Over the past two years, EPIC staffers have participated in a student mentorship program at Hamlin Middle School to demonstrate our passion for career and college readiness within our own community. This past Friday, we made our second visit this school year to meet with students to talk about their personal experience in school and…
Over the past month we have had the opportunity to host Chalk Talks with schools and districts in the Epic School Partnerships network. The chalk talk is intended to be an unscripted description of an educational practice that provides participants with an in-depth understanding of why you do something, as well as a very brief…
The EPIC Bridge the Divide team is off to the 35th annual First-Year Experience and Students in Transition Conference in the City That the Mouse Built (Orlando) from Feb 21–23. Once an educator, always an educator, so I ask you to please indulge me as I provide a short history lecture: The FYE National Resource…
In the context of education, the word “collaboration” may conjure up images of small groups of students working together to solve a problem. Or we may think of multiple stakeholders discussing options for school improvement. But we may be less likely to think of teachers collaborating to assess student work, using a common scoring guide…
Kirsten Aspengren, EPIC’s Senior Director, was the keynote speaker at the PASS College and Career Summit held at Sauk Valley Community College in Dixon, IL. PASS (Partnership Advocating Student Success) is an initiative to create partnerships between Sauk Valley Community College and area high schools, vocational centers, institutions offering adult education, regional offices of education, and community members who…
In 2014, the Center of Excellence for College and Career Readiness was established at Francis Marion University in Florence, South Carolina, as a professional development initiative funded by the South Carolina Commission on Higher Education. The Center of Excellence’s primary function is to work with teachers and students around the state to improve students’ readiness…
Proficiency-based teaching and learning (PBTL) is a systems-level approach to teaching, assessing, and grading students, with the goal of allowing students to demonstrate proficiency with an explicit set of standards. The knowledge and skills required to demonstrate proficiency in a content area are developed and mapped out by teachers, marking a clear path through the…
It’s the time of year where many of us are making resolutions and setting goals for the coming year. For many of us, this process begins and ends with stating an aspiration for growth or improvement. This year, try making “smart resolutions”, and identify the steps you will need to take to achieve your goals.…
Yesterday I presented to over 60 educators and community members in Tulare County specific to using a framework for college and career readiness. During the conversation, we discussed the need to articulate a clear definition of college and career readiness as a first step. A critical second step, often missed by both districts and schools,…
Earlier this month, I traveled 9,196 miles (14,800 km) to Fremantle in Western Australia to attend the Australian Association of Research in Education (AARE), which parallels the American Educational Research Association (AERA). I presented research papers on factors that limit American student access to International Baccalaureate programmes and ways to evaluate measures of metacognitive skills…