This digest compiles key industry resources and insights shared in our June 2024 Membership newsletter. This month we covered a variety of topics: understanding and fostering student voter engagement, enhancing support for early-career teachers, addressing chronic absenteeism, and celebrating Black Music Month along with this month’s other celebrations like Juneteenth and LGBTQIIA+ Pride.
Possip’s Manager of Knowledge and Content, Mandy Wallace, provides a compilation of what we’ve been thinking about this June.
We summarize each piece and suggest ways to leverage these ideas for better communication and engagement in your community.
Quick Links
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- All The Sweet Tea • Denitia | Spotify
- Chronic absenteeism is schools’ ‘biggest problem.’ Five reasons kids are missing school. | USA Today
- Mind the gap: Early-career teachers’ level of preparedness, professional development, working conditions, and feelings of distress | Social Psychology of Education (July 2023)
- Preparing for a National Election: Student Voter Toolkit | U.S. Department of Education
What We Are Thinking About
Preparing for a National Election: Student Voter Toolkit | U.S. Department of Education
June has become a month that highlights the importance of freedom and pride, marked by celebrations like LGBTQ+ Pride and Juneteenth. These events remind us how communities can transform histories of struggle into expressions of collective joy and agency.
As the presidential and local elections occur this fall semester, you can draw on this spirit of civic engagement and start planning now. Research from CIRCLE at Tufts University underlines the benefits of starting civic education early: it leads to more informed voters and higher community involvement. How will your school or district encourage parents and high school students to participate in the democratic process this fall?
A few ideas:
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- Organize voter registration drives using the Student Voter Toolkit, preparing students not just to vote, but to be enthusiastic about their participation in democracy.
- Develop partnerships with local election officials and by creating engaging, student-led activities.
- Older students: Plan school-wide celebrations of students who wear their “I voted” stickers to school the day after the election.
- Younger students: Focus on inviting and celebrating parents who register to vote this fall.
Channel the energy from June’s celebrations into a robust commitment to civic participation, respectful civil discourse, and high voter turnout in November.
What We Are Thinking About
Mind the gap: Early-career teachers’ level of preparedness, professional development, working conditions, and feelings of distress | Social Psychology of Education (July 2023)
The study underscores that effective support, such as mentoring and induction programs, significantly aids early-career teachers, easing their transition and potentially increasing retention. It also highlights the substantial impact of working conditions—particularly workload and classroom management—on teacher distress. School leaders should prioritize fostering a supportive school culture, where experienced staff assist newer teachers, enhancing job satisfaction and stability across the teaching team.
How can you enhance mentoring and induction programs? Ideas include building effective support systems within your building or across your district.
How can you prioritize creating a supportive work environment that manages the known stressors of workload and classroom management effectively? Ideas include more administrative support, clearer behavior management protocols, and workload adjustments.
How can you build a supportive school culture? Ideas include initiatives that promote collaboration, mentorship, and shared responsibilities.
What We Are Thinking About
Chronic absenteeism is schools’ ‘biggest problem.’ Five reasons kids are missing school. | USA Today
This week, USA Today explored five key reasons students miss schools in relatively massive amounts across the country this school year:
- Boredom, disconnection
- Mental health challenges
- Bullying
- Unclear rules and policies
- Family, safety, or transportation challenges
If you’re curious what your district’s chronic absenteeism rate looks like compared to the nation, check out the American Enterprise Institute’s Return to Learn Tracker.
As you consider the effects of lost learning time and potential impacts on school funding, what levers do you have to work with in the coming school year?
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- What messages can you communicate to families at the beginning of the year?
- What school culture changes can you make to ensure students feel connected and a vital part of their classroom or school community?
- How can you connect with families who had students with high absentee rates last year?
- How can you identify families you need to connect with early in the year to help get students to school (and on time!)?
What We Are Listening To
All The Sweet Tea • Denitia | Spotify
It’s Black Music Month and this week in Nashville we’re celebrating CMA Fest. If you’ve never been, join us!
Beyoncé fan or not, she has helped shine a spotlight on Black country music artists. One of my college flatmates, Denitia, has been playing gigs in Nashville for years in all kinds of genres – her voice is dreamy – and she’s playing at the Grand Ole Opry for the first time at the end of the month!
Here are some of Team Possip’s favorite contemporary Black folk and country musicians to explore this month:
- Valerie June
- Allison Russell
- Shaboozey
- Breland
- Tanner Adell
- Joy Oladokun
- Trombone Shorty (sliding into NOLA-style jazz!)
- Brittany Howard
P.S. Did you know the famous HBCU Fisk Jubilee Singers inspired Nashville’s nickname of Music City?
