Latest News
August 25, 2020
“Amid Pandemic, Support Soars for Online Learning, Parent Poll Shows: Education Next released the findings from its 14th annual survey of American views on education. The survey was conducted in May 2020. While this was early in the Covid-19 pandemic, unemployment was already 14.7%, the economy in recession, and the schools were shutdown. This survey provides one of the first opportunities to evaluate the public’s views on education in this context. Survey participants were asked their views on: teacher pay, school funding, online education, home schooling, school choice, vouchers, charter schools, school reform, overall satisfaction with teachers and schools, the impact partisan politics has on people’s opinions, cost of higher education, and the impact of populism in public schools. The following examines several of these catagories in greater detail.
The public’s greatest support for increasing teacher pay and K-12 school funding occurred in the previous year’s (2019) survey. This support declined slightly in 2020, but remains close to the all-time high for the past 14 years. Fifty-five percent of participants say teacher salaries should increase. There remains a significant distance between Democrat’s support (66%) and that of Republicans (40%). Increases to school funding was supported by 45% of participants, with 47% saying it should stay the same and 10% favoring a reduction. As with the previous issue, opinions divided significantly along partisan lines with 56% of Democrats in favor of increasing spending compared to 31% of Republicans. While it is encouraging that overall support for increasing teacher salaries and school funding has held steady or increased over recent years, the current support for each issue is still only half of those surveyed.
One of the most relevant and timely areas of the survey was participant views regarding online education and homeschooling. In 2020, 73% of parents say they are willing to have their child take some (almost half) high school courses via the internet, representing a 17% increase from the response in 2009. Support for homeschooling has remained steady over the years with 49% of parents supporting the right of parents to education their children at home.
Overall, those surveyed gave public schools and school teachers high marks. Fifty-eight percent gave their “local” schools and A or B, and 30% gave the “nation’s” schools a similar high grade. The latter score was the highest ever recorded by the surveys. Participants were asked what percentage of teachers were excellent, good, satisfactory, or unsatisfactory. They rated 61% of teachers as excellent or good, with 14% being unsatisfactory.Results from the 2020 Education Next Survey of Public Opinion”
Citation(s): Henderson, M. B., Houston, D. M., Peterson, P. E., West, M. R. & Shakeel, M. D. (2020). Amid Pandemic, Support Soars for Online Learning, Parent Poll Shows Results from the 2020 Education Next Survey of Public Opinion. Education Next, 20(13), 8-19.
Link: https://www.educationnext.org/amid-pandemic-support-soars-online-learning-parent-poll-shows-2020-education-next-survey-public-opinion/
August 14, 2020
Returning to School Toolkit for Principals. This toolkit is designed to help structure principal’s thinking about the return to school, in whatever form that takes. The toolkits is structured to point and direct administrators to where to find help. The guidelines offer context for the use of the tools and tip sheets, and suggestions for actions you might consider.
The Returning to School: A Toolkit for Principals is organized around four sections:
- Change
- Communication
- Collaboration
- Care
These sections of the Toolkit for Principals are not meant to be sequential; one is not more important than the others. Scan the four sections and consider how they might support your preparation for a successful return to school, and your transition to schooling in this new reality.
This publication is one of eight in a series of resources Return to School from the National Comprehensive Center.
