It’s impossible to know exactly what new jobs will exist in the future. Many of the high-paying careers that exist now weren’t around just 20 years ago. What is easier to figure out is that more and more of these positions will involve highly-specialized computing and programming skills. Thus, in order to give students a leg-up for the future they’ll inherit, we need to be thinking much more deeply about computer science. Sorry, but settling for typing skills is so 1990.

Where can we find an excellent vision for what computer science might look like for your students? Look no further than Republic Schools, a charter operator in Tennessee and Mississippi. It is clear from the discussion that follows that Republic has thought deeply about how the future will look and has concluded that bold action is required to make sure its students are at the front. Let’s explore Republic’s Manifesto in more detail.

States across the country have struggled with encouraging innovation in their schools. But not in Indiana. A few years back, Indianapolis Public Schools became the first school district in the nation to implement an innovation network. This is a collection of schools that have the authority to make all operational decisions within their buildings but that still report to the school district. In this piece, we chat with Aleesia Johnson, the Innovation Officer at IPS, about examples of innovation in its schools. Specifically, we learn how schools are including student choice and voice in their curriculums, immersing students in culturally rich experiences, and increasing the developmental coaching teachers are receiving.

Through years of research and practice around strategic resource use, Education Resource Strategies (ERS) has found that high-performing, high-growth schools use their resources – people, time, and money – in ways that look very different from the status quo. In this piece, we’ll be reviewing some of the key findings from their report on the issue: Designing Schools That Work. Specifically, we’ll cover its recommendations around teacher collaboration, talent management, personalizing student learning, and creating a responsive learning community.

We all know the importance of strong student relationships. And we’ve all been shown a plethora of techniques to help create them. But we’re willing to bet one of the most important strategies for doing this is one you haven’t spent much time thinking about. It’s as simple as focusing on a student’s strengths! And in this piece, we provide advice and resources from Chris Wejr, one of education’s leading experts on strengths-based education, on exactly how to do it.

In the first part of our conversation with Prof. Rick Kubina, we discussed a field of education called precision teaching and showed how writing “pinpoints” can better produce desired student outcomes. In this follow-up piece, we explore how educators can improve the measurement and display of student behaviors. Specifically, we discuss four ways to better count student behaviors, the power of using ratio graphs, and a set of recommended resources. Enjoy Part 2 with Prof. Kubina!

Did you know that less than 11% of U.S. high schools offer a computer science course? And that the main reasons schools cite for not offering one is because they can’t find the right curriculum or they don’t have a teacher who is certified to teach it. Today we’re showcasing Zulama, a platform that solves both of these problems! Through its courses, designed in partnership with Carnegie Mellon, students navigate their way through engaging assignments and projects to develop skills in the areas of programming and design.

Today we’re chatting with Andrew Goodin, a Personal Learning Coach on the Design Thinking Team at Purdue Polytechnic high school, a brand-new learning model where students learn to problem-solve and think critically through real-world design challenges. And in today’s piece, we do a deep dive on the tools and resources that Andrew and his team use to implement their curriculum! Specifically, Andrew provides us with all the resources a school (or teacher) would need to start their own makerspace, the best STEM resources to support such a program, and numerous ideas to encourage more student tinkering! If you’re wanting to bring a makerspace to your school or dramatically improve STEM education for your students, you don’t want to miss this conversation!

BookNook is a brilliant tool that is reinventing one-on-one and small group reading instruction. And in today’s piece, we’re going to show you 7 different ways that it can revolutionize reading at your school. If your teachers are looking for a way to facilitate more reading time for their students, then this is definitely a piece you’ll want to share with them. Also, from now to the end of the school year, BookNook is making Thriving Schools readers a special offer to trial the platform for free. Read on to learn how to take advantage of this opportunity!

If you’re looking for a new program that’ll spark an improvement in student culture at your school, today’s piece is just for you! We’re sharing the Middle School Kindness Challenge, a new resource provided by Stand for Children that’s full of activities and exercises to promote positivity, empathy, and strong peer relationships. And our timing couldn’t be better – April 15th is the late day to register for the spring 2018 cycle. Enjoy this piece on how to bring kindness and compassion to your school!

Today we’re speaking with Sarah Rosskamm, President and Founder of Hendy Avenue Consulting, about the use of student surveys in evaluating teachers. In this piece, Sarah shares with us what to do (and what not to do) when soliciting student feedback. Specifically, you’ll learn how to gain staff support for using student surveys, how to implement them most effectively, and see numerous examples of well written survey questions. If you’re interested in finding a way to include student voice in the evaluation of your staff, our interview with Sarah is a great place to start!

Today we’re chatting with Tim Schwarz, expert educator and instructional leadership coach. We begin this wide-ranging discussion by examining the tools Tim used with the Achievement Network to help school leaders improve their instructional leadership. From there, we launch into a discussion on how to support students to do the deep processing necessary to learn at the highest level. Specifically, Tim gives us ideas on how to structure class so that teachers aren’t just “giving away” answers and how to support students who are years behind grade level with their reading and writing skills.

Indianapolis has been garnering significant attention over the last few years for its leadership and innovation in education. And that’s why today we’re excited to be chatting with Andrew Goodin, a Personal Learning Coach on the Design Thinking Team at Purdue Polytechnic high school, a brand-new learning model where students learn to problem-solve and think critically through real-world design challenges. In this piece, we take an in-depth look at Purdue Polytechnic high school, how it hopes to reinvent the high school experience, and how the school goes about creating its student design challenges. If you believe that creativity and critical thinking are foundational to the future of learning, then you’ll definitely want to read how Purdue Polytechnic is shaping the school experiences of tomorrow!