Spirits were high last week when Learning Studios teachers from Anne Arundel County, Maryland met to continue their work with their cross-curricular teams. NCTAF works with over twenty teachers at three middle schools in Anne Arundel County – Central, Old Mill South, and Lindale. NCTAF launched at these sites at the beginning of the 2012-2012 school year with the support of content experts from the U.S. Naval Academy and recently added the...

Join this interactive webinar to learn about new research supporting the value of teamwork to improve STEM teaching and learning. With support from NSF and in collaboration with WestEd, NCTAF conducted a two-year analysis of research studies about STEM teachers working together to strengthen their teaching and improve student achievement. The summary report, STEM Teachers in Professional Learning Communities, provides examples of projects...

On Monday, February 13th, fourteen schools from across New Hampshire continued to work on New Hampshire’s Next Generation (NxGL) Learning Studios, launched in January in partnership with NCTAF. Teams ranging from 2 to 10 teachers worked diligently throughout the day to fine-tune essential questions that students are investigating during the spring semester and to decide on action steps to be taken before the next meeting, scheduled for April...

Last week, Linda Darling-Hammond, co-founder of NCTAF and current board member, came to our offices to discuss the organizations history, its future, and some key issues in education reform. Darling-Hammond, the Charles E. Ducommun Professor of Teaching and Teacher Education at Stanford University, talked about why NCTAF was founded and the policy environment in which NCTAF’s seminal report, What Matters Most, was written and about the...

The fifth annual Great Teachers for Our City Schools National Summit, Building Community Support for Urban Student Success, will be held in Denver April 11-13. The goal of the Summit, which is put on by the Center for Urban Education, Metropolitan State College of Denver, is to build a national network where urban educators can share research findings, instructional practices, program strategies, policy initiatives and other resources aimed at...

This room in the depths of the NASA Goddard Visitor Center has no windows; but there’s no lack of natural light here. The energy of 30 middle and high school teachers, along with that of scientists, engineers and district personnel is palpable. The teachers work in their interdisciplinary teams as NASA scientists listen in and answer questions; talk of solar panels, clean energy, and the ozone permeates the room. An integral part of NCTAF’s...

NCTAF Launches New Website WASHINGTON, D.C. – January 26, 2012 The National Commission on Teaching & America’s Future (NCTAF) launched a new website today, to highlight the organization’s high-quality research, projects and partnerships. In addition, NCTAF’s blogis updated frequently with news, commentaries, and analysis of current trends in education. “For more than fifteen years, NCTAF has been a leader in the movement to...

An algebra teacher, a biology teacher, a media specialist, an English teacher, a social studies teacher, and an engineer are sitting around a table… Sound like the beginning of a bad joke? Actually, it is a recipe for ensuring that every student is provided quality teaching in a school organized for success. Bookmark on Delicious Digg this post Recommend on Facebook Share on Linkedin share via Reddit Share with Stumblers Tweet about it Subscri

What happens when teachers use mobile devices to connect to peers and mentors? This question is the driving force behind the Teachers Learning in Networked Communities 2.0 project that the National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future (NCTAF) launched this school year as an extension of the Teachers Learning in Networked Communities (TLINC) project. Read NCTAF’s full post on the Connected Educators Blog Bookmark on Delicious Digg...

The Wall Street Journal published a cynical attack on teacher compensation this week: “Public School Teachers Aren’t Underpaid” by Andrew G. Briggs and Jason Rich (November 8, 2011). The thrust of their argument is that teachers are underperformers who could not command higher compensation in other sectors of the workforce – and further, that in relation to any other job that they are qualified to hold, they are actually...

Many thanks to John Merrow for not accepting the overly simplistic argument that because increased use of technology in school doesn’t appear to yield increases in test scores, then technology is not worth the big bucks schools are spending on it. The central tenet of Merrow’s rebuttal of the September 4 New York Times article is right on: “Schools spend billions on technology but use it to do the same old stuff in more entertaining...

From Good Teachers to Great Teaching: STEM Teachers Thrive in Professional Learning Communities New NCTAF Research Supports Value of Teamwork to Improve Science and Mathematics Teaching and Learning WASHINGTON, D.C. – June 24, 2011 Congresswoman Donna Edwards and four other Congressional sponsors joined Barbara Olds (National Science Foundation), Brad Jupp (US Department of Education), Ted Imes (Northrop Grumman), Talia Milgrom-Elcott...