This month’s Education Spotlight is centered on Northern Cass School District’s Innovation Fund project to create Alternative Graduation Pathways. This project combines funding from SEEC’s Innovation Fund and the district’s own entrepreneurship, to create an educational system for learners that focuses on Personalized Competency-Based Learning (PCBL). Personalized Competency-Based Learning is assessing a learner based on the specific competencies which the district is working to align to priority standards, rather than the traditional credit hours. We met with Dr. Cory Steiner, the Superintend ..read more

Small investments in coaching can support high-quality programming in out-of-school time settings. The North Dakota Afterschool Network supports any regularly scheduled programming, with an education enrichment component, serving youth ages 5-18 outside of the typical school day. We work with afterschool and summer learning programs, schools, businesses, and other stakeholders to increase access to high-quality opportunities across the state. High-quality programming can reinforce what is taught during the school day; provide youth with the opportunity to explore interests; keep youth safe; an ..read more

This is a continuation of a previous article. Click here to catch up! One of the things we hear from our LETRS participants is how they wished they had left college with more information about how to follow the science to teach reading. Although preservice educators are not necessarily ready for the deep knowledge covered in LETRS, the recent Reading Foundations report from NCTQ reveals that we do have room for improvement in ensuring that the SOR practices are adequately addressed in the required classes for students in elementary, early childhood, and special education programs across our st ..read more

“Oh, this is just another swing of the pendulum,” is something that I have uttered more times than I can count over the last 16 years. Each year when the new shiny initiative is announced at professional development days or conferences, there is a little voice in the back of my mind that questions how long this will last. If you have been in the field of education (at any level) for more than a few years you have seen firsthand how research, funding, training opportunities, and administrative support can ebb and flow between areas of focus. You may have even had these thoughts yourself. As an ..read more

The SEEC will be forming an emerging technology working group in early 2024. Through our work in the region and across our state, we believe there’s an organizational need to understand the SEEC’s current capacity and future needs relating to support and capacity building with technology integration across school districts. The topics would include but are not limited to; AI in Education: Defining and Understanding how the technology is rapidly evolving. Personalized Learning: Explore how AI can be used to create personalized learning experiences for students, adapting to their individual nee ..read more

This month’s education spotlight focuses on Lisbon’s 21CCLC Program which highlights how district program design combined with grant funding can impact student achievement. Addressing the Need: The genesis of Lisbon’s 21CCLC Afterschool Program stemmed from a pressing need to close skill gaps in fundamental subjects—reading and math—at Lisbon Elementary School. Superintendent Justin Fryer highlighted research emphasizing the effectiveness of afterschool programming, particularly for students in grades K-3. The aim was to boost proficiency levels on the NDSA, empowering the district to bridge a ..read more

Theory: Continuous school improvement in education can seem to be a daunting task at times. However, we can take lessons from those that have gone before us to understand the theory behind this improvement process. One of the first steps in understanding the improvement process is to have a sound understanding of what it means to take action. In the philosopher’s note, “The Art of Taking Action”, Brian Johnson outlined 5 big ideas that allow us to dive into the theory. To embrace these ideas, we must be willing to accept our thoughts and feelings rather than fight what goes on in our minds – w ..read more

Educators in the NDSoR: Accelerating Skilled Disciplinary Writers professional learning opportunity joined Dr. Ruslana Westerlund for their first in-person learning experience in October. This course invites educators to hone their practice of teaching writing by understanding two theoretical models: The Teaching and Learning Cycle, and Systemic Functional Linguistic Genre Pedagogy. If those sound like two big ideas, that’s because they are! The Teaching and Learning Cycle provides educators with a framework for their writing instruction. The Genre Pedagogy indicates that every type of text we ..read more

Regional Education Associations (REAs) are not unique to just North Dakota. SEEC is part of a national effort of Education Service Agencies (ESAs) which are in 45 states in the US. The Association of Educational Service Agencies serves as the professional hub for the 553 ESAs in the country. At the core of AESA’s mission is to facilitate connections among ESAs, transcending state boundaries to collectively address challenges impacting education. Recently, in October, representatives from the Midwest region gathered in Madison, WI, to learn about the initiatives taking place in neighboring stat ..read more