The rise of unconventional teaching roles: How do educators in these roles feel about them?
Many are talking about ways to rethink the role of teaching these days, whether by reorganizing teachers into teams, leveraging community educators, or allowing teachers to teach in unconventional school models like micro-schools. In the past, the motivation to experiment with new staffing models was sometimes in response to teacher labor shortages, teacher burnout, or […]
Teachers and tutors together: Reimagining literacy instruction in Oakland
High-quality tutoring has become a critical tool for addressing pandemic learning gaps and accelerating student learning, but access to tutoring programs remains an issue. CRPE took a deep look at how Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) designed and implemented a literacy program with embedded tutoring support from community partners—and the impact the effort had on […]
Communities in the driver’s seat: Intensive training, deep investment power parent-led literacy programs in Oakland
Across the country, school systems are struggling to implement effective, research-based literacy instruction and to help students recover from lost learning time during the pandemic. At the same time, school systems sit near pools of untapped talent—community members who have personally experienced the harm of inequitable school systems and now brim with passion for addressing […]
ChatGPT turns one today: Seven reasons why education leaders should step up on AI
It’s been a year since OpenAI released ChatGPT. Educators (and the rest of the world) were caught off guard by this new technology that could write college essays, plan vacations, and even compose a new poem or song based on the style of an original author. As we said back in May, “This changes everything.” […]
Teaching, reinvented: How unconventional educator roles pave the way for a more fulfilling and sustainable profession
As school systems struggle to recover from years of disruption, new programs, policies, and nontraditional organizations that support innovation in the teaching role will need to grow to support all students’ learning. But what is it like to teach in new ways? What are the advantages and drawbacks? What brought educators to these unconventional roles […]
A reality check on the community school dream
No shortage of ideas abound about how to address post-pandemic learning loss, mental health problems and low school attendance. But the best-sounding ideas may make demands on schools and other public agencies that they often can’t meet. Both high-dose tutoring and learning acceleration generated enthusiastic support when schools reopened in 2021. However teachers who were […]
‘Just slow it all down’: School leaders want guidance on AI, new research finds
This piece was originally published in The 74. New generative artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT, which can mimic human writing and generate images from simple user prompts, are poised to disrupt K-12 education. As school and district administrators grapple with these rapid advances, they crave guidance on how to incorporate AI tools into teaching and […]
AI is already disrupting education, but only 13 states are offering guidance for schools
More states are acknowledging the implications of artificial intelligence technology for our society and institutions, particularly our school systems. However, the emerging state-level guidance for districts is broad and avoids regulatory language, according to CRPE’s latest review of state education department actions on AI. While generative AI rapidly advances, many states continue to defer to […]
Don’t engage families: Liberate them
I set out to reflect on parent engagement as we settled into another school year in the U.S. where 84% of Black eighth-graders lack proficiency in reading. And then something happened. On the evening of Sept. 19, more than 30 Oakland, Calif. mamas, grandmas, dads, and uncles graduated from the Oakland REACH’s Literacy Liberator fellowship. […]
Are unconventional learning environments serving special populations?
The pandemic created further opportunity and accelerated a movement toward nontraditional learning environments, such as independent microschools, homeschool cooperatives, and hybrid or virtual schools. Though nationally representative research on this movement is scarce, research reports and media accounts suggest that the number of these learning environments operating outside of public schools is continuing to grow. […]
