K12LEADERS

Author: Mike Bronder

Safe and Professional Social Media for K12 Educators in 2022

As a K12 educator, you know that social media can be a complicated space. You want to reach out to colleagues and collaborate, but you don’t want to risk undue criticism from your learning community. That’s where K12Leaders.com comes in! We create a safe, professional space for educators, staff, and administrators to share and network with one another. Here, you can ask sincere questions and find new points of view from other districts. So come on in and join the conversation!

Traditional social media is a complicated space for K12 educators, and this has became all-too-clear over the last 2 years while schools and teachers struggled to communicate with families and students. Still, while many stakeholders expect teachers, principals, and superintendents to have a public presence on Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn, it is often tricky for educators to know what to share and how to avoid undue criticism. Even in less politically charged times, how might a teacher or principal reach out to colleagues with a sincere question when that question might be misread by a parent in their district? How can educators collaborate within their own school, or look for new points of view from other districts? K12Leaders.com creates a safe, professional space for educators, staff, and administrators to share, network, and collaborate.

What educators need in a social media platform.

Privacy- Educators need to ensure their personal information is protected, and will not be “sold” or misused.

Focus- With information overload as a major concern, having a space that’s dedicated to K12 education helps ensure online engagement is both enjoyable and productive.

Community- Finding specific groups and discussion forums is essential for everyone in the schoolhouse. Sharing ideas within a local educational community, or more broadly across district or state lines, is a key part of learning and growing as an educator. And, even more? Knowing you are participating in a community that has shared values and principles often makes it easier for people to be more candid and honest in their interactions.

Flexibility- Being able to post and share content in multiple formats just makes it easier for educators to get involved. Having the option to share short posts, discussions, advice, multi-media, long-form blogs, events, and polls helps ensure everyone can have a voice in the discussion.

Professional Advancement- We know from a survey we conducted this winter that 2 of the largest stresses on teachers this past year were the ongoing requirements for professional learning coupled with perceived limits on their professional advancement. Helping make that connection between an educator’s hard-work and opportunities for career advancement can be a significant motivator for engagement.

What social media platforms are safe and appropriate for K12 educators to use professionally?

Twitter is widely considered to be one of the most popular social media platforms among educators. Not only is it a great way to connect with other professionals, but it also provides a wealth of resources and information. Twitter is also generally considered to be fairly safe and appropriate for K12 educators to use professionally. Of course, as with any social media platform, there are some downsides associated with Twitter.

In a 2017 survey conducted by Rutgers University, educators cited a number of concerns. The top concerns included personal privacy, information overload, and the character limit. Privacy was by far the most common concern, with nearly 60% of respondents expressing some level of worry about how their personal information was being used. Information overload was also a significant issue, with 42% of respondents saying they felt bombarded by the constant stream of Tweets. And finally, the 140-character limit (now 280) was seen as a hindrance by 38% of those surveyed.

Another downside for some educators is the fact that many students are on Twitter as well. This can be great if a teacher is posting homework reminders and upcoming fundraisers, but if a teacher is seeking advice for classroom management, they may not want to do so in front of those same students.

LinkedIn is often thought of as the social media platform for professionals, and for good reason. LinkedIn is an excellent platform for business professionals to connect with other corporate connections in their field, share resources, and build their professional network. LinkedIn also has a number of groups specifically for educators, where members can discuss best practices, exchange resources, and find job opportunities.

However, LinkedIn’s focus on business and corporate users means it doesn’t have the specific features that would make it a valuable resource for educators. Groups and Learning are two areas where LinkedIn falls short for educators. LinkedIn Groups are typically focused on business topics, and don’t offer the same kind of support and discussion that can be found in education-focused groups on other social networking sites. Similarly, LinkedIn Learning is geared towards helping users develop job-related skills, and doesn’t offer the same kind of resources that would be useful for educators. As a result, LinkedIn is not as well-suited for educators as it could be. To top it off, educators find themselves to be continuous targets of solution providers who send unsolicited, direct messages about purchasing products.

