To empower families to play a more informed and active role in their children’s education, North Elementary adopted WestEd’s Academic Parent–Teacher Teams system. Through APTT, teachers provide families with targeted strategies and resources to use with their children to reinforce academic goals.
A new WestEd study found that families using PBS KIDS digital and hands-on learning materials with their preschoolers were able to boost the children’s math achievement and better prepare them for kindergarten.
Andrew Latham, Director of the federal Center on Standards and Assessments Implementation, offers timely guidance on implementing and understanding the Smarter Balanced and PARCC assessments.
As state departments of education take on increasingly complex roles, the need for outside assistance has grown. A national network of comprehensive technical assistance centers draws on years of experience to provide the most effective support for states.
Leadership training focused on turnaround can make a difference, but districts serving large numbers of disadvantaged students face considerable challenges in sustaining improvements over the long haul.
“The face of the country is changing dramatically,” says Aída Walqui, director of WestEd’s Teacher Professional Development Program. According to data from the Economic Policy Institute, for example, the percentage of Latinos in the U.S. will increase by more than 300 percent in the next 15 years.