Author: Joselin Padron-Rasines

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Posts by Joselin Padron-Rasines

Building Focus and Coordination in Alabama to Align Literacy Supports 

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The Alabama Literacy Act of 2019, a comprehensive approach to improving literacy, includes a provision that districts must provide summer reading camps for third grade students struggling with reading. Before the Literacy Act, state supports for summer learning were described as ad hoc. That changed when the state department set out to implement the new […]

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Changing Behavior at Scale in Utah to Expand the Use of Technology in the Classroom 

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Much like elsewhere in the country, Utah Governor Spencer Cox and State Superintendent of Education Sydney Dickson announced school buildings would be closing due to the pandemic on Friday, March 13, 2020. By the following Tuesday, schools across Utah were ready to start delivering instruction online. This was largely due to the Digital Teaching and […]

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Authentic Engagement Between the State Agency and Students in Connecticut 

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The Connecticut State Department of Education used a portion of its federal pandemic relief funding to create a new program, Voice4Change, that empowered students to contribute ideas on how to improve education in the state. High school students could submit ideas for how they would spend $20,000 to address a challenge at their school. Approved […]

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Building Focus and Coordination in Missouri to Address Teacher Shortages 

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One of the key priorities for Missouri in its pandemic recovery efforts was to find ways to attract teachers into the profession and help retain high-quality educators. Using federal pandemic relief funding, the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education created recruitment and retention grants for local education agencies, educator preparation programs and community colleges […]

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Cultivating Trusting Relationships in Illinois to Support Student Wellbeing

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Understanding the impact of the pandemic on students’ wellbeing, the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) partnered with Lurie Children’s Hospital to launch the Resilience Education to Advance Community Healing (REACH) Statewide Initiative in December 2020. Using federal pandemic relief dollars, ISBE established regional hubs to implement REACH and train educators, school mental health professionals […]

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Coherent Central Systems and Rethinking the Principal Role

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Gene Pinkard, Director, K-12 Leadership for the Aspen Institute Education & Society Program Think of a school principal. Depending on your age, you’re likely to conjure up Saved by the Bell’s Principal Belding, The Simpsons’ Principal Skinner, The Breakfast Club’s Dean Vernon or even Captain Underpants’ stodgy alter-ego. These characters are reliable comedic relief whose […]

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Solving complex problems outside of the silo: How the Pennsylvania Department of Education gained the knowledge and tools to run a coherent team

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Victoria Ballerini and Dana Milakovic, Pennsylvania Department of Education The Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) participated in the Coherence Lab Fellowship from 2020-2021. After the Fellowship, members of the PDE leadership team wanted to build the knowledge and skills of additional PDE team members to develop and sustain coherence and embarked in the Coherence Lab […]

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