College Park Elementary School (Greendale, WI). College Park Elementary values and encourages student leadership by inviting 4th and 5th grade students to serve on leadership teams. For example, the leadership teams of students review general behavior data, determine an area in need of improvement, and create a plan for improvement. In 2018, students focused on Read More
Lincoln Elementary School (Rexburg, ID). Lincoln Elementary emphasizes physical education, nutrition, and exercise/fitness of students every day. Every class participates in weekly P.E. where students build hand-eye coordination, concentration, body awareness, endurance, and strength. Through an initial grant from Fuel Up to Play 60, Lincoln implements a nutrition and fitness curriculum and activities. Within a Read More
Cedar Lane Elementary School (Middletown, DE). Cedar Lane implements lesson studies that include grade-level teachers collaborating to create a single lesson to be used team-wide. After the creation of a lesson, a full grade-level of teachers participate in a fish bowl lesson study. This includes one teacher using the lesson with her students while colleagues Read More
Willow Creek Elementary School (Centennial, CO). To promote a positive school climate and growth mindsets, Willow Creek focuses on POWER which stands for Persistence, Optimism, We are Flexible, Empathy, and Resilience. The school designates 10-15 minutes daily as POWER Time for activities that teach students a growth mindset and appropriate school behaviors using a common Read More
Heards Ferry Elementary School (Sandy Springs, GA). Heards Ferry Elementary School integrates Fulton County Public Schools’ seven Principles of Personalized Learning. The first principle is “Choice and Voice” where students can express their learning styles and preferences as learners in a lesson. Second, students have more than one way or modality to learn the material Read More
Sierra Expeditionary Learning School Truckee, CA In 2008, in a small town in northern California, a dozen or so parents of preschoolers started dreaming about a different kind of elementary school and chartered SELS—the Sierra Expeditionary Learning School, in Truckee, California in March 2010. This podcast features Kim Bradley, a founding parent and current board Read More
Hearts and Minds features Pinewood Elementary School in Jenison, MI, a suburb of Grand Rapids, where teachers and staff found themselves dealing with extreme student behaviors that disrupted learning. When Principal Rachael Postle-Brown and her staff adopted a “Whole School” approach to supporting positive student behaviors, a host of benefits followed. The approach has Read More
Teaching with Art and Heart highlights the resources a dedicated principal has secured for the 700-plus students in her rural South Carolina school, Skyland Elementary. For more than two decades, Dr. Carolyn Styles has created a thriving community of passionate educators and young scholars. In addition to identifying and remediating students’ educational gaps and Read More
Still Making the Grade showcases the Brooklyn (NY) School for Global Scholars, P.S. 748. Originally designed as a district-based application school for gifted and talented students, P.S. 748 featured a self-created and evolving curriculum that used project-based learning and departmentalized, interdisciplinary learning to prepare global citizens for the future. It opened in 2010. Two Read More
Game Changer tells the story of struggling White Street School in Springfield, MA, where “demographics” had been the steady explanation for low student achievement. Families were reluctant to send their children to a school were only 4% of fifth graders scored Proficient in any subject. In 2010, the State Education Department had singled the school Read More