Author: Reporter

Financial aid offer letters are supposed to tell families how much they will have to pay for college, which can be the deciding factor in where — or even whether — students go to college. But too often, the letters leave out important information and use terms that make it confusing to figure out the final cost.  Some student advocates say the letters are downright deceptive. Others believe the lack of consistent language causes confusion; each college has its own format with its own vocabulary. This can make it difficult to answer the critical question: How much will this cost…

Frustrated with reading countless AI-generated take-home essays and long ago disillusioned with scantrons, I plunged into oral exams this finals season. The classes were lower-division history courses: one comprised mostly of history majors, the other mostly students fulfilling a GE. Using Google Calendar, students picked half-hour time slots beginning the day after the last class and ending the day before my grade submission deadline. The 20 in-person slots quickly filled. These in-person slots occurred in our classroom during our allotted three hours followed by two hours in my office. Students naturally spread out evenly, though weekends were the least popular.…

contributed by Iryna Liusik, Early Childhood Educator — Linguistics & Emotional Development Series note: This is Part 1 of a two-part series: Part 2 offers a one-minute classroom observation routine that helps teachers notice comfort that makes early expression visible before assumptions become records. Introduction: In early childhood classrooms, the fastest mistake we make is treating silence as a single ‘thing.’ This piece offers a clearer interpretive lens for ‘quiet’ in multilingual learners — not to delay support, but to choose the right kind.  A Quiet Moment That Isn’t ‘Nothing’  During art time, a four-year-old holds a paintbrush but doesn’t…

contributed by Alan Davson ‘Anyone who has visited my classroom knows how much I love words. I teach multimedia arts, but I talk about words so much that most people assume I must be an English teacher. Over the years, no matter what subject I taught, I kept noticing the same pattern. My studentswere bright, creative, and capable, but they were often easily thrown when they encounteredunfamiliar words. Sometimes it only took one word to derail them. Some students could sound things out, but when asked to explain what the word meant, they would shut down. Some students could sound…

Creating Training Programs That Achieve Deeper Learning Great learning design makes every L&D interaction relevant, engaging, and personalized. But what are the key factors for building meaningful programs that not only achieve organizational goals but also improve long-term knowledge retention and deliver hands-on experience? The eLearning Designer’s Notebook delivers tips, best practices, and proven strategies to help you develop awesome performance training. eBook ReleaseeLearning Designer’s Notebook Explore theory, research, and practical guidance from revered leaders in the field for designing, creating, and evaluating awesome eLearning. Design eLearning Experiences That Make An Impact This guide features excerpts from Rethinking eLearning: What…

Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for The 74 Newsletter A few years back, a groundswell of Brooklyn parents in District 13 wanted to ditch gifted and talented classes, concerned about sorting and segregating children starting in kindergarten. Then-Superintendent Kamar Samuels, now chancellor of New York City schools, wanted to find an alternative that offered rigorous academics for all students in a school rather than a select few. He settled on the International Baccalaureate, or IB, program and encouraged schools in District 13, which spans from Brooklyn Heights to Bedford-Stuyvesant, to pursue the yearslong authorization…

Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for The 74 Newsletter In education, sometimes the most important things are the least glamorous. Student assessment and school accountability rarely make headlines the way new spending proposals or sweeping initiatives do. No fireworks. No standing ovations.   However, if state leaders are serious about improving outcomes for students, they need to make sure their policy plates are filled with the right solutions. Accountability is the broccoli on that plate. It may not be the first thing you reach for. You might not want to go back for seconds. But…

Violet Amoabeng ’09, ’11, two-time Shenandoah Business School alumna, was named The Global Good Fund 2026 Fellow. The Global Good Fund Fellowship is a 12-month hybrid leadership program for social entrepreneurs around the world. It accelerate leaders who relentlessly tackle the most pressing social issues to create a more sustainable and just future for all. Each leader receives professional executive coaching, c-suite business mentorship, $10,000 to spend exclusively on their leadership development, customized tools, resources, training and networking opportunities to scale their social impact. Amoabeng received a Bachelor of Business Administration from Shenandoah in 2009 and a Master of Business Administration in 2011. After earning her…

You”ve spent years in classrooms, co-planning with teachers, analyzing data, and leading professional development. Now you’re ready for your next instructional coaching opportunity — and you need a resume that reflects the depth of that work. The challenge? Most instructional coaches write resumes that look like teaching resumes. And while your classroom experience matters, school leaders and hiring committees are looking for something more: evidence that you can move adult learners, shift instructional culture, and drive measurable student outcomes. Here’s how to build an instructional coaching resume that gets you in the door. 1. Start with a Powerful Professional Summary…

How AI Makes Training Effective Artificial Intelligence, or AI, is significantly changing the way enterprises operate, including Learning and Development (L&D). The Learning and Development industry currently has a global value of more than $350 billion. In cloud-native organizations, with the pace of technological change, distributed working, and shortening skill half-lives, employees must constantly learn new skills. AI-powered learning tools aim to address longstanding issues of inflexibility, irrelevance, and lack of measurable impact. Hyper‑Personalized Learning Experiences The traditional “one-size-fits-all” approach to training is no longer suitable in a diverse workforce environment. AI can analyze an individual’s skills, career aspirations, and…