Facebook’s strength comes from its roots as a way to stay connected with friends. With the vast number of parents on the platform, however, it is often a struggle for K12 teachers and staff to manage their connections, and it’s very easy for any post to become a lightning rod for controversy. While the site has robust group functions, it doesn’t have the breadth of professional offerings that LinkedIn does. For example, Facebook groups can be great for organizing volunteers or sharing resources among colleagues, but they lack features like dedicated project spaces and collaboration tools that are essential for effective collaboration. As a result, Facebook is often seen as more of a personal social platform, and LinkedIn is seen as the better option for corporate networking.

Facebook comes with the added challenge of navigating many distractions. Notifications, messages, suggested content and advertisements of a non-educational nature can quickly derail the original purpose of a visit. It’s like going to Wal-Mart with the intention of buying masking tape, and coming out an hour later with 3 bags full of merchandise.

K12Leaders is a social media platform created specifically for K12 educators. It provides a safe and secure environment for members to connect with each other and share resources. K12Leaders also offers a range of tools and features allowing educators to collaborate and communicate effectively. As a result, K12Leaders is an ideal platform for K12 educators to use professionally.

While each of the traditional social media platforms have developed a following among K12 educators, none have really addressed their specific professional needs. K12Leaders is designed specifically to support educators, and to help them connect, learn, and develop professionally. We know education is a social activity; and just like a classroom, having a safe space focused on learning and collaboration is often the most effective environment.

One of the many ways K12Leaders creates an effective environment is to actively discourage “trolling” and spam by requiring multiple online reference points like current employer, role, and other social profiles. They then manually verify not just who wants to join the community, but also what role they play in supporting education. It is quickly becoming a robust Education Network

K12Leaders fills a much-needed niche in the social networking world for educators. With its secure platform and focus on professional collaboration, it is the perfect place for educators to connect with one another and share ideas. If you are dedicated to improving K12 education, visit K12Leaders.com and see if it’s a good fit for you.

Michael Bronder, CEO and Co-Founder

Suzy Brooks, Editorial Director and Co-Founder

August 16, 2022
Real-time Data about the Real Quit in K12: Winter 2022
One of the problems with data, and K12’s reliance on it, is that data ages. And ages quickly. But public education, especially, in its quest for accountability has established itself around officially reported data that states require from school districts periodically through the year. The complexities of collecting, auditing, reporting, and responding to district-reported data are significant, but perhaps not as significant as the consequences of the delayed reporting cycles that have been established over the years.

K12 education in the US is in the valley of those reports right now, and our ability to respond collectively to the stresses our students, teachers, and schools are under is hampered by the fact that many important attendance, discipline, and staffing reports won’t be due until after school is out in June.  This has led to a significant gap in our understanding of how our schools are actually doing in 2021-22 and how we might be able to respond to potentially critical and time-sensitive issues in the school building.

K12Leaders touched on the significance of these gaps in a recent article (The Big Quit and the Problem with Big (and Old) Data in Education) which cites the radical differences between a Forbes and The 74 articles which paint both dire and simplistic pictures of where we are in regards to how our teachers are actually doing, and whether teaching, as a profession, is in crisis.

This has been a largely anecdotal conversation, at least as perceived by some… the “data simply isn’t in.” Though The 74 article does highlight the problem with data… it gets old fast.  The data cited in that article, some from 2015, and some from as recent as 2019-2020, is profoundly out-of-date for our purposes of understanding what’s happening <right now> in our classrooms and school buildings.

Data collected from January 23^rd through February 6^th 2022 by K12Leaders describes the more immediate situation. Based on over 375 responses from across the country, here is the picture we see.

Who responded?

K12Leaders collected 364 responses between January 23^rd and February 6^th 2022.  87% of responses were from K12 staff, teachers, or administrators. Respondents spanned 38 US states.

Respondents were experienced, with 95% reporting more than 3 years of experience in K12. Another question and response were somewhat redundant but supported these numbers… 75% of respondents are more than 10 years from retirement.

How seriously should we take recent stories of teacher dissatisfaction?

