FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Taylor Barahona, Learning Sciences International
Phone: (561) 421-1786
E-mail: [email protected]

LSI/NSBA Academic Resources Help Schools Close Learning Gaps During Pandemic

West Palm Beach, FL – Aug. 27, 2020 – Learning Sciences International (LSI), in partnership with the National School Boards Association (NSBA), today announced it has released a pair of FREE learning resources aimed at increasing equity and achievement for students in all educational settings. Education author and Applied Research Center leader, Michael D. Toth, has written a new paper – available below – and hosted a recent webinar outlining how school boards can take an active role in shaping a new instructional vision to mitigate effects of the opportunity gap that is widening during the pandemic.

QUICK FACTS: LSI/NSBA FREE, ON-DEMAND RESOURCES
WHO	Learning Sciences International in partnership with the National School Boards Association
WHAT	New, FREE Paper and Webinar
WHEN	On-Demand Now
WHERE	Paper and Webinar (password S%@RM7$&)
WHY	Helping school boards shape more active learning roles for students during the pandemic to mitigate the negative effects of the opportunity gap.

 

In the downloadable paper Increasing Equity and Achievement by Empowering Students and the corresponding on-demand webinar (use password S%@RM7$&), Toth details how students can move away from the traditional passive learning role and transition into a more active role. In addition to becoming more hands-on in their own learning through Academic Teaming in groups, students also concurrently develop key SEL skills. These skills can be implemented whether your school is distance learning or in brick and mortar during COVID-19.

“Academic teaming is a very important topic – especially now that studies are projecting approximately 55 million¹ students in the US have been negatively affected by the worst pandemic of our lifetime,” said Toth, author of the paper and LSI’s CEO. “Students need to work in teams, collaborate on rigorous, standards-based tasks, and peer coach each other to avoid falling farther into a rapidly-increasing learning gap.”

Academic teaming is equally effective in the physical classroom as it is during virtual or hybrid learning and is something school boards should consider supporting during the largest disruption of education ever – which is what we currently are experiencing nationwide according to a recent UN report. New research shows that the pandemic could lead to a full year of learning loss for many students, dropping children into a gap known as the “Lost COVID-19 Generation” that Toth shined a light on for his recent blog.

Here’s how one teacher feels after she witnessed academic achievement increase in her class after she implemented academic teaming:

“I am a happier teacher because I’m not doing all the work,” said kindergarten teacher Julie Lake. “Yes, I’m planning it, but my students are doing the work. I just love watching them grow and figure things out by themselves.”

Increasing Equity and Achievement by Empowering Students is available FREE here:

Download the paper: nsba.org/publications

Watch the webinar on-demand with password S%@RM7$&:
zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_gIGNV-mITdqfnaf-s4Ko4A

More on academic teaming: learningsciences.com/academic-teaming-classroom-resource-pack

ABOUT LEARNING SCIENCES INTERNATIONAL

Since its founding in 1999, LSI has empowered thousands of K-12 educators to empower their students by developing every students’ capacity to take on greater responsibilities for their own learning and function at the highest levels possible. We do this through the guiding principles of LSI’s Applied Research Center with approaches that are always measurable, replicable, and reliable. Every activity, strategy, and intervention has attained or is in the process of attaining criteria for evidence-based practices under the federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) at Levels II or III. This is why our school and district partners regularly achieve sustainable and long-lasting results.

LSI’s Work: learningsciences.com/rigor/proven-results
LSI’s Distinguished Research Partners: learningsciences.com/our-partners/

1 Kuhfeld, Megan, James Soland, Beth Tarasawa, Angela Johnson, Erik Ruzek, and Jing Liu. (2020). Projecting the potential impacts of COVID-19 school closures on academic achievement. (EdWorkingPaper: 20-226). Retrieved from Annenberg Institute at Brown University: https://doi.org/10.26300/cdrv-yw05