Blog

How does one begin a discussion on the strength of our society—one that is becoming more important with each passing day? The erosion of civil discourse has presented a new normal, with the continued use, by political and government leaders, of increasingly vulgar terms to describe those who disagree with...

AASA, The School Superintendents Association, recently announced the four finalists for the 2018 Superintendent of the Year, a program graciously sponsored by VALIC and First Student. This is our opportunity to showcase four champions for children and put outstanding school district leaders from communities large and small on the national...

In focus groups, voters in the South had a hard time relating the term “equity” to public education, a new report shows. But it’s clear they understand the concept, bringing up inequities organically in conversation and supporting the idea of addressing the differences in quality and funding that exist in...

The research and best practices behind Learning First Alliance’s new compendium, “The Elements of Success: 10 Million Speak on Schools That Work,” are not necessarily new. But what is unique in this report is how the six major elements fit together into the concepts of consensus and interaction. First, consensus;...

It has become part of our nation ’s consciousness to say and believe, “ Our schools don ’t do well when we are compared to other nations. ” But that statement is now proven to be a myth. A major new analysis sheds light on common school accountability benchmarks in...

As 2018 starts, I get lots of questions about what are the “most important” technologies and trends that will impact learning. As head of the Consortium for School Networking, CoSN, it makes sense that our leaders and the media want to know where to focus their attention and budgets to...

Each year we at LFA compile our most popular blog posts, determined by unique pageviews in Google Analytics. As always, in addition to covering a wide range of topics, this list reflects the contributions of a number of the leading education associations representing the local practitioners, parents and policymakers working...

I’ve long been a fan of the Parent-Teacher Home Visit Project and their model for home visits (see, for example, a post I wrote for Edutopia highlighting it back in 2015). This model, developed by parents and teachers, includes a structured opportunity for teachers to visit the families of students...

By Amanda Karhuse, Director of Advocacy at NASSP I started my day at Loudoun County High School (LCHS) in Leesburg, VA, feeling excited and a little nervous at the same time. Although I spend most of my days speaking on behalf of principals and advocating for their interests on Capitol...

Many of the most valuable jobs of tomorrow depend on STEM education happening in today’s classrooms. The U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics projects that by 2020, there will be 1.4 million IT jobs available but only 400,000 computer science graduates with the required skills to fill the positions. Companies...