Posts by dorreendembski@gmail.com
Moving Beyond NCLB: Creating Education Imagineers
By Thomas A. Butler, Ph.D., Executive Director, Appalachia Intermediate Unit 8, Altoona, PA Editor’s Note: This Perspectives article is part of a series. Please also read the related research article Getting Better Together: Innovations for Rural Learners and Communities Education Imagineers view education through a lens of possibility. Let’s be charitable and say that No Child Left…
Read MoreFinding Innovations in Rural School Districts; 3 “Es” the ESA Can Do
Editor’s Note: This Perspectives article is part of a series dedicated to rural schools. Please also read the related research article Getting Better Together: Innovations for Rural Learners and Communities, By Thomas A. Butler, Ph.D., Executive Director, Appalachia Intermediate Unit 8, Altoona, PA “If it wasn’t for the Intermediate Unit, our school district would not be able…
Read MoreGetting Better Together: Innovations for Rural Learners and Communities
Citation: Harmon, H. L., & Butler, T. A. (2019). Getting better together: Innovations for rural learners and communities. Perspectives: A Journal of Research and Practice of Educational Service Agencies, Volume 25(1). By Hobart L. Harmon Thomas A. Butler Is your Educational Service Agency (ESA) getting better at meeting the needs of school districts? Are educated learners…
Read MoreInnovative College and Career Readiness in Appalachia
By Dr. Rebecca Roach, Associate Director, Kentucky Educational Development Corporation D.J. was a new student, and like many students attending a new high school, he was not doing well. Although he demonstrated academic potential, he showed little interest in school and even less interest in college. Then Lana Sowders, the Youth Career Connect (YCC) Career…
Read MoreA Historic Look: Creating Pathways to Becoming an Antiracist Multicultural Organization (Part II)
Part 2 of a 2-part series By Melia LaCour Executive Director, Equity in Education, Puget Sound Educational Service District Over a decade ago, the Puget Sound Educational Service District (PSESD) launched a monumental mission to become an Antiracist Multicultural Organization (ARMCO). The early stages of this prolific journey, as captured in Part One of…
Read MorePassion Based Learning
A Practical Way for Educators to Empower Learners By Andi McNair, Digital Innovation Specialist, Education Service Center Region 12 Advancements in technology have altered the way growing minds learn today. With an average student attention span of eight seconds and instant access to information, it is critical that their reality drives our approach for how…
Read MoreThe Iowa AEA State Network: A Model Regional Governance Entity
The Iowa AEA State Network: A Model Regional Governance Entity Ronald S. Fielder, Ph.D. Robert “Bob” Stephens, Ph.D. Posthumous, March 16, 1929 – February 8, 2017 August 25, 2016 Revised May, 2018 This is the revised Executive Summary of a much more comprehensive article/monograph finalized in August of 2016. The full article is available from AESA and/or…
Read MoreFinding Teachers in Our Own Back Yard
One agency’s solution to the teacher shortage crisis in Washington state Washington’s demand for teachers increased by 250 percent between 2010 and 2015, according to Washington state’s Professional Educator Standards Board (PESB) (WA Office of PI, April 2018). School district human resources directors attested to the need in a fall 2016 survey by the state…
Read MoreA Historic Look: Creating Pathways to Becoming an Antiracist Multicultural Organization (Part I)
(Part I of a two-part series) By Melia LaCour Executive Director, Equity in Education, Puget Sound Educational Service District Educational Service Agencies (ESAs) are uniquely positioned to provide catalytic leadership for widespread, socially just, educational transformation. By building their own capacity to dismantle the institutional racism entrenched in our educational system, ESAs, in collaboration…
Read MoreIncreasing Social Capital in Appalachia
Developing an understanding of what conditions are necessary for student agency to have an impact on community vitality By Joseph Goins Executive Summary In the spring of 2017, Digital Promise, along with the Kauffman Foundation, sponsored a planning grant to research the nature of education innovation clusters (EICs). The research was aimed at addressing the…
Read More