Over 67% of respondents report that they are “moderately” or “highly” dissatisfied in their current role.

How should we read the 67% degree of dissatisfaction?  88% of respondents report that they would give less than 1 month notice if they found another job.

Some good news is that over 60% of respondents indicate they would consider staying in education in a different role or district.

While 4 weeks notice may seem more than reasonable outside of education, educators are in the habit of announcing career moves well ahead of time. Retirements are deliberate and well-planned, and both teachers and administrators generally announce intentions to move-on in the spring before summer break. That over 10% of respondents say that they would “leave immediately” is unheard of.

The 4 most critical concerns…

We collected responses on 10 main concerns: Respect, compensation, benefits, flexibility, growth opportunities, community support, remote learning, pending retirements, personal concerns, and 4 sub questions about levels of response to Covid-19.

We have tallied all responses citing concerns of “moderate and above,” and labeled that percentage as a “risk factor.” Any “risk” over 60% is considered significant.

At the top of the list of concerns, is “Level of Respect” with over 77% of respondents stating that this was a moderate concern or higher.

Every year there is more expected of teachers and less respect for their expertise or opinion. The amount of data expected from teachers as proof they are doing their job is staggering and cannot be accomplished. Teachers are the only professionals expected to work for free, constantly pursue higher education for little monetary gain, and pay for materials out of their own pocket. All of these things used to be difficult to accept, but these, coupled with the attitude of most of society since Covid, that teachers are somehow the enemy, has made it an impossible occupation to want to be a part of.

Compensation was also at the top of the list of concerns, with over 74% or responses citing pay as a moderate or greater concern.

In a telephone follow-up with one educator, we uncovered some interesting details. It’s no surprise that teaching has a reputation as an underpaid profession, but what was surprising to this respondent was that many of the corporate jobs they’ve interviewed for pay significantly less than what they are currently making. With just over 15 years of experience, the customer support jobs they are interviewing for are paying between 30-50% less than they are currently making as a teacher.

With almost 70% of respondents citing “schedule and flexibility” as a risk, additional questions come up. When, for instance, did educators start thinking about this question? Was this on educators’ minds before the pandemic?

Because of the lack of substitutes, required trainings that used to be a day with a sub to meet and train are now on-line trainings we must do on our own time and even though we are compensated for the time, it is hours and hours we have to do these on-line trainings outside of the work day.

65% of respondents cite a lack of professional growth opportunities, despite the frequent comments about the ongoing professional development demands put on them, as cited above.

I don’t feel valued in our culture in a general way…. I will always be asked to do more and more and more with less and less. I don’t feel like I have room to advance and I definitely can’t afford to stay in a classroom long term. It gets worse each year. At this rate I will never be able to retire.

The number of detailed comments citing student behavior as a major concern makes this 62% seem like it under-represents the stress that extreme student behavior puts on educators.

The lack of support from administration regarding extreme student behaviors wears me thin. I am tired of being accused of not doing my job correctly when a student curses at me or throws things at me when all I did was ask the students to get a pencil, get to work, stop bothering someone, etc. I had a student cause a lockdown in my pod while he ranted and raved for 30 minutes, and the student wasn’t expelled…. I’m exhausted being expected to offer mental health services to students who need a trained professional’s help…. Above all, I am sick that I am not able to do what I love and what I trained to do- teach.

Another educator shares the following:

When I first started teaching 30 years ago, I had autonomy, support, and respect – and my students achieved. Now I have no autonomy, little support, and a complete lack of respect – coupled with the worst behavior, apathy and lack of work ethic in my students no matter how hard I try to make fun, rigorous, or meaningful lessons. I have 7 years to retirement and I’m not sure I’m going to make it…

Based on many comments, we see “parent/community attitudes” overlapping with the question about the”Level of Respect” educators are feeling. Certainly, anecdotally, we are hearing many concerns about parents and communities aggressively engaging with teachers and administrators in ways we’ve never expected. Just over 61% of respondents cited Parent and Community Attitudes as a moderate or greater factor in their stress.