- Guide to After-Action Reviews
- Better Together: A Coordinated Response for Principals and District Leaders
- Mitigating Harm for Vulnerable Populations
- Rapid Response: Informational Resources on Improving Social and Emotional Learning and Outcomes
- Scenario Planning
- Budgeting in a Crisis
- Considerations for supporting a successful start to the 2020-2021 school for students with disabilities
Citation: Benton, K., Butterfield, K., Manian, N., Molina, M., Richel, M. (2020). Returning to School Toolkit for Principals. Rockville, MD: National Comprehensive Center at Westat. https://www.compcenternetwork.org/sites/default/files/local/5704/Returning%20to%20School%20Toolkit%20for%20Principals%20(07-16-2020).pdf
Link: https://www.compcenternetwork.org/sites/default/files/local/5704/Returning%20to%20School%20Toolkit%20for%20Principals%20(07-16-2020).pdf
July 6, 2020
The story of professional development is illustrative of problems common to educational interventions. The American education system values in-service training, spending range from $18,000 annually per teacher. Like many promising practices found effective in controlled conditions, in-service training fails in the field. Ample evidence points to new teachers being insufficiently prepared, and in-service training is used to fill the gap. Schools invest extensively in teacher induction in the early years of a teacher and supplement this with continuous development over a career. Unfortunately, training is delivered in the least productive ways, such as emphasizing theory and demonstrating skills in simulated exercises rather than on real students. These efforts produce poor results—not surprising since they ignore the research, which shows the value of giving teachers opportunities to practice in real-world settings, tying training to existing procedures, and following up with monitoring and feedback. Only a fraction of the money is directed toward coaching, the method that research shows produces long-lasting results.
Citation: Cleaver, S., Detrich, R., States, J. & Keyworth, R. (2020). Overview Teacher Professional Development. Oakland, CA: The Wing Institute. quality-teachers-in-service.
Link: https://www.winginstitute.org/quality-teachers-in-service
June 30, 2020
Remote forms of K-12 instruction have become increasingly prevalent as schools expand their use of educational technologies to allow for learning beyond that which takes place in brick and mortar classrooms. Remote instruction may offer a number of benefits, including reduced costs and increased student access to courses and instruction that would not be available otherwise. However, while research is limited, evidence to date suggests that fully remote instruction and virtual schools are not as effective as the face-to-face instruction that takes place in traditional schools, particularly for struggling students. Blended instructional models have shown more promise, particularly those that enable differentiated instruction through technologies such as intelligent tutoring. The success of remote instruction likely in part depends on a number of implementation factors, such as the degree to which equitable access to digital tools and resources is provided, whether and how students’ metacognitive skills that are essential for more independent, self-regulated learning are developed, the capacity of preparation and professional development to foster teachers’ technological pedagogical content knowledge, and the extent to which parents can engage in ways that allow them to effectively support their children’s learning at home.
Citation: Donley, J., Detrich, R., States, J., & Keyworth, (2020). Remote Learning Overview. Oakland, CA: The Wing Institute. https://www.winginstitute.org/effective-instruction-computers.
Link: https://www.winginstitute.org/effective-instruction-computers
June 30, 2020
Research suggests that starting each year by teaching rules and procedures results in increased appropriate conduct and higher academic achievement. Both rules and procedures are proactive strategies that set expectations and instruct students on both appropriate and unacceptable ways to interact with peers and adults. Clearly stated, they define and operationalize acceptable behavior necessary to maintain an orderly and well-functioning school or classroom. To be effective, each precept must specify consequences, describing what happens when it are followed or is broken. Rules and procedures must be enforced consistently if they are to produce best results. When expectations are clearly stated and supported, they lend credibility to a teacher’s authority, reduce disruptive behavior that impedes learning, and enhance job satisfaction. Rules are constructed around broad classes of behavior (be safe, be responsible, be respectful) and apply in all settings. Procedures are guidance about what to do in a specific context. For example, elementary schools have procedures to guide students in how to enter the class in the morning (put backpack away, take a book, and read silently at desk).
Citation: Guinness, K., Detrich, R., Keyworth, R. & States, J. (2020). Overview of Rules and Procedures. Oakland, CA: The Wing Institute. https://www.winginstitute.org/classroom-rules-procedures.
Link: http://Guinness, K., Detrich, R., Keyworth, R. & States, J. (2020). Overview of Rules and Procedures. Oakland, CA: The Wing Institute. https://www.winginstitute.org/classroom-rules-procedures.
