Greetings!
In order to continue to receive our newsletters, please be sure to subscribe to our mailing list. To learn more about the David C. Anchin Center, please visit our website.
Featured in this newsletter:
- Research Brief: Keeping Students' Attention in the Classroom, David Rosengrant, Ed.D.
- Policy Brief: Equity, Effectiveness, and Control: The Every Student Succeeds Act and State Approaches to Defining School Turnaround, William Black, Ph.D. and Adam Rea, Ph.D.
- Technology Integration in Mathematics to Promote Mathematical Proficiency and Computational Thinking
- AP Summer Institute Highlights
- Upcoming Professional Development Offerings
- Leadership Collaborative
- Conference Save the Date, Third Annual David C. Anchin Center Conference
- What We're Reading & Watching
Keeping Students' Attention in the Classroom, by David Rosengrant, Ed.D.
We have all probably heard the old teacher adage that you only get your students’ attention for the first 15 minutes of class and then you lose them. Educators understand that attention, and keeping it, is a critical part to learning. Teachers want our students to focus on something, and regardless if they do it because they want to or because there is an outside force, it cannot be kept forever. What is interesting though, is that this 15 minute loss in attention is usually researched outside of classroom situations where the presentation methods have little variations in them.
That is not to say that we have not studied classroom attention. Some methods in the past to study attention involved looking at student notes, instructors observing their students and how they think their students are paying attention, or using technology like clickers where students self-report their levels of attention6. These are just a few examples and the results are really mixed. As one might expect, there is a great deal of variability on keeping attention... Read more
Equity, Effectiveness, and Control: The Every Student Succeeds Act and State Approaches to Defining School Turnaround, by William Black, Ph.D. and Adam Rea, Ph.D.
Over the last three decades, State Education Agencies and State legislatures have taken more active roles in creating policies to measure and define school performance. Guided by federal policy inducements, states have developed policies to evaluate school-level performance and define schools in need of improvement as well as the lowest performing schools in need of turnaround. In this policy brief, we provide an analysis of 52 state plans
submitted and approved under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) of 2015.
ESSA called on all 52 states educational agencies to detail specific turnaround plans for struggling schools. Our analysis of state plans focuses on variations in state-level definition and framing of three categories of school status determinations for schools in need of improvement: TSI-Targeted Support and Intervention; CSI-Comprehensive Support and
Intervention; and MRI-More Rigorous Intervention. We conducted a content analysis of the approved plans from the 52 state agencies. After an initial inductive review, we found that states’ approaches to the three categories of TSI, CSI, and MRI were central to turnaround school policy.
Given the enormously disproportionate percentage of low income and students of color attending schools in TSI, CSI, and MRI status, it can be argued that state-level plans for turnaround interventions represent a de facto state level policy lever for more equitable
outcomes. While ESSA was designed to provide greater flexibility to states, and state-level and contextually sensitive flexibility is desirable, our analysis reveals a significant and wide variation in categorical definitions and identification of turnaround schools... Read more
 |  |  |
 |  |  |
AP Environmental Science Facilitator: Scott Sowell | AP Chemistry Facilitator: Jordan Rose | AP Biology Facilitator: Audra Brown Ward |
AP Environmental Science
AP Chemistry
AP Biology
Growing Readers and Supporting Independent Reading
- August 22, 2022
- 6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. EST
- Free to attend
Cultivating Leaders and Intentional Culture
Supercharge your school with student leaders who can positively impact your school’s culture! Cultivating Leaders and Intentional Culture (CLIC) is partnering with the David C. Anchin Center for the Advancement of Teaching to offer a pilot student leadership institute program for interested schools. CLIC has been successfully operating in schools in both Pasco County and Hillsborough County, and we’re looking to expand this opportunity to the broader Tampa Bay area.
When students understand the value of building relationships to meet school-wide goals, the goals are more meaningful. Students who are an integral part in implementation and execution of their school's improvement plan have a true feeling of ownership towards the school and its mission. Creating a culture of empowered, compassionate, and confident students will also generate a legacy of leaders who enter high school to learn, and depart to serve their respective communities. CLIC is designed to develop leaders who will create positive relationships, community connections, and intentional kindness in and out of the classroom.
- August 27, 2022
- 9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. EST
- TECO Hall, College of Education, USF Tampa Campus
- Lunch will be provided
- Free to attend
Understanding the Science of Reading: Implications for Explicit, Systematic, and Multisensory Literacy Instruction and Intervention
- September 5 - October 14, 2022
- Online and self-paced
- Registration: $295
This online professional development course is designed for classroom teachers to explore the science of reading and developmental models of reading.
A focus on phonological/phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary development, comprehension, and foundational, inclusive literacy practices are central topics we will explore throughout the 6-week session. Through the exploration of these topics, teachers will consider implications for explicit, systematic literacy instruction and multisensory literacy interventions for children with decoding difficulties, dyslexia, and broader reading challenges.
The goal of this course is to provide a platform for practicing teachers to explore flexible and skillful use of developmentally appropriate instructional strategies for planning inclusive, responsive, and culturally relevant instruction for all students.
The Science of Reading professional development course satisfies the Florida Department of Education’s 40-hour learning hours requirement in reading instruction. Florida statute 6A-4.0051 requires 40 hours of professional learning “in the use of explicit, systematic, and sequential approaches to reading instruction, developing phonemic awareness, and implementing multisensory intervention strategies” for recertification of teachers renewing various teaching certifications (e.g., elementary education, primary education, middle grades, education, English education, reading, and others).
Reading K-12 Exam Preparation
Minds-in-Motion
- October 22, 2022
- 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
- USF College of Education, TECO Hall, Tampa campus
- Registration: $150
Leadership Collaborative
The Leadership Collaborative will be holding its fall meeting in early September online for discussion related to new legislative requirements for teacher recertification, upcoming professional development opportunities, and shared strategies in support of teaching and learning.
About the David C. Anchin Center for the Advancement of Teaching