I have been teaching for 13 years and have a master’s degree in my field. I have never felt the hostility and disrespect that I have felt since the pandemic started. I would love to stay in education but move to an edtech position where I can still develop and plan engaging lessons, but be out of the physical classroom.

Tired of being the fall guy. Communities and local governments blame schools for trying to keep everyone safe. Common sense safety precautions are ignored in order to keep the doors open. Having everyone catch Covid is not the best way forward.

Other factors…

There were additional factors as well, but their risk decreases fairly rapidly.
- Benefits- 57% cite as “moderate or greater.
- Personal concerns- 44%
- Concerns about remote learning- 22%
- Planned retirement- 21%
And speaking of Covid…

We posed 3 questions regarding concerns around the response to Covid-19 in three different scenarios. Local communities’ response, a school’s or district’s response, and the response to covid from the state.

While we were accounting for the possibility of some significant variance, we see that all responses rank Covid-19 as a moderate concern.

From comments, it’s apparent that Covid is seen as an aggravating factor that is contributing to educator’s stress, but is not universally seen as the driver for educators’ dissatisfaction.

Observations

We received a very high percentage of responses from K12 Teachers (75%) but only 6.5% of responses were from school or district administrators.

Reviewing free-form comments (some of which are quoted above) we recognize increasing frustration with the number of requirements put on teachers to meet state-level requirements. However, we also see significant and peaked frustration with direct supervision and the culture within schools and districts. Many responses call out their principals and superintendents directly for poor communication, micro-management, lack of support, and lack of respect.

Considering the highest risk factors captured by this survey, there are certainly a number of concerns that are outside administrators’ direct control. Pay-scales are policy and community driven. District leaders may be able to advocate for higher compensation, but to a larger degree their hands are tied.

Other factors, however, are directly within leadership’s control. School culture, respect, and student behavior all present opportunities for leadership. With more respondents from the administrator level, we hope we could provide better insight into these areas. As it stands, more research would be worthwhile to help districts prioritize their interventions to address what is clearly a crisis in the making.
February 7, 2022
The Big Quit and the Problem with Big (and Old) Data in Education
Human resources, I’ve come to learn over my career, is as much about risk management as any OSHA policy, equipment maintenance, or investment strategy. A company may choose not to perform maintenance on its conveyor belt to save cash for a year or two, but the risk of that critical component failing and causing major disruption increases every year they put that off.

Human resources is similar, even in K12. They just manage risks that hit us more personally. What do we need to pay staff to ensure they come to work? What contracts should we negotiate to ensure we can deliver services? What benefits? How do we keep our staff safe? All these things, while in a workforce’s best interest, also ensure the sustainability of a business. Or school.

The unfortunate reality is that while the bearings on a conveyor belt have a well-documented life span, a teacher’s career does not. Humans are also more flexible resources than bearings, and often get stretched beyond recommended safety guidelines. That’s my personal observation.

But there have been a couple of articles in the last weeks with wildly different perspectives on “The Big Quit” in education. The first is Mark Perna’s article in Forbes which describes a looming crisis, largely due to teacher burnout. And another more recently by Chad Aldeman in The 74, that claims there is no Big Quit in education, and that any “Discrete labor challenges should demand targeted compensation solutions.”

Aldeman’s article cites some robust data from the Colorado Department of Education and The Calder Center, but it’s also a prime example of the problem with data in education. The Calder Center article is from 2015, relying on data collected even before then, and the CDE study is speaking about retention rates at the beginning of the pandemic. That lag in data is typical, and in many cases unavoidable. And those making any policy decisions are in the tough spot of relying on data that doesn’t necessarily reflect their current or pending risk profile.

Examples of that include the accounts of student behavior from school and district leaders during the fall of 2021. (See our earlier article, The Kids are not Alright…). But student disciplinary referrals are only reported to the state periodically, and generally at the end of a semester… so how can any board of education respond in real-time to bearings (meaning teachers) burning out on their conveyor belts (meaning schools)? It’s not by looking at outdated data.

