Place Based Education
Smart Parents
We spend a lot of our time creating and sharing resources for educators and parents (who are often one and the same audience). Time and time again, we observe that families are left out of the equation when it comes to determining the primary audience for education reports, papers and articles—even though they are among the hungriest for informed opinions that can help them. Smart Parents is a blog series for parents, by parents who are navigating educational opportunities + making powerful decisions for and with their students. Learn more in Smart Parents: Parenting for Powerful Learning.
Leadership
Parental Involvement in Schools Matters: A Teacher’s Perspective
Student success happens when families, students and educators work together and holistically approach a child’s education, focusing on a child’s academic, social, and emotional needs.
Leadership
What If We Replaced Family (and Classroom) Rules with Core Beliefs?
Once a lesson in my 2nd grade classroom, now an exercise I use as a parent. How to reinforce the right things and getting kids involved in determining what those “right things” are.
Personalized Learning
Never The First to Finish: Why Pace Matters
By: Sarah M. Vander Schaaff. The strategies and decisions that worked to teach my daughter that pace matters and that finishing first is not what's most important.
EdTech
Bridging the Gap from Living Room to Classroom: FreshGrade
What if the communication line between parent and educator was truly open? Enter FreshGrade, a Learning Collaboration System that helps educators document student learning and progress through photo, video, work samples, and more.
Personalized Learning
I Received This Email from My Son’s Principal
By: Jason Stirman. How an email from my son's principal sparked thinking, a response, and confirmed my belief that "letting my kids stay young as long as they can" is not a parenting goal of mine.
Leadership
Parents, Tell Your Story: How You Empower Student Learning
Calling all parents: Are you a parent of a school-aged child helping your child navigate through their educational journey? If so, we want to hear from you!
Personalized Learning
Don’t Let a Piece of Paper Place Children in an Educational Box
By: Carol Iles. Carol's story of personalizing her daughter's education through homeschooling is a genuine example of a Smart Parent. Like Carol, we believe that, "All children can succeed."
Personalized Learning
Why We Need to Teach Students to be Self-Advocates
By: Heather Benedict. How teachers and parents can teach self-advocay and why it's so important to the learning experience of students.
Personalized Learning
Mississippi Mother: “I was not going to let my sons become yet another tragic statistic.”
By: Debra Dye. The honest story from a mother in Mississippi about the education of her sons and the realities of students with disabilities.
Personalized Learning
Raising Student Bloggers: An Open Letter to Parents
A message for parents raising student bloggers. It’s time for you to become more involved in your student's blogging. Reinforce their learning, talk, become their fan and see the big picture.