Teachers have a history of being underappreciated and overworked. Teaching in and beyond the pandemic has been particularly thankless and unsustainable, as schools respond to the unfinished learning needs of their kids while curricula became a political football. Teacher job satisfaction hit an all-time low last year. Unsurprisingly, teachers flocked to virtual schools during the […]
Improving Teacher Morale in Virtual Schools Read More »
Amanda Pelukas joined Plymouth-Canton Community Schools (P-CCS) in Michigan to transform P-CCS’ Virtual Academy. “COVID remote learning,” as Pelukas described it, needed to improve. Instead of solving the problem on their own, Pelukas and her team joined a network of peers facing similar challenges called Strategy Lab. Months later, Pelukas and the P-CCS virtual team
Learning Alongside Others Sparks Plymouth-Canton’s Virtual Redesign Read More »
How do you unite a diverse set of organizations that believe in the same cause but haven’t worked collectively yet? And how do you ensure meaningful change and impact results from bringing the leaders of these organizations together? This is exactly the challenge the organizers of the Educating All Learners Alliance (EALA) faced in launching
Using Design Thinking to Solve System Challenges Read More »
Recently, districts from across the U.S. converged at Dell’s Innovation Summit to tackle problems of practice around innovating in schools, including: designing innovative learning models, implementing new structures of high school through a conference-style approach, and creatively leveraging human capital. For one district, Newport News Public Schools, the challenge was clear — how could they
Innovating While Leading Schools is Hard – Lessons from Using ChatGPT Read More »
We are living in a tumultuous time for education. If you’re feeling more exhausted and frustrated than ever before, you are not alone. The COVID pandemic has created a marathon of emergencies and urgent initiatives, leaving educators and ed leaders stretched thin under continuous stress. As consultants to many of these leaders and school teams,
Sustainable Change, One Step at a Time Read More »
School and system leaders continue to face numerous trials and tribulations. While vaccines are finally available to most school-age kids, the 2021-22 school year continues to present uncertainty. Between navigating challenges with teacher burnout, shortages in critical positions, and ongoing closures due to the pandemic, the need to navigate through uncertainty with limited resources has
Solving Problems in Uncertain Times Read More »
Scott Milam is the co-founder and managing director of Afton Partners LLC, a professional services firm focused on forging an alignment between financial strategies and educational priorities. With over 25 years of experience providing management and advisory services for clients in the commercial and public sectors, Scott supports school districts, charter networks, state education agencies,
In response to the ways COVID-19 highlighted inequities in their schools, a small team of district leaders at Austin Independent School District embarked on a process to redesign elements of their teaching and learning to make school work better for more kids as part of the Always Ready for Learning Strategy Lab. Despite the daily
Four Safeguards for Schools to Make Equity Work Stick Read More »
The Learning Accelerator (TLA), in partnership with Bellwether Education Partners, is excited to announce the launch of the Always Ready for Learning Strategy Lab, a new networked learning community to accelerate the development of school system strategies and field learning towards a more resilient and equitable education future. We are deeply grateful for the opportunity
Blog: Introducing the Always Ready for Learning Strategy Lab Read More »
Throughout much of 2020, school and system leaders have encountered unprecedented challenges within both instruction and operations as schools work to navigate closure, and ultimately, school reopening. Through a networked community called the Always Ready For Learning Strategy Lab, The Learning Accelerator (TLA) and Bellwether Education Partners are working in partnership to support and learn
