Students can gain wisdom from a senior Elaina Loveland Across the country, youngsters in all grades are connecting with senior citizens on projects that transcend community outreach to provide students with true curricular value. With more meaningful partnerships, senior citizens guide K12 students in developing academic and soft skills. Read more>> Schools accelerate learning with online writing lessons Sponsored by Frontier by eSpark Learning Visionary schools are rethinking reading and writing instruction with impressive results. In this case study, learn the instructional shifts that helped sixth through eighth grade students exceed their growth expectations by as much as 50 percent. Read more>> Classroom violence mirrors what’s happening in society The Hamiliton Spectator Teachers are hit, kicked, spat on and sworn at, and threatened by parents. This is the reality of being a teacher in today's society. Until we address issues like poverty, affordable housing, parenting, pollution, and nutrition and have effective mental health work happening in our schools, these problems will persist, if not get worse. Read more>> From reading intervention to grade-level participation Sponsored by Voyager Sopris Learning Sean Prince, a high school curriculum principal, discusses the importance of teaching an RTI program, like Language! Live, with fidelity. His students get excited with their gains,a especially when they realize they deserve to move to regular English classes because they now have the skills to be successful. Read more>> Why it's so hard to know whether school choice is working NPR One overarching issue bedevils researchers' efforts to study the impact of school choice programs. It's hard to disentangle the performance of a school from the selection of its students. A school's population is always affected by local demographics. But with schools of choice, parents and students are making a decision to attend that school, so their enrollment is even less random. Read more>> Developing an engaging learning environment Sponsored by itslearning Driven by the initiatives introduced by our technology director at the time—and a superintendent who supported the effort—about nine years ago, we started using a learning management system to support our growing personalized learning goals. Read more>> Not all learning takes place in school classrooms Arizona Daily Sun Now that the school year is winding down and high school seniors get set to graduate, it’s a good time to look back at the some of the special programs in which students participate outside the classroom. Many are supported by income tax credit donations, along with special fund-raising in the community. Read more>> | 