In the first round of Race to the Top, Tennessee and Delaware were selected to receive grants for education reform. At the end of this round, a few more states have made it across the finish line.

Last Tuesday, August 25, the Department of Education announced the ten winners of the second round of Race to the Top, the Obama administration’s program designed to encourage reforms in K-12 education...

This tip was originally featured in an Eye On Education Insights eNewsletter. 

Frank Buck’s popular book Get Organized! Time Management for School Leaders is reviewed by Justin Baeder on his blog “Eduleadership” which covers topic related to “principal performance and productivity.”

The post, entitled “Get Organized! Great Book on Time Management for School Leaders,” hails Buck’s title as a great read for educators about to begin a new school year. “[Buck’s] advice,” writes Baeder, “is applicable to anyone in school leadership.” Baeder also says that he recommended the book during his presentation at the Washington Association of School Administrators and Association of Washington School Principals Summer Conference.

Franklin Schargel appeared on KOB-TV New Mexico to talk about his new book, 162 Keys to School Success. "Eye On New Mexico" hosts Nicole Brady and Stuart Dyson spoke with Schargel about what it means to teach to every student, as well what school administrators should look for in new teachers.

"Benchmark the attributes of quality teachers," Schargel said in the August 22 interview. "What are the qualities of the teachers you most admire?" Schargel encourages administrators to keep looking for those qualities in new hires.

What do you say to your students during the first week of school? Below Hal Holloman and Peggy H. Yates, authors of What Do You Say When? Best Practice Language for Improving Student Behavior, share a tip about setting high expectations for students.

We asked our authors for their expert advice on what teachers can do in the beginning of the school year to start off on the right foot. If you have any questions that you would like to ask our authors, please comment below or e-mail us at insights@eyeoneducation.com.

What can teachers do in the first days of the new school year to set the tone for student success?

Barbara R. Blackburn
Author of Classroom Instruction from A to Z and Rigor is NOT a Four-Letter Word

Connect with your students in a new way with vision letters. Ask them to imagine it is the last day of school. Then, tell them to write a letter to a friend, a relative, or even to you describing why it was the best year ever! Why was being in the ______ grade the best? It's a great way to connect with them and also with their goals...

Frank Buck
Author of Get Organized! Time Management for School Leaders

Sixteen years of my educational career were spent as a building-level administrator. Without reservation, I can say that not only is the tone for the year set during the first few days, but that the principal is largely responsible for setting that tone. It is during these few days that the principal must take on the role of a “VIP.”

Eye On Education has just published a new collection of Annette Breaux's poems, 101 Poems for Teachers. The book is illustrated by L. Susan Brandt. Read below for a poem and strategy.

This tip was originally featured in an Eye On Education Insights eNewsletter.

A Very Clever Teacher

We had to draw a picture one day,
and I couldn’t decide what to draw...

On August 10th, 2010 US Secretary of State Arne Duncan told reporters of a "streamlined" application process for states and school districts to obtain their slice of $10 billion. This money, allocated for the Education Jobs Fund under the "Edujobs" bill, will provide assistance to states to help save or create new education jobs for the upcoming school year. Using the application, states can designate if their share will be distributed through Title I or though each states education funding formula.

Tales from a Teacher's Heart is a series of movies that tell heartwarming stories about students, school, and teachers like you. From the lives of our authors, these true stories celebrate and explore all the ways teachers make a difference. Eye On Education has produced 20 Tales from a Teacher's Heart movies over the past three years. Here are the top five videos decided by you. Enjoy!

If you do book studies for professional development, consider reading the book Teach Me, I Dare You! by Judith Allen Brough, Sherrel Bergmann, and Larry C. Holt. It offers many research-based strategies for motivating and connecting with students. To help help teachers and leaders work through the book together, the authors have provided discussion questions for Chapter 5 below...

 John Strebe’s book, Engaging Mathematics Students Using Cooperative Learning, has been given a positive review on Cossondra George’s blog, “Middle School, day by day from a teacher’s point of view.”

George says, “Strebe does a great job of engaging the reader with his writing style that moves quickly from item to item leaving you with just enough information to understand the topic, without bogging you down with too many details.”

In a post reprinted by the ETC Journal , a cooperative blog for educational technology and change, 162 Keys to School Success author and consultant Franklin Schargel critiques aspects of current education reform, particularly the call for an increase in the number of charter schools per state.

The idea of working to raise academic rigor schoolwide rather than simply at the classroom level may seem daunting to many principals and administrators. According to teachers and authors Ronald Williamson and Barbara Blackburn (author of Rigor is Not a Four-Letter Word ), what these educators need are specific, proven tools to empower them to effect positive instructional change...