Teresa Preston

At a Glance The percentage of Americans who can speak a second language is small in comparison to European nations. Many high school foreign-language classes focus on grammar, rather than conversation. Natural language development begins with spoken language before proceeding to written language and instruction in grammar. By focusing on conversation, high school foreign-language classes would enable more students to become fluent in a second language.

At a Glance Improving teacher retention is not simply doing the opposite of what causes attrition. Teacher embeddedness is a useful theory for thinking about supporting novice and experienced teachers — and for improving retention. In schools with higher-than-average novice science teacher retention, many of the reasons teachers stay are replicable and actionable at the school level.

At a Glance Interviews with teachers during the first five years of their careers revealed certain common challenges. The BOOST framework enables leaders to give new teachers the support they need. The five elements of the BOOST framework are: Backup systems that give new teachers and their mentors time to meet together during the school day. Ongoing instructional coaching that helps new teachers build effective practices from the beginning.