June 10, 2020
The Wing Institute has redesigned both the structure and content of its web site home page to increase readers’ ability to navigate the site and locate the information they are seeking. The new structure offers clear pathways for identifying and researching critical topics and effectively communicates what the Wing Institute’s web site has to offer. The home page content is driven by reader feedback derived from a wide range of sources, including Researchgate, Academia.edu., and Google Analytics. The new home page is organized around the following categories:
Why Students Succeed (Education Drivers)
Educational systems are incredibly complex, and it is easy get overwhelmed looking for information across many topics. The new homepage distills this search down to the three most critical education drivers: Quality Teachers, Quality Principals, and Explicit Instruction.
Why Education Practices Fail (Implementation)
Implementation is an essential, and too often overlooked, component of quality education programs. It is often mentioned as an afterthought and can be difficult to locate on education sites. The Wing homepage highlights its value and provides readers the opportunity to go directly to the latest research and practice strategies for effective implementation.
How are we doing (Systems Dashboard)
In this age of complexity and uncertainty, it is more critical than ever to identify and track relevant data that will help education stakeholders make informed decisions about school issues. The systems dashboard provides a continually updated analysis of what we are doing and how we are doing. The home page highlights five topic areas, which can be changed easily to reflect the most
Newsletter
The new homepage spotlights the Wing Institute Newsletter, which offers readers the latest research on important issues, along with original research from Wing Institute writers. It also provides easier access to past newsletters, which contain relevant research.
We hope you find these changes have improved your reading experience.
June 8, 2020
The Wing Institute would like to announce the 2020-21 student research grant recipient, Karen Robbie. Karen is a Ph.D. candidate in Prevention and Intervention studies at the University of Maine and has been a classroom teacher of 23 years. Karen currently teaches and supervises pre-service teachers by providing students with the most current research and modeling of effective practices.
Her research project is titled: Using Peer Supports to Improve Positive-to-Negative Teacher/Student Interaction Ratios by Novice Teacher. Over time, novice teachers have the potential to impact a large number of individual students positively. But to maximize new teacher effectiveness, novice teachers need the necessary supports to develop practical classroom instruction skills to improve student outcomes and increase new teacher’s job satisfaction and promote a productive career. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of an intervention, using natural implementers, that can be used in schools regardless of their resource capacity.
June 8, 2020
The Global Implementation Society (GIS) promotes implementation practice, science, and policy through the development and integration of practical implementation, improvement, and scaling practices in human service settings to improve outcomes for children, families, individuals, and communities worldwide.
The Covid-19 outbreak has highlighted the significance and value of implementation knowledge and implementation capacity. To assist you during this difficult time, GIS has gathered some potential resources to help schools weather these challenging times.
The resources include;
Link: Global Implementation Society
June 8, 2020
WestEd is a nonprofit organization tasked with promoting excellence, achieve equity, and improve learning for children, youth, and adults. WestEd offers consulting and technical assistance, evaluation, policy, professional development, and research and development to support and improve education outcomes.
As the world rallies to respond to the current public health crisis, schools across the globe have closed their doors to stop the spread of the new coronavirus and its associated disease, COVID-19. Wested has developed and compiled resources to assist schools in responding to this crisis.
The resources include;
Distance & At-Home Learning
Early Childhood
English Learners
Health, Safety, & Well-Being
Online Professional Development
Resource Planning & Management
Science & Mathematics
Special Education
Link: Wested
May 29, 2020
The 2020 pandemic is unprecedented in living memory. This event necessitates schools adopting new technologies and teachers mastering new ways of delivering instruction. Education is engaged in a grand experiment, implementing new practices in fifty states with over 13,000 school districts. Change on this magnitude would be daunting even in normal times, and is particularly difficult in a decentralized system such as in the United States. What we know is there are bound to be many failures. Fortunately, the past 15 years have seen remarkable progress in the creation of a science of implementation to address such hurdles. This paper offers examples of failed practices in guiding schools to avoid making similar mistakes over the coming year.
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Citation: States, J., & Keyworth, R. (2020). Why Practices Fail. Oakland, CA: The Wing Institute. https://www.winginstitute.org/roadmap-overview
Link: https://www.winginstitute.org/roadmap-overview
