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For many of you hard at work in and on behalf of schools, this is a crazy, joyous, exhausting, and wonderful time of year. We wish you the best for a hard-earned break, and hope that you and your students enjoy peace, safety, and security during the coming days and weeks. In order for Engaging…

Earlier this month, Engaging Schools staff members debuted our new name and look at Learning Forward‘s annual conference. Director of Sales and Marketing Denise Wolk shared products and services in the exhibition hall, and also collaborated with Director of Professional Services Michele Tissiere to present “Creating the Engaged Classroom in Secondary Schools.” Conference-goer Liz Smith, pictured left, won a…

We recommend that educators spend time watching, reading, and thinking about “Core Elements of Teaching Practice in Student-Centered Learning.” In this project, produced in collaboration with Jobs for the Future and the Nellie Mae Education Foundation’s “Students at the Center” initiative, Kathleen Cushman and Barbara Cervone of What Kids Can Do documented practices in six high…

In many middle and high schools today, teachers and students are finding ways to discuss the difficult events in Ferguson, Missouri. If you’re reading this post today, you know what we mean, and in the unlikely case that a future reader may not be clear, we’re referring both to the announcement last night that a…

The November 2014 issue of Kappan features “Social-emotional skills can boost Common Core implementation,” in which Rutgers psychology professor Maurice Elias argues that social-emotional learning (SEL) skills and related learning are critical yet thus far ignored components of Common Core success. Writing that “the same skills being neglected in the implementation of the Common Core…

Based on the premise that positive relationships between middle and high school students and their teachers can lead to better educational outcomes, “Creating birds of similar feathers: Leveraging similarity to improve teacher-student relationships and academic achievement,” by Hunter Gehlbach, Maureen E. Brinkworth, Aaron King, Laura Hsu, Joe McIntyre, and Todd Rogers, focuses on a simple intervention…

In its October 17 show, the radio show and podcast “This American Life” aired “Is This Working?” which focused on the challenges presented by school discipline. The episode looks at a variety of challenges, suggesting that no one has a clear sense of what works well to keep young people safe, secure, and engaged. For…

To conclude our focus on Countering Bullying and Harassment: Skill-Based Lessons to Move from Bystander to Ally, in conjunction with National Bullying Prevention Month, we’re sharing thoughts from an interview with author and Engaging Schools professional services consultant Jane Harrison. Jane has over 40 years of experience in education as a teacher, mentor, adjunct university…

In our ongoing series in conjunction with National Bullying Prevention Month, we’ll consider recommendations that will help educators and school leaders to determine whether their classroom or school’s conditions will properly support a program that helps students identify, resist, and address various forms of bullying and harassment. While these recommendations were developed for and adapted from Countering Bullying and…

To help middle and high school educators access high-quality resources that will help them support students to recognize, resist, and address bullying and harassment, we’re following up on last week’s overview of Countering Bullying and Harassment: Skill-Based Lessons to Move from Bystander to Ally. Countering Bullying and Harassment, our pro-social, anti-bullying curriculum for sixth through tenth graders, shares an approach…

In conjunction with October’s status as National Bullying Prevention Month, we’re sharing a look inside our related publication, Countering Bullying and Harassment: Skill-Based Lessons to Move from Bystander to Ally. Engaging Schools published this curriculum, focused on grades 6-10, in 2013. Author Jane Harrison, who is also an Engaging Schools professional services consultant, brought her…

A recent WRVO public radio news report, “Syracuse school district has new discipline guidelines” shares news about the progress that the Syracuse, New York public schools have made toward creating more restorative, less punitive disciplinary measures. In collaboration with Engaging Schools’ Schoolwide Discipline and Student Support program, the district convened a 50-member task force that…

With support from the Nellie Mae Education Foundation and the Schott Foundation for Public Education, we’re delighted to share our new research paper, “Conditions and Considerations for Effective Development and Implementation of Personal Opportunity Plans by the Commonwealth, Districts, and Schools,” by Engaging Schools senior consultant Carol Miller Lieber. “Personal Opportunity Plans” contributes to the…

We are Engaging Schools—but what’s an engaging school? In our vision of an engaging school, staff members and everyone in the school community hold a collective belief that all students have wonder, are curious and interested, and have the capacity to become deeply engaged learners. In engaging schools, teaching and learning improve. Teachers use a…

Welcome to Engaging Schools, formerly known as Educators for Social Responsibility. We’re delighted to show you the result of nearly two years of planning and creation.  Why did we change our name? During the past several years, we came to understand that our name, Educators for Social Responsibility, confused people. Some people thought we were…