How are you? Thank you for subscribing to the Irby Review and sharing your thoughts with me each month. Here are some interesting articles I read recently that I think would be of interest to you.
Superintendent Baron R. Davis of Richland Two School District in South Carolina is determined to hire more men of color in the district. He collaborates with The Call Me MISTER initiative, "Mentors Instructing Students Toward Effective Role Models" which recruits Black men to be teachers. "Davis has set an explicit goal to hire 100 more men of color in his district by 2024, as well as hold on to the Black men that the district already has on staff. While many districts talk about the importance of creating a diverse teaching staff, Richland Two’s measurable goals for recruitment and retention stand out." Read More
Can inadequate teachers prep training contribute to our children's reading failures? The Education Commission and lawmakers in Colorado made a commitment to improving reading proficiency in their state and one way they began to do so was by examining and cracking down on how teacher preparation programs cover reading. Colorado is now among six states participating in an effort called the The Path Forward at the Barksdale Reading Institute, whose goal is to strengthen reading prep programs for prospective educators. The Path Forward promotes:
1) Science-backed reading instruction
2) Collaboration among states
3) Enforcing individual state requirements- ( For example, Mississippi requires graduates of teaching prep programs to pass tests on reading instruction in order to earn a teaching license) ReadMore
A team at the Reading & Literacy Discovery Center at Cincinnati Children's Hospital published a study in "Pediatrics" about a specially designed book which can be used to identify reading difficulties in pre-school children. The intent is to provide early literacy intervention, if necessary, similar to developmental intervention, especially among children from disadvantaged backgrounds. Early intervention can hopefully lead to enrollment in preschool programs and building home-reading routines. Read More
The author of this blog in "Education Post" is Daryl Howard, Ph.D., a public school educator and BOND Project leader in Maryland. Dr. Howard reflects upon his childhood visits to the barbershop with his dad, and the connections, awareness and life-long lessons he took away from these experiences. For Dr. Howard, the community barbershop was "like a schoolhouse of male educators." The surroundings were so inspiring and transformational that Dr. Howard now brings culturally responsive SEL (Social, Emotional, Learning) sessions into his classroom. His engaging SEL lessons embed tools that are needed to succeed in life like getting along with others, optimism and consequential thinking. Read More
Please share your thoughts by replying to this email. I'd love to hear your thoughts about any of these articles and how you are coping during the pandemic.
