Topic: Teaching & Learning

Leader Chat: Q & A with Robert Marzano Part 2
This is the continuation of a conversation with Dr. Robert Marzano, who was a guest on the Cognia podcast Leader Chat with Dr. Jeff Rose. (Read the first part here) Leadership: people and content Rose: As we’ve talked about, Cognia has a model where we’re supporting leaders by creating this... Read the full article >

Leader Chat: Q & A with Robert Marzano Part 1
Rose: Good day leaders, educators. This is a special day because once again I get to talk to a rock star in education. I have this incredible job where we support leaders. One of the things we do for Leadership Circle Members is bring them content on a weekly basis... Read the full article >

Get More Out of Professional Learning
Convenient, high-quality professional learning is hard to come by and needed now more than ever. But the needs of learners and the demands of teaching and learning are evolving in ways not well served in traditional professional development delivery models. Sure, online access is more available but is anyone really... Read the full article >

A Courageous Approach to School Improvement: Teacher Agency and Voice
How many school improvement initiatives have you implemented … and how strong were your results? Now is the time for leaders to look at school improvement from a new perspective of supporting teachers and invest their focus and energy into a different approach to continuous school improvement—using the power of... Read the full article >

Language Matters When Describing Achievement
Providing students with descriptions that indicate opportunities for expanding knowledge and skills is an immediate opportunity that can support equity. The Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) is taking action and exploring the language used to describe achievement levels in order to provide language that encourages students to improve their... Read the full article >

Cognia’s New Teacher Observation Tool Helps Teachers, Schools, and Districts Measure Learner-Centric Classrooms
But classroom observations can be challenging to implement at the school, district, and state levels. Some research on the effectiveness of classroom observation raises concern about potential bias in ratings and questions the tools’ alignment with what they purport to measure or what matters to improve learning. Equally significant, many... Read the full article >

Pandemic and Academic Recovery Are About More Than Loss
Educators across the country are formulating plans to address so-called “learning loss.” As a teacher in Washington, DC, I see every day the losses that students, families, and teachers face due to Covid-19. But I also see how resilient our communities are—and how harmful it is to focus solely on... Read the full article >

Propelling Change by Individualizing Professional Development for Teachers
The report argued that moving forward, diversity would not be an unsolvable problem in current industrial-era education, but would become the driving reason for transformation. Diversity and a focus on child development would help make education more relevant and supportive of students with different academic, social, and emotional abilities. The... Read the full article >

Character, Care, and Respect Build a School Community
The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) defines social and emotional learning as “the process through which children and adults understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions.” Social and emotional learning... Read the full article >

Creating More Equitable Assessments
Increasingly, district leaders are turning to Cognia™ to determine whether assessments and test items are equitable, and whether they provide valid information about how well students are making progress toward standards. Often, district officials want to be sure that the data they collect from their assessments accurately reflects what is... Read the full article >