K12Leaders is publishing a real-time survey to gauge the current state of the K12 workforce, and the unique stressors on it this year. Please consider sharing with your educators and staff. We will share that data freely, as well as in upcoming articles on resignations, retention, and recruitment in K12 education.

Sources:
January 22, 2022
Standing in the Gap: Responding to Intolerance and Committing to Safe Schools
Just days after a student was harassed by an adult for openly identifying as gay during a school board meeting in Massachusetts, the MASCD (Massachusetts Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development) had an organized response to the incident. Gathering dozens of educators and advocates from across the Commonwealth into a webinar to discuss and work-through how individual educators can support LGBTQIA youth, MASCD demonstrated how to respond swiftly, appropriately, and effectively to help make sure educators have the resources they need to encourage a safe environment in schools.

“If I didn’t define myself for myself, I would be crunched into other people’s fantasies for me and eaten alive.”
Audre Lorde

Here are some numbers that help paint a vivid picture beyond that single school-board meeting:
- 32% of high school students who identify as LGBTQIA have attempted suicide.
- 52% of LGBTQIA youth have been subject to serious bullying.
- 13.7% of LGBTQIA students have witnessed an adult intervening on their behalf.
Let’s read those backwards…
- 13.7% of LGBTQIA students have witnessed an adult intervene during bullying.
- 52% have been bullied.
- 32% attempt suicide.
And what is the Queer Agenda in schools?  Because this panel admits there is one. And it’s simple. “Embrace all our students, and make all LGBTQIA students and staff feel safe in their communities of learning.”

One presenter, who identified as an “ally,” put his situation this way, “I don’t understand their life, but I know I need to be standing in the gap to support the young people who need me!”

And that “gap” is easy to define as well: 100%-13%= 87%.

That “gap” is to make sure 100% of students recognize that there are adults standing up for them, valuing them, and committed to providing a safe learning environment.

And how can an educator fill that gap, especially in an environment that can politicize student safety so quickly?  The panel offered some really simple, and inspiring, suggestions.

And at the top of the list, the most enabling tool of any that was mentioned, was something very simple. Simply say you care about student safety. Safety for all your students.  If that’s not part of your school’s mission, it can be part of your own.  Owning that value empowers decisions that might otherwise be distracted by politics, or frenzy. And if you truly do value safety for all students (and staff), then demonstrate that by
- If your school’s mission doesn’t already include something to indicate your commitment to student safety, welcomed, and included. That lays the groundwork for conversations around what that looks like…
- Understand that when you do this work, you’re doing it for all your students.
- Look at the language you use… is it fully inclusive?
- Normalize all kinds of families.
- Think about where students see themselves represented in classroom materials, and make sure teachers can get that material into their classrooms. It’s not enough for it to just be on a shelf. It needs to be actively incorporated.
- Listen to families that don’t agree, but don’t allow that to negate the identities of your students.
- Identify your fears… “what is it I’m actually scared of if I commit to this more actively.” Then, if you are afraid, you can to ask the question “is this worth it.” Which comes back to your mission… If it’s in your mission, then yes- it is worth it.
- “Lean in” to your discomfort. It’s okay. Progress is not comfortable.
- Don’t expect students to initiate leadership, but empower and welcome them to. This is life-or-death important. 32% of LGBTQIA students attempt suicide.
- Sometimes it’s important to understand how you’re seen first… It’s okay to rely on friends’ and allies’ more privileged voices if that’s what needs to happen.
- If your community seems to value its homogenous culture, remember: We are not preparing students to stay in their own zip code. The rest of the world is infinitely more diverse than many of our communities.
- Do not assume that no one in your school is wrestling with these issues.
- Do not just share stories about persecution and suffering. Understand there is joy ahead for your students!
And I think that last point is particularly important. This webinar was initiated by an instance of conflict. And there is plenty of conflict. But as one of the presenters said, “This is a joyful community! Represent that for your students, not just the suffering.”
December 10, 2021
The Kids are Not Alright… And Neither are the Teachers

Over this past month I’ve had conversations with districts from coast-to-coast that are at a breaking point. District leaders are taking previously unheard-of steps to try to head off… no, it’s too late for that… to catch up to the stress that’s crushing the spirits of educators.

