip to The Chick-fil-A College Football Hall of Fame this school year! Our 45-yard indoor playing field and over 50 state-of-the-art interactive exhibits make the top-rated Hall of Fame the perfect place to engage your students and experience the greatness of the game.

The Carolina Renaissance Festival is a cornucopia of sights, sounds and experiences, bringing to life the ambiance of an early European village celebration. The Festival will open on three special weekdays to accommodate students and teachers who wish to enjoy a very distinctive field trip opportunity. 

Kentucky Kingdom and Hurricane Bay is a 63-acre theme park in Louisville, Kentucky with more than 70 rides and attractions, including five thrilling roller coasters, lots of thrill rides and family classics, and a large selection of children’s rides.  The Hurricane Bay water park boasts two wave pools, two rivers, two children’s activity pools, a water coaster, and oodles of water slides.   

On Dec. 1, 1955, the act of one courageous woman sparked a movement that brought change not only to the city of Montgomery, Alabama but throughout the United States.

New Orleans is a city of allure. Generations have been enchanted by its deep culture and rich traditions. The character of the historic French Quarter, the noble Faubourg Trem©, and the breathtaking Garden District make walking tours a popular and affordable way for visitors to enjoy the city.