Print Issues: Issue 28

This issue highlights stories of school improvement and practical tools for educators. It features how Parkway Academy supports students during the school day, how NYC Outward Bound schools are rethinking advisory, and how the Teaching Matters Network is using identity questions to boost literacy. Tools include Baltimore’s method for turning routine processes into improvement projects, Chicago’s protocols for data reflection, and RISE Network’s resources on tracking absences and fostering improvement through personalized strategies. Additional insights come from educators like Loni Berqvist, Aneesa Jamal, Peter Jana, and Sara Sadek, who explore student voice, reading engagement, skill development, and child-centered learning.

In my forties, I have taken up two possibly ill-advised pursuits: skateboarding and indoor rock climbing. 

Too often when teachers get data, they don’t know what to do with it. At the University of Chicago Middle Grades Network, we use two protocols in succession (the first with staff members, the second with students) to transform data into effective action. The staff meeting protocol is called “What? So what? Now what?” and based on what we learn from that, we organize a “data circle” with students. Here’s what that looks like in detail.

Tracking  absences quarterly allows schools to spot trends and changes faster, whether they be  something to celebrate or a student who needs more support. When we track the number of absences by quarter, just a few missed days in a row can trigger early intervention or celebration.  

Through fieldwork and research, students learned how tide pools are created and how the environment changes with low and high tides

Try Stuff was a hit! Crew advisors were thrilled to hand over some of the facilitation, and students came up with all sorts of creative lessons to share with their Crews.

Fifth graders designed themed park lands based on cultural characteristics to inform their engineering and design choices.

ELA teachers asked students to connect their personal and cultural identity to the academic content at key junctures in their lessons.

This multi-grade art project had students create sea creatures out of recycled materials.

Parkway faculty carved out time in their daily schedule to pull specific groups of students to work on a particular skill or intervention,