Entries by The Learner First

How to Achieve Whole-System Lift for Struggling Title I Schools

Event: eStudy from the American Evaluation Association Dates:  Monday, June 20th & Wednesday, June 22nd 3:00p.m.-4:30p.m. ET Presenters: Dr. E. Jane Davidson & Joanne McEachen Register: http://www.eval.org/eStudy Want to hit the ground running with ESSA, get measurable lifts for your bottom 5% of Title I Schools? This eStudy, from the American Evaluation Association, reveals a powerful […]

Teacher Appreciation Week

To all our wonderful teachers, Learning is knowing who you are; how you fit into the world; and how you can contribute back. The lives of all students are in our teachers’ hands. You are literally changing the destinies of kids every day. Keep pushing the envelope and doing amazing things. You are so appreciated! The Learner […]

Testing Song 2016 (I Can’t Feel My Face)

Testing season got you down? Ashley Haddox-Williams, a teacher at Hayes Elementary School (one of the schools working with The Learner First in Oklahoma City), and her husband have recorded a little musical relief. Each year, the couple crafts and records a song for Hayes. This year’s tune, a parody of The Weekend’s “Can’t Feel My […]

The Rise of Investing in Humanity (Part 1): Education’s “Wall Street” Crash

At a recent meeting on social impact investing, a Wealth Management Advisor shared the theory of change driving Social Impact Ventures in the wake of the Wall Street crash.  Perhaps it is best explained first as a theory of stagnation. There was a powerful force against change that created unwieldy institutions and a mentality of impersonal conformity in […]

One Size Fits One – a conundrum

In our previous blog we mentioned the significant investment in teacher professional development ($8 billion in just 50 of the largest school districts). This is far larger than most people realized and does not include the approximate 10 percent of teachers’ time in development activities on or off campus. Another conventional way to waste money is the […]

How professional learning solutions implicitly blame teachers

It’s estimated that in 2016 over one trillion of taxpayer and philanthropic dollars will be invested in the US education system of which a large proportion is dedicated to professional learning. To put this into perspective, $18,000 is invested in professional development per teacher each year. A study found of the 50 largest school districts a total […]

Blazing Trails in Oklahoma City Public Schools

Sparked by their work with The Learner First, Oklahoma City Public Schools have ditched test driven teaching tools in favor of a bold, new direction: project-based learning. The exciting new teaching methods have drawn the attention of the Oklahoma Gazette. Check out their awesome article about what this means for the learners in their district.

Are We Forcing Teachers into Malpractice?

If you go to your doctor with a cold, she starts by asking you how you feel, what your symptoms are. You give her the list: runny nose, scratchy throat, achy muscles, shivers. She will then take your temperature, look in your ears and nose and at your throat, feel your lymph nodes, listen to […]