According to evidence, there are four "obvious" principles of effective PD, says ASCD author Mike Schmoker. If schools acted on them more often, professional development could become the "engine for unprecedented levels of equity and achievement." Part of a theme issue on "From Research to Practice."

The Obvious Path to Better Professional Development

Mike Schmoker

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Curriculum design and lesson planning

Capacity building

Assessment and grading

Data collection and use

Research

Professional Learning

Leadership

Pared down standards, according to ASCD author Mike Schmoker, are the cure to the Common Core. In this provocative article, Schmoker describes how the Common Core literacy standards have largely been a "disaster"—their tangled implementation "an impossible profusion of grade-by-grade minutiae." To "right the ship of literacy," schools must get back to the basics, he explains. "All students should engage in unprecedented amounts of purposeful reading, discussion, and writing every day, across the curriculum." Here, Schmoker provides a framework for making that happen.

Radical Reset: The Case for Minimalist Literacy Standards

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Whole Child

Formative assessment

Education policy

District policy & systems

Literacy

Reading

Admin

Superintendent

Principal

English

Language Arts

Curriculum

Policy

Three essential elements—curriculum, sound instruction, and authentic literacy—are the primary, fundamental drivers of schooling and its improvement, says ASCD author Mike Schmoker. And yet they are rarely implemented. If our schools are to enter Marzano's "era of unprecedented effectiveness," then we must change the way we train teachers. Teacher development must 1) end its addiction to novelty and embrace evidence-based priority, and 2) make practical, demonstrated mastery of best practices its urgent and explicit goal.

Focusing on the Essentials

Professional development / learning

New teachers

Instructional Strategies

School leaders could see all their students ascend to new heights of academic achievement and find their jobs de-stressed and joyful—if they focused on only the one or two most urgently needed instructional initiatives. Schmoker makes the "case for less" and notes that if school leaders applied strict criteria to select the initiative (or two) that would be most powerful in their school, they would likely find it to be one of three priorities: creating a coherent curriculum; promoting authentic literacy; or delivering instruction that includes the elements of clarity on what will be learned and how learning will be assessed, and frequent checks for understanding. Part of a theme issue on "The Power of Instructional Leadership."

Embracing the Power of Less

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School improvement and reform

Instructional leaders

Principal effectiveness

School and district leadership

Principals

School and district management

Focus: Elevating the Essentials to Radically Improve Student Learning, 2nd Edition (Print Book)

Soft Cover

Print Books

Focus: Elevating the Essentials to Radically Improve Student Learning, 2nd Edition

Leading with Focus: Elevating the Essentials for School and District Improvement (Print Book)

Leading with Focus: Elevating the Essentials for School and District Improvement

Results Now: How We Can Achieve Unprecedented Improvements in Teaching and Learning (Print Book)

Results Now: How We Can Achieve Unprecedented Improvements in Teaching and Learning

The Results Fieldbook: Practical Strategies from Dramatically Improved Schools (E-Book)

Mike Schmoker

About

Expertise

Articles by Mike

The Obvious Path to Better Professional Development

Radical Reset: The Case for Minimalist Literacy Standards

Focusing on the Essentials

Embracing the Power of Less

Books by Mike

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