Professional Learning and Leading Collaborative

The Friday Institute for Educational Innovation at NC State University’s College of Education conducted site visits at four schools (Ed Tech High School, Washington High School, P.S. Jones Middle School, and John Small Elementary School) in Beaufort County, North Carolina. Beaufort County Schools (BCS) is a rural school district located in the southeastern part of the state with 14 schools and 6,673 students. Our team interviewed teachers, students, and administrators in Beaufort to learn how BCS are providing equitable learning opportunities for all students.

Despite decades of school reform initiatives focused on closing the racialized achievement gap, Black, Latinx, and Indigenous students continue to experience systemic barriers to a…

The Friday Institute for Educational Innovation (FI) is providing professional learning opportunities for district leaders, principals and teachers in rural districts, recognizing that rural educators need professional learning opportunities that may differ from their suburban and urban counterparts.The FI’s work in Wyoming and Tennessee highlights how the creation of a professional learning cohort, professional learning networks (PLNs) and coaching can help rural schools and districts support principals and teachers to positively impact teaching and learning.

Across the state of North Carolina, there are educators whose role goes beyond improving learning experiences for K-12 students, including the teachers of those students. Some educators have titles like Instructional Technology Facilitator or Library Media Coordinator. Some educators have a full slate of classes they teach, using their planning periods to work with their peers and colleagues, while some educators devote their full day to working with teachers, and yet others are somewhere in between. From August to June, their presence is seen and felt on the campuses they serve. These teachers are instructional coaches and they are one of the greatest influencers of change within their respective districts.

Methods, suggestions and ideas to better reach and engage your Latin families during the COVID-19 crisis

Due to high rates of poverty, low levels of educational attainment and unemployment, many rural school districts face significantly different challenges in educating students than their suburban and urban counterparts. The Professional Learning and Leading Collaborative at the Friday Institute has worked with and across rural communities to address the needs of schools and districts. In this brief, the authors share practical suggestions for improving professional learning opportunities at a school.

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the suspension of face-to-face instruction in schools around the globe, requiring schools and educators to begin teaching online with little to no time for professional development to aid them in the transition. Literature nationwide reveals that while educators transitioned quickly from traditional face-to-face learning to digital platforms for remote teaching, many were ill-prepared, and in too many instances educational experiences were deficient in best practices for online learning (Foulger et al., 2020). This study (Insight Study), an exploratory qualitative study, was conducted to better understand the classroom, school and district-level challenges North Carolina educators were facing one year into the pandemic. A total of 18 educators participated in the study, including classroom educators across nine disciplines, representing seven of the eight educational districts in North Carolina. Data were collected from 60-minute semi-structured individual interviews and focus groups facilitated virtually via Zoom during fall 2021. Overwhelmingly, study participants wanted more support for themselves and their colleagues concerning engaging with their students given their “new normal” of COVID-19. They shared their current areas of growth, ways in which they believe the current political landscape is impacting these areas of growth, and which online professional development design features they feel are most impactful to their growth and development.

The Instructional Principles for Remote Teaching & Learning provide guidance to schools and districts during the COVID-19 crisis.

Although female and male students perform equally well on standardized math and science tests, the middle school years prove to be a pivotal time when girls lose confidence and interest in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). Nevertheless, these challenges present middle schools with an opportunity to intentionally change the tide and promote STEM to middle school girls in newfound ways.

This brief highlights nine key lessons from the case study “Becoming Embedded In What We Do” The Implementation and Impact of the Learning Differences Program at Centennial Campus Magnet Middle School in Raleigh, North Carolina. In analyzing the data, the Friday Institute found nine key lessons from CCMMS Learning Differences program implementation that may help future schools and districts as they design their implementation strategies, namely:

What does it take? What do District leaders need to do to prioritize meaningful steps forward toward personalizing learning? Personalized learning seems such an overwhelmingly distant vision. It can be difficult to see (and plan) the steps forward. The future vision is so far off that often all we see are today’s barriers right in front of us. The personalization vision appeals to us. We want to get there. But we need some practical paths to pursue. What are some organizing principles that District leaders can use to begin to negotiate those barriers and guide everyone closer to the vision? In 2016, the Personalized Learning Summit hosted by the Friday Institute in partnership with Digital Promise and the Oak Foundation, brought students, teachers, district leaders and industry experts together to address these hard questions. Over the course of three days participants created a vision for personalized learning and outlined organizing principles that can provide practical steps forward. This paper provides a pathway district leaders can follow to move forward with personalized learning in their schools.

There is growing attention to the positive impacts of implementing social and emotional learning and sensory integration techniques in schools. The authors intend for this case study to showcase the design thinking and continuous improvement process at Rocky River Elementary school and the keys to success.

This case study examines in-depth the participating districts in Cohort 3 of the 2021 Early Learning Network (ELN), an inter-district network focused on redesigning learning environments to better address the early learning needs of vulnerable children. Over the course of the 2021 calendar year, The Innovation Project (TIP) and The Friday Institute developed and implemented this network and provided individual coaching for district leaders.

Massive Online Open Courses for Educators (MOOC-Eds) provide a new form of professional development for educators that balances research-based practices for high-quality professional development with new types of social learning. In this paper we consider the value that educators find through their participation in a Learning Differences MOOC-Ed and examine the design elements of the MOOC-Ed that supported their growth and impact on practice.

This case study details the implementation and impact of the Learning Differences program at Manning Elementary School (MES) in Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina. Section one provides an overview of the Learning Differences program. Section two describes how the Learning Differences program was implemented at MES and how data were collected. Section three draws on qualitative and quantitative data to illustrate the program’s impact on MES teachers and students. Section four discusses the seven key lessons learned from the implementation process. The authors intend for this case study to be a practical resource that schools and districts can reference as they implement their own learning differences initiatives.