The stresses that set upon our educational system were more apparent in the 2020/21 school year… parents, employers, and whole communities felt the impact of at-home schooling and the ever-present concern of Covid. The stress was identifiable, and the prayers for things to get back to normal were audible on everyone’s lips.

And now teachers and students are back in the classroom. Parents are back to work… still often from home. And the kids? Well to quote one assistant principal from Massachusetts, “As a disciplinarian, this is without a doubt the most trying return to school we’ve ever experienced. The amount of discipline issues we’re dealing with that were intense, large discipline issues – vandalism, violence, threats – was not something that I was at all prepared for… The number of students in dire need of counseling is off the charts.”

We <were> worried if kids were going to wear masks… but it’s clearly bigger than that.

After the nation has made herculean efforts to return to the classroom this year, a district in Oregon has voluntarily sent kids back to online learning for 2 weeks because of extraordinary behavior issues.

Another east-coast school has decided to give their staff back their PD time, allowing teachers to take that time to try to just “do what they need” because everyone is already burnt out and just “not doing well.”

We know that in the before times, teaching was stressful for a variety of reasons… lack of respect, systematic shortcomings, emotional investment, financial stress. None of that has changed. But add to that the stress and frustration from the last 2 years and the new behavioral issues that are so prevalent as students readjust to being back together, and the sum total is something we’ve never seen before.

As a result, Florida is seeing a 65% increase in staff shortages. Similar shortages are documented in California, Texas, and South Dakota. And there are seemingly infinite anecdotal accounts from other states as well.

Is there any good news? Well… this is where leadership comes in. On the surface, things sure are grim. But that assistant principal from Massachusetts? She continues… “The number of students vocalizing their need for assistance is also a lot higher, so given the state of the kids upon their return I try to remind myself that their calling out for help is actually a positive.”

A superintendent from Missouri shared that “Coming out of the school board meeting, you’d think that social and emotional support has always been our first priority.”

Dr. Kimberly Schonert-Reichl, an applied developmental psychologist from the University of British Columbia, puts it this way, “District leaders might say that SEL is just another thing on the plate… but SEL IS the plate.”

So that we’re beginning to understand the importance of ensuring student’s emotional well-being ahead of mandated instruction is a very good thing. As evidence of that new emphasis, some companies, like Edsby.com, are embedding SEL check-ins into their learning platforms. And the number of districts taking SEL programs like Goldie Hawn’s MindUP Foundation seriously are on the rise. Those are really positive signs.

But those efforts alone don’t address the stress that teachers are feeling, and the repercussions that will manifest in further te樂威壯
aching shortages are still swelling on the horizon.

As leaders, where do you see your districts taking steps to address that? Is this a matter of time and “getting back to normal,” or are you starting to see what a “new normal” is going to look like?

Notes & Sources

School Leaders Take Note: Teacher Care is a Lot More Than Self-Care: https://www.edsurge.com/news/2021-11-02-school-leaders-take-note-teacher-care-is-a-lot-more-than-self-car

Why So Many Teachers Are Thinking of Quitting

https://www.washingtonpost.com/magazine/2021/10/18/teachers-resign-pandemic/

No, the teachers are not okay: https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2021/10/20/teachers-are-not-okay/

How the pandemic is still affecting educators in 2021:

https://www.edsby.com/how-the-pandemic-is-still-affecting-educators-in-2021/?locale=en

MindUP: https://mindup.org

Dr. Kimberly Schonert-Reichl: https://sel.ecps.educ.ubc.ca/dr-kimberly-schonert-reichl/

Florida Education Association: https://feaweb.org/issues-action/teacher-and-staff-shortage/

Fort Worth Start Telegram: https://account.star-telegram.com/paywall/subscriber-only?resume=254267518&intcid=ab_archive

Learning Policy Institute: https://learningpolicyinstitute.org/sites/default/files/product-files/California_COVID_Teacher_Workforce_REPORT.pdf

Rapid City School District Looking to Fill 120 Open Positions: https://www.keloland.com/news/education/rapid-city-school-district-looking-to-fill-120-open-positions/

November 22, 2021
Lessons Learned and Abandoned- Recording available now.
Spoiler alert : Schools are social environments, and “Community” has been a major factor in keeping teachers, administrators, students, and parents engaged over the last 24 months.

