Sharing Best Practices

When COVID-19 forced schools to change how they facilitated learning, long-standing race and class divides in our educational systems became more distinct than ever. The Clark-Fox Policy Institute lead a discussion with Sharonica Hardin-Bartley, superintendent of University City School District; Terry Harris, executive director of student services at Rockwood School District; Sherita Love, founding director […]

Stagnant scores, frustrated students, daunted educators — such is the state of math education across the nation and in the region. That’s why the Institute for School Partnership at Washington University in St. Louis is introducing Math314, an innovative program that will improve math instruction and boost students’ enthusiasm for the subject.  

In St. Louis area schools, some students are far more likely to be suspended than those least at risk — 20, 30 or even 60 times more likely, finds a new study from the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis and Forward Through Ferguson.

William F. Tate, dean of the Graduate School and vice provost for graduate education, calls for the region to build a public-private “a brain regime” to protect the region’s children. Key recommendations including improving the region’s teachers, strengthening K-12 STEM education and reclaiming those students who have been pushed out of schools.

Cindy Brantmeier, professor of applied linguistics and education, has designed a social reading program that employs online games to help adolescent refugees and immigrants. The results are promising — test scores have improved along with student confidence.

Even the youngest students are ready to learn about climate science, according to Michael Wysession, professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis and executive director of the Teaching Center.

High school students need computer science skills, but who will teach them? The Institute for School Partnership is addressing Missouri’s desperate shortage of computer science educators through the Code.org professional learning program, which prepares educators with no coding experience to lead computer science classes. The need is urgent: only one-third of Missouri high schools offer computer science.

Ever wonder why some subjects are taught in high school while others are not, or why students spend so much time memorizing facts? According to Washington University geophysicist Michael Wysession, science curricula in the US are based on standards that are more than 120 years old, and being stuck in the past has had serious consequences. Wysession is bringing a new approach to science education to St. Louis and beyond.

A new health center at Normandy High School will provide students much-needed primary health care and behavioral health services. For the Sake of All, an initiative led by Jason Purnell of Washington University in St. Louis, has identified school-based health centers as a key strategy in tackling health inequities affecting African Americans in the St. Louis region.

In response to the Ferguson Commission’s call to improve college access, Washington University in St. Louis has launched the College Readiness and Pipeline Initiative. Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton says the initiative supports the university’s commitment to both serve the St. Louis community and to increase socio-economic diversity on campus.