What a school leader learned on Twitter (in two days).

I am slowly doing it. . . letting colleagues know that I regularly use Twitter to grow professionally.
The reactions are mixed but I'm still sold.  In just a couple days I've picked up a lot.  It's about finding the right people to follow, but I'll list some of them in the future.

REASON 1: Twitter is packed with information (because people like to share).  Just a few highlights from the last couple days.

• Did you know you can use Google Voice to create a unique number for parents and students to get a hold of me? It even sends me emails and transcribes the message! (Can't remember where I read it though -- sorry for not giving credit!)
• The Great Wall of China does end.
• Primary document resources for teaching about other countries rock.
• I learned about "Look fors" when someone tweeted about this App.
• A flipped classroom has nothing to do with poor classroom management. 
• and more, and more, and more and . . . 

REASON 2: It's another tool against education's primary enemy - isolation.

• There are really insightful school leaders, who share regularly. 
• People from all over the country "meet" and anyone is invited.  Feel free to join me for #educoach!

I'm not sure when more of my colleagues will join twitterverse but with information like this how couldn't you!

Does summer school make a difference?

A year ago Rand Education released the first comprehensive research study on what is commonly called the "summer slide."  The three month summer off for children is a remnant of the day when children were needed to work the farm in agricultural America.  While that served it's purpose well the time has come to re-examine this practice, especially in light of what the research is telling us.

Take for instance just a few of the Rand study findings:

1) Summer learning loss is disproportionate. On average students loose one month of academic progress over the summer.  However rarely does a child loose the average.  Low SES (low-income) students typically lose more than a month of progress while their higher SES peers may gain.   (Currently about 73% of Atonement students are considered to be low SES.)  


2) Summer learning loss is cumulative. Most disturbing, students tend to fall farther behind each year.  This contributes substantially to the achievement gap we see in Milwaukee and all over the nation.  


3) Students in quality summer school programs have better outcomes than those who do not regularly attend. Not all programs are created equal.  However when students regularly attend a session of summer school the effects can last up to two years later.

So do we need a summer school?  Maybe the only thing we can say for certain is that 3 months of "non-learning" is devastating to many children -- most in urban schools.  So great urban schools must be active in bridging that gap for its scholars.

At this point I would be remiss to leave out our partnership (another point from the study) with the Center for Urban Teaching, which operates a 4-week summer school for our scholars.  The program is showing tremendous benefits, by making the hard work of learning extremely fun.

Have you seen any other particularly effective summer school models?  What should the ideal program look like?

Reading Matters

Today I caught our Summer School Teacher Kristin Plessinger reading to our fourth grade scholars. Ok, it happens every day so "caught" isn't the best word.  I just love it when I see scholars engaged in reading.  Nothing matters as much.

Check out this summary of reading research in case you need a refresher.