On Tuesday, October 5th Dr. Matthew X. Joseph moderated a conversation with 5 educators to discuss what we thought we’d learned over the last year, and how those lessons are holding up as school gets started for 21/22.

Dr. 犀利士 Neil Gupta, Dr. Kari Orange-Jones, Dr. Adam Phyall, Christine Ravesi-Weinstein, and Kristen Nan discussed topics such as:
- How the role of the parent/guardian has evolved
- What “learning community” means today opposed to 24 months ago
- The changing role of assessment in disrupted environments
- The role that technology has played, and how effective it’s been
- And, most importantly… How are the kids doing?
That’s a lot of candid content packed into less than an hour, and it’s worth everyone’s time to take a listen. The conversation was candid, sincere, and funny. You will come away feeling energized, and knowing that we are all, indeed, in this together. Please give it a watch, a like, and a share!

Thank you to all of the panelists, Dr. Joseph, and Edsby, The Social Learning Environment for their participation and support!
October 10, 2021
Lessons learned… and abandoned: What’s working for education today?

A K1212LEADERS Webinar– October 5th, 2021- 7:30 PM (eastern)

Education has changed during this time of pandemic learning. As a result, there are new challenges daily in education regarding effectively educating students and leading schools/districts.

Join 5 K12Leaders from the classroom, school, and district level as we reflect on the opening of school and share what worked and our next steps to create dynamic learning environments. In addition, our team will share practical strategies that have worked and will continue this year to build critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity into their educational system.

R.S.V.P. for the Webinar!

Your Panel of K12 Leaders and Educators

Dr. Neil Gupta

Dr. Neil Gupta serves as the Director of Secondary Education for Worthington Schools in Columbus, Ohio. With over 15 years of experience as a district administrator in rural and suburban settings, he has a passion for leadership, building culture, and coaching leaders. Neil presents at the state and national level, and consults building and district leaders and teams in developing and monitoring improvement plans. Dr. Gupta also serves as President on the Board of Directors for ASCD and is an Associate with Creative Leadership Solutions.

Kristen Nan

Classroom Educator, Author of All In: Taking a Gamble On Education and event Speaker

List item

Christine Ravesi-Weinstein

Christine Ravesi-Weinstein currently serves as a high school Assistant Principal in Massachusetts and previously worked as a high school science department chair for four years and classroom teacher for 15.

Dr. Adam Phyall

Director of Technology & Media Services, Named one the Top 30 K-12 EdTech Influencers. Keynote Speaker, and educational influencer

Dr. Keri Orange-Jones

Dr. Keri Orange-Jones is a fifth-grade social studies and science teacher in New Jersey. She has been an educator for 24 years, entering the profession as an Alternate Route Teacher.

Moderated by:

Dr. Matthew X. Joseph

Dr. Joseph is the author of Power of Connections and Power of Us, and has been a school and district leader in many capacities in public education over his 27 years in the field.

September 27, 2021
Lessons from 2020-2021: Feedback from District Leaders

It feels like there’s a finish line in sight… it just happens to be a dozen or so weeks away, and then we can take a breath. Maybe. For many educators, anticipating the end of the 20-21 school year involves a blend of dread, relief, and hope. In this update I’m condensing many of the conversations I’ve had with district leaders from across the US over the last 2 weeks. While there’s still work to do, and every single superintendent I’ve talked with is exhausted, there is a cautious optimism that we’ll recover from this past year.

For all the disruptions we’ve navigated over this current school year, we are bound to find more over the summer. Some expect a number dismal results academically (see our earlier post on The Blame Game). Some expect further disruption in enrollments as schools return to more consistent in-person learning. And we expect a lot of turnover in our learning communities.

