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… Continue Reading Teaching with Art and Heart: A Rural School Reaches the Whole Child
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… Continue Reading Still Making the Grade: From a G and T District School to a Top Neighborhood School
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… Continue Reading Game Changer: Educators Turn Around a “Failing” School
Acting Assistant Secretary, Jason Botel Welcomes 2017 National Blue Ribbon Schools During the 2017 awards ceremony, Acting Assistant Secretary and Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education, Jason Botel was a keynote speaker. Mr. Botel identified the NBRS awardees as the nation’s education “all stars” and acknowledged their innovation, inspiration, and commitment. He… Continue Reading Jason Botel Opening Ceremony Speech
Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos Recognizes 2017 National Blue Ribbon Schools During the 2017 recognition ceremony, U.S. Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos, congratulated the 342 NBRS award winners. The winners represented schools from 44 states, the District of Columbia, and the Department of Defense Schools in New York, Germany, and Japan. Secretary DeVos praised the… Continue Reading Betsy DeVos Congratulations Speech
Keynote Speech The Hero’s Journey: What Role Will You Play? For the ceremony’s keynote speech, National Teacher of the Year Sydney Chaffee drew on the myth of The Hero’s Journey—a quest story that takes its actor from the comforts of the known world into a wider, unknown world of threats and challenges. Critically, at certain… Continue Reading Sydney Chaffee
U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos has announced 342 schools as the 2017 National Blue Ribbon Schools. The award is based on a school’s overall academic excellence or marked progress in closing achievement gaps among student subgroups. National Blue Ribbon Schools demonstrate that all students can achieve to high levels. In her video message, Secretary… Continue Reading 2017 Award Announcement
About 12 years ago, following a careful analysis, The Cranbury School (Cranbury, NJ), began “The Math Shuffle.” Taking advantage of its K-8 structure, Cranbury leaders revamped the schedule so that every morning, middle school math teachers “push in” to math instruction classes in grades 3-5. During the Shuffle, students, and sometimes teachers, move around to… Continue Reading Innovating Math Instruction
The DSST (Denver School of Science and Technology) network, part of Denver Public Schools, was founded in 2005 to expand educational opportunities through open enrollment in STEM-focused schools. Green Valley Ranch High School opened in 2011 and has seen 100% of its seniors graduate and go on to college. Green Valley Ranch High School operates… Continue Reading New Faces in STEM Careers
About five years ago, the community of Deerfield, Illinois, came together to anticipate the educational needs of future generations. Alan Shepard Middle School has led the way. First converting the junior high school to the more student-centered middle school model, leaders at Shepard then expanded students’ encore options (as distinct from core—math, ELA, science, and… Continue Reading High Tech Makes Learning Personal