Promising Practices Past Issues
Promising Practices Newsletters
Past Issues
SREB’s Promising Practices Newsletter contains real school and classroom practices from school leaders, counselors and teachers from across the U.S.
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Inside: More Podcast Episodes, Leadership Lessons, Conference Spotlights and More
In this edition, listen to more of our podcast, find out what we learned from our keynote speaker and get some great leadership tips. All that and more inside!
School Culture: Pump It Up!
News, stories and videos about teachers, counselors and school leaders
How students feel impacts the way
they learn. That’s why it’s so important to have a positive
school culture. In this issue of our Promising Practices
Newsletter, read how the staff at one Mississippi school were
intentional in their actions, big and small, to make major
cultural shifts that led to more engaged, higher-performing
students.
Also featured, find out how Oklahoma educators deliver work-based learning virtually.
Uniting Theater and Medicine in Education
News, stories and videos about teachers, counselors and school leaders
In this issue of our Promising
Practices Newsletter, read how theater students and healthcare
students at DeKalb County Technology Center in Rainsville,
Alabama, honed their craft by uniting in a project that involved
staging and solving real-world emergency medical scenarios.
Also featured, find out why teachers matter and explore strategies for building positive relationships with students.
Social-Emotional Learning During a Pandemic
News, stories and videos about teachers, counselors and school leaders
Schools, students and teachers
began the school year facing daunting challenges that impact
their emotional well-being, ranging from natural disasters to a
global pandemic.
In this issue of our Promising Practices Newsletter, explore how social-emotional learning is more important than ever to help students succeed. Learn how a school equity strategist is helping schools support and nurture Black girls by cultivating authentic leaders, strengthening adult SEL and advancing culturally responsive practices.
Teaching and Learning During a Health Crisis
News, stories and videos about teachers, counselors and school leaders
Teachers share their personal stories of the rewards and challenges of teaching in an online learning environment in this kick-off issue of the Promising Practices Newsletter. Read how SREB is helping schools and districts with online, blended and hybrid instruction. Also featured: Explore the work of SREB’s K-12 Education Recovery Task Force, Advanced Career, the Making Schools Work Conference and more.
Closing the Achievement Gap
Spotlighting promising practices from the 2019 Making Schools Work Conference
Programs like Boot Camp, RAP and
Power Hour are enticing students at St. Marys Middle
School in St. Marys, Georgia, to embrace more
instructional opportunities. They arrive at school early, stay
late and even come back on Saturdays to learn.
How Strong CTE Teachers Drive School Improvement
Spotlighting promising practices from the 2019 Making Schools Work Conference
Turning around a career and
technical education center requires leaders to identify
opportunities for growth, establish goals and develop clear
strategies to meet those goals.
There’s Power in Struggle
Promising Practices from the 2019 College- and Career-Readiness Standards Networking Conference
“No one goes into education and into teaching to sit back and watch kids struggle,” says Tara Faircloth, the director of curriculum and instruction for the Caesar Rodney School District in Wyoming, Delaware. “It’s part of our nature to want to help,” she adds.
Shaking Things Up With Coding in Core Classes
Promising Practices from the 2019 Making Schools Work Conference
Coding is the act of writing a set
of instructions that a computer understands so it will perform a
task. Learning to code can help improve soft skills, also known
as 21st-century skills or employability skills, that lead to
success in the classroom or the workforce. Among other skills,
coding builds students’ capacity to analyze data, design
creative solutions to problems and collaborate in teams.
Taking School Improvement to the Next Level With a Needs Assessment
Promising Practices from the 2019 Making Schools Work Conference
Woodlawn High
School in Birmingham,
Alabama, is an urban school on a journey of
transitioning from a culture of underperformance to one in
which teachers and students are empowered to take ownership
of learning and academic growth.
Highlights From a Few of Our Featured Speakers
Promising Practices from the 2019 Making Schools Work Conference
The Opportunity Myth: How School Is Letting Students Down and How to Fix It
Classrooms are filled with
students whose big goals for their lives are slipping away each
day.
“That’s because we’ve been telling them that doing well in school creates opportunities — that showing up, doing the work and meeting teachers’ expectations will prepare them for their futures,” notes a report from TNTP (formerly The New Teacher Project). TNTP calls this gap between students’ goals and the messages we send them, “the opportunity myth.”
Choosing the Edtech That Fits
Promising Practices from the 2019 Making Schools Work Conference
Have you wondered if the education
technology you’re using is right for your classroom, or whether
you should be incorporating technology into your classroom?
Educators can use technology as a tool to facilitate learning
best practices and differentiating instruction, say Carl
Robinson, Calvin Moore and Terrika Oliver of Richmond
County School System in
Augusta, Georgia.
Taking the Bias Out of Teacher Evaluations
Promising Practices From the 2019 Making Schools Work Conference
An evaluation system that
fosters a growth mindset and truly improves teaching and learning
is something teachers and administrators can get excited about.
Such a system is not tied to the stress of determining teachers’
pay raises but instead results in feedback that is linked to
effective teaching and students’ mastery of standards.
Mobile Career Counseling — Thinking Outside the Schoolhouse
Promising Practices From the 2019 Making Schools Work Conference
Leaders and instructors at James
Rumsey Technical Institute in Martinsburg, West Virginia, are
justifiably proud of their Mobile Career Center.
This 53’ custom-built, multi-module lab space brings career exploration and awareness of JRTI’s college- and career- ready programs to youth and adults across a large region of West Virginia.
Real World Communications: A 21st-Century Elective
Promising Practices From the 2019 Making Schools Work Conference
Create electives focused
on increasing college and career readiness. This
was the task for educators at Bellevue High
School in Bellevue, Ohio. Jennifer
Mercer, an English language arts and dual enrollment teacher, had
a vision – design an elective that is student-led, teaches
21st-century skills and meets state learning standards.
Mercer wanted this elective to empower each student to become a better communicator and develop leadership skills. Her idea was inspired by a proposed speech class that evolved to include technical writing and social media writing and culminated in a real-world communications class.
Transforming an Old Shop Class Into a 21st-Century Hands-On STEAM Lab
Promising Practices From the 2019 Making Schools Work Conference
Two years ago, Demopolis City Schools took a hard look at its vision for college and career ready graduates and realized that the needs of students and the area workforce were not being met.
DCS is in Alabama’s Black Belt, a region once known for its rich soil but now marked by poverty. This city district serves 2,300 students – two-thirds of whom receive free or reduced-price lunch – and comprises four campuses.
Educating Students Who Have Experienced Trauma
Promising Practices From the 2019 Summer Conferences
Most teachers have students in their
classrooms right now who have experienced trauma and are acting
out in class because of it. The impact of trauma can be
far-reaching and long-lasting and affect students’ ability to
succeed in school and in life. Teachers benefit from learning how
to recognize trauma and deal with it effectively.
Best Practices From the 2018 HSTW Staff Development Conference
Winter 2019
Read this newsletter to explore promising literacy practices, dual enrollment and advisory strategies to prepare students better for college and careers.
Best Practices From the 2018 HSTW Staff Development Conference
Fall 2018
This newsletter examines an array of topics including CTE career pathways, teacher and administrator instructional rounds, and increasing rigor in the math classroom.
Schools Rooted in Student-Centered, Real-World Learning
Best Practices From the 2017 HSTW Staff Development Conference
This newsletter explores the value of positive reinforcement, project-based learning and designing schools around career pathway courses aligned with emerging career opportunities.