That turnover, teachers and administrators both, will only amplify the stress educators already feel. Wisconsin (as one example) has already seen a rise in provisional licensees according to the Wisconsin DOE, and the number of teacher applicants has dropped radically in the last year. And in one grouping of 100 Pennsylvania districts the average superintendent has been in their job for just 2.2 years.

So, what have we learned, and how can we execute a plan based on those lessons? The good news is that some there are some very meaningful interventions well within our grasp:

It Takes a Village- we’ve always known that parents and guardians are essential to a student’s success, but that’s never been more apparent than this past year. And along with parents, this year we’ve seen the increased role of student services, and an engagement of teams and staff to help ensure the wellbeing of every student.
so how to respond: develop protocols and systems to help those groups coordinate more easily. Email is not the answer… Invest in portals that easily create groups , make it easy for teams to view and act on student data, and communicate plans and updates from a central location.

Master curricula reduce stress and increase educational quality. While the scheduling disruption this year has affected all of us, teachers who have had a well-developed scope and sequence embedded in their learning management system were better prepared to handle the chaos. And districts that invested the time in helping to populate those curriculums found that both new and experienced educators were less stressed.

Collaborate on curriculum design. Federal relief funds would be well invested them PLCs that can design master courses that can be populated into an LMS and shared with every teacher at the beginning of the semester. And as a bonus: a clearly articulated course plan will give parents and guardians a better context to help their students when they are at home.

PLCs and mentoring- with the number of new leaders and teachers in our schools, find those resources that make it easy for cohorts to connect and support each other. As you think about your digital strategies going into 2021, consider platforms that enable “Learning Community Management” along with online content delivery. Seldom do district prioritize mentoring and peer support, and it is frequently left up to the teachers to organize. And young administrators often find themselves alone thinking that they should already have all the answers, but in reality, are clearly learning on the job. Communities and networks like K12Leaders can help connect educators with mentors and peers to coach them through the rough patches.

These are all pretty straight forward.犀利士 .. None of these options require a massive investment, or significant political capital. Most simply build on best practices we’ve understood, but perhaps had more urgent things to take care of over this past year. With the end in sight, and a little bit of hope, maybe we’ll be able to put the energy back into redeveloping these high impact habits!

April 19, 2021
Correlation and Causality- Covid in Massachusetts Schools

The AP posted a story yesterday that should be interesting for any of our data-centric friends… Despite the surge in COVID-19 cases among Massachusetts teachers and students, there’s no indication that school buildings are where those cases are being transmitted.

According to Russell Johnston, senior associate commissioner at the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE), the majority of those cases are being transmitted outside of school, at family events, sporting events, and after-school activities

According to Medscape (free with registration), this is at least somewhat corroborated by findings from Michigan this winter that tracked coronavirus cases back to winter sporting events, and in particular youth atheletes gathering after those events.

April 4, 2021
In Data Driven Covid Response, Opinions Still Matter

While we continue to track important data points across the country to assess the safety of returning to classrooms, and while we try to measure the impact of the pandemic based on standards attainment, there is some encouraging news… and it’s all based on opinion.

A post last week from The Brookings Institution almost-everyone-is-concerned-about-k-12-students-academic-progress/ reminds us that public opinion, whether based in fact or not, is a powerful driver of government policy. And the encouraging news is that we’re almost universally concerned with the impact of the pandemic on children’s education.

Almost three-fourths (71%) of US adults are concerned about K-12 students’ academic progress. This is an astounding degree of agreement, and suggests that policies and programs designed to address the impact of the pandemic on schools would have great support.

And equally encouraging is that these numbers are nearly equal across party lines, and that there is overwhelming support among older, wealthier, voters for programs to address the covid impact on disadvantages students.

This is in contrast to opinions from 2019, when there was a much more significant difference of opinion between parties. This should be encouraging news for K12 leaders planning new initiatives to address learning loss in the coming months.

Sources:

April 4, 2021