This article discusses the role that a well-designed professional learning program can play in increasing teacher satisfaction—and thus teacher retention. Corbin Edginton, the manager of professional learning delivery for strategic accounts, and Lindsay Prendergast, a former school leader and current professional learning consultant for NWEA, share their experiences working in the country’s fifth-largest district.

In an exclusive webinar designed for administrators, NWEA literacy experts Dr. Cindy Jiban and John Luke Bell, led an engaging, research-based exploration of the science of reading. They also walked through strategies to build buy-in, level up and expand a team’s instructional practices, and sustain the change.

In this episode of The Continuing Educator, we talk to a working educator about the importance of family literacy and strategies for increasing it. Our guest Martin Silverman is the principal at Salinas Elementary School in Universal City, TX, and has worked as a teacher in both urban and rural schools. From his own experiences growing up, he saw the importance of literacy as a focus in families and has sought to revitalize that practice in the families of his students.

What are digital and disciplinary literacy, and why are they so important right now? We dive into these questions with Laura B. Hansen, director of Teaching and Learning Connections at NWEA.

The essence of family literacy is that parents are supported as the first teachers of their children.” Family Literacy is the idea that long after diapers and baby steps, our children have so much to learn by watching, observing, and collaborating with trusted adults at home, particularly when it comes to building a strong foundation for reading with confidence. On this episode, we dive deeper into this idea and share the how and why of building and sustain robust family literacy practices.

On this episode, we explore literacy instruction, the science of reading, early childhood literacy, and the differences between skills-focused and knowledge-focused classrooms. Our two guests are passionate leaders in the field: Dr. Lynne Kulich, Director of Early Learning at NWEA, and Natalie Wexler, an education writer and author.

Let’s take a trip to where it all begins, at least academically, with early literacy and numeracy. On this episode, early learning experts Cindy Jiban and Tammy Baumann join us to share classroom strategies to help young learners navigate this important season of life. The discussion touches on the science of reading, why early numeracy sometimes takes a backseat to early literacy, and how teachers early in their career can hit the ground running in these areas.