Texas House Bill 1416 (an update to HB 4545) requires that any students in grades 3-8 who did not score at least Approaches on their STARR assessment or End of Course (EOC) exam receive intervention support, referred to as accelerated instruction. However, with parent approval some schools may receive [...]
Under Texas House Bill 4545, now updated by HB 1416, it’s required that students meeting certain criteria are given supplemental accelerated instruction, during the school day. This includes not only academically, but emphasizes their social-emotional needs as well. For schools, this will mean that time needs to be spent [...]
It’s true, students likely have not learned what they would have in a pre-Covid, fully in-person school year. Standards of where a student should be, at a certain grade level, are defined. Schools that use competency based grading systems and or that are a high functioning PLC may also [...]
Many schools and educators are using 'office hours' to meet with students and set aside time to give them the extra help and one-to-one communication they need. You may think of office hours just being something that college professors use but they can be effective for high schools, and [...]
Competency-based education focuses on student learning and mastery of skills, not seat time. Many schools have begun to, or have already shifted to this type of model. Students can benefit from competency-based education because it's more flexible, and ensures that they really learn a concept. It's not based on [...]
Is your school thinking of adding a flex period to its schedule, but struggling to get buy-in? And how do you find time in the school day for a flexible period when your schedule is already packed? When schools are looking to make changes to their schedule, these are often [...]
How can teachers meet the needs of all students? It may seem like a daunting task.Teachers really want to help students. But, kids all have unique interests as well as socio-emotional and academic needs. In this post we'll look at how a school that functions as a real PLC, [...]
Genius Hour isn't a new concept. Schools take roughly an hour and allow students to work on something they really want to work on. It may be easier to do this in elementary schools than middle or high schools, when students are taking so many classes, where do you [...]
Teachers are stressed. Parents are stressed. Students are stressed. The past few school years have been overwhelming for just about everyone. As schools have done their best to try to navigate how to safely give students the best learning experience they can, they’ve had to make some tough decisions.In many [...]
We all want to fit in among our peers. When we’re little kids wanting to play together on the playground, when we’re teens in middle school anxious for the approval of our classmates, and when we’re adults out in the job force — no one wants to feel left out [...]