Why should professional learning be a part of every technology initiative? Because of equity, said the three leading superintendents on the edLeader Panel, “Creating and Leading a Professional Team of Lifelong Learners.”
Over the last 10 years, the number of students with autism diagnoses has grown. Couple that with learners (many not yet diagnosed) who are entering schools for the first time since the pandemic with multiple challenges—like school-readiness deficits, language acquisition delays, mental health issues, and socio-emotional difficulties—that make it hard for them to regulate their emotions. Plus, it’s tougher for teachers to navigate students’ diverse needs, especially those with autism and on the spectrum.
Transitioning to an effective and equitable literacy program requires more than just adopting a new curriculum. As early literacy consultant and coach Rebecca Miles explained during the edLeader Panel, “The Simple View of Educational Success: Lessons from the Field,” her own “transformative story” as an educator illustrates the range of changes that schools and districts need to make in order to meet the needs of their full range of learners.
Each new school year brings a promise of growth in students and teachers, as well as in professional learning. Teachers and administrators across the country prepare for the new school year by designing professional learning that is meaningful and engaging for their staff. Although educators could not have predicted it, post-pandemic professional learning in school districts across the country has changed dramatically.
Labor Day 2022—instead of the usual beginning-of-the-school-year exercises, Los Angeles Unified School District administrators had to deal with a ransomware attack that shut down its computer systems.
Building a multilevel program to support emergent bilingual students is an effort that no one educator can take on alone. During the edLeader Panel, “Best Practices to Support Emergent Bilingual Students This School Year—and Beyond,” Dr. José Viana, Senior Education Advisor at Lexia Learning and the former Director of the Office of English Language Acquisition, hosted a panel of experts who explained how to build inclusive and asset-based learning environments at the national, state, district, and school levels.
For any educator or administrator looking to build a comprehensive support system for students, the edLeader Panel, “MTSS: Taking Efficacy from Good to Great,” is a must-watch discussion. The panelists discussed how Multi-Tiered Systems of Supports (MTSS) improve school environments, academic achievement, and student behavior.
Teachers and students suffered through COVID’s upheavals. With its dissipation come the aftereffects, from unfinished learning to teacher shortages. The pandemic furthered a lingering malaise linked to existing school gaps and challenges.
edWeb.net is a free professional learning network that provides educators with online professional learning communities and edWebinars. edWeb has grown to a global community of over 1 million educators from preK – higher ed. edWeb provides personalized, collaborative learning—anytime, anywhere. During the pandemic, the need for virtual collaboration, learning, and support has been more critical… read more →
Mask mandates. Remote learning. Weekly testing and contact tracing. There are many elements from the past two years that educators are happy to leave behind. But there are also some innovations and opportunities, like virtual professional learning, that they don’t want to forget.