Lose weight. Spend more time with family and friends. Get out of debt. Help others. It’s that time of year again—the time of year when we vow to be better people than we were last year.

As you’re drafting your resolutions for 2012, consider your professional development goals. How do you want to improve as a teacher? What would you like to do differently in the classroom this year? And then, what specifically can you do to reach those goals?

Here are five resolutions that you might want to add to your list:

1. Sign up for at least one professional development workshop or conference. The nationally renowned LTF Summer Institutes and One-Day Conferences are designed for math, science, and English teachers of grades six through twelve. Register today to reserve your spot!

2. Try something innovative in your classroom. In 2012, LTF Trainers Melissa Parma and Robert Gonzalez will be running their classrooms with a “flipped” approach to instruction. What’s even better is that they’re going to be blogging about their experiences on our website. Be sure to make your way back to our website periodically to learn just exactly what it is they’ll be doing—and to possibly to get some ideas for your own classroom!

3. Incorporate blended learning into your curriculum. This recent blog post about our blended learning offerings for teachers tells you what we’ve made available for students as well. From online lessons to videos to unit tests, LTF brings you an array of resources to enhance your teaching.

4. Build relationships with other teachers. The LTF Math, Science, and English Online Teacher Forums can help you get started. From there, visit our Facebook page and check out our Twitter profile to see other teachers with whom we interact.

5. Give back to teachers and students. One way to do that is by making a tax-deductible donation to LTF to sponsor a teacher, school, or district.

What else would you add to this list? Please leave us a comment.

Happy New Year! Here’s to an incredible 2012.

It's no surprise that the Better Business Bureau (BBB) recently issued a call for consumers to do their research before making holiday purchases. Said Kathy Graham, BBB President and CEO, "By checking prices at several retailers and reading advertisements carefully, consumers can make an educated decision on whether it's worthwhile to stand in line or miss a good night's sleep." Professional development for teachers is no exception. Conducting research on teacher training opportunities allows teachers to make educated decisions on whether it's worthwhile to miss a few days in the classroom or to dedicate four days of summer break to an institute or workshop.

Graham's suggestions of checking prices and reading advertisements carefully not only apply to electronics, apparel, furniture, or whatever else shoppers have their hearts set on at this time of year—they are also wise considerations prior to investing in a teacher training program.

Professional development by its very nature can be quite costly, but for teachers the costs are often much higher. Lessons, manuals, assessments, lab equipment, and support can place a burden on a school district that is already struggling financially. This is why it's important to assess the prices of several different teacher training companies before choosing one.

While checking prices, explore professional development opportunities offered by nonprofit organizations like LTF. Choosing a nonprofit to deliver teacher training and to provide the accompanying materials and resources can translate into major savings. In many cases, grant awards nonprofit organizations receive cover the cost of teacher training, and the primary requirements on behalf of the schools and teachers are providing space, setting aside time for the workshop or seminar, and filling sessions. Even without a grant award, the cost of teacher training by a nonprofit is often considerably lower than the cost of teacher training by a for-profit company.

Obviously, price checking is only one factor necessary for making an educated decision about professional development. Consumers (i.e., the teachers and school districts) must examine professional development companies' advertisements as well. Claims that a company makes about the effectiveness of its teacher training should be supported by a comprehensive body of data.

Search for case studies or videos like the ones that LTF recently published about its impact on Ruston High School in northern Louisiana. According to the research, since implementing LTF strategies, the percent of Ruston High School students making qualifying scores on AP exams increased from 33.3 percent in 2008 to 85.1 percent in 2011. Additionally, the Ruston High School graduation rate soared as did its Louisiana School Performance Score. Testimonials and anecdotes by participants in the professional development program in question are helpful too. As 2012 Louisiana High School Teacher of the Year Emily Howell commented, "Laying the Foundation is why I'm successful as a teacher ... It has totally changed my career as a teacher."

As with any product research, investigating the right teacher training company takes time and patience, but the effort is well worth it—worth it for the school district, the teachers, and most important, for the students.

The residents of Joplin, Missouri, will no doubt forever remember May 23, 2011, when the ninth-deadliest tornado to date ripped through the town and killed more than a hundred people. Countless homes, businesses, and schools were damaged, and many were completely destroyed altogether. As with most tragedies of this magnitude, individuals and groups rallied together in the days, weeks, and months following the tornado. They devoted their time, energy, and money to help Joplin rebuild.

As a nonprofit organization committed to helping teachers boost academic excellence, Laying the Foundation decided to adopt three classrooms at East Middle School in Joplin. We were matched with three teachers—one each in math, science, and language arts—and shipped supplies to them based on their specific classroom requests.

Below are excerpts from the messages that we’ve received from the three teachers this past fall.

Brian Neugebauer (8^th grade math teacher): The items and money you and your coworkers have donated this past year has been a great blessing. It has allowed me to purchase supplies, posters, calculators, filing shelves, math skill books and much more.  I have been able to provide each displaced student with a three-ring binder, stack of paper and healthy supply of pencils, which are all essential for my class. In addition to basic supplies I have been able to purchase inspirational and math posters to decorate my room and provide a bit of a fun atmosphere to work on math. Also I was able purchase an iHome to replace my radio, which was a nice upgrade which now allows my students to bring in their own school appropriate music list and be the “class DJ” for the day.

Nina English (6^th communication arts teacher): We have had a really amazing first few days. It was so smooth. The kids have been really relaxed, compared to what I heard we would probably be dealing with. And the governor came by to visit our school and even came in to my classroom. Definitely a memorable year, needless to say. Your gifts are part of the reason this has all been so easy to return to.

Joyce Hale (7^th and 8^th grade science teacher): I just want to thank you so much for everything you and your team did for us. I am so excited about the upcoming year. There is no way we would have been able to start the year so well without your help. I was so excited to open each box. The students will sure be surprised how much we are going to be able to do this year.

We at LTF are glad to have been a part of the Joplin recovery process, and we wish Joplin schools the best as they move forward into 2012.

“This new partnership will provide a continuum of training that will dramatically extend our reach. We will be able to give teachers the tools and training to give more students the math and science skills they need to succeed in today’s world,” said Dr. Mary Ann Rankin, President and CEO of the National Math and Science Initiative.

Under the agreement, the LTF program will function as a division of the National Math and Science Initiative. Other NMSI divisions include the Advanced Placement Training and Incentive Program (APTIP), which is expanding the number of high school students taking and succeeding in AP math, science and English, and UTeach, a program to train math and science teachers.

LTF focuses primarily on teacher training and resource development for Pre-AP and AP teachers of grades six through 12 (middle/junior high and high school). The organization has training contracts with organizations in the six states where NMSI’s APTIP is already in place, and also with school districts and individual schools in eight other states. In addition, LTF is providing teacher training services in South Dakota, where NMSI is implementing an online AP program in conjunction with the Learning Power organization.

“This is about the students. By joining forces and leveraging the talent and resources from both NMSI and LTF, we will reach more teachers who will challenge more students to succeed in the critical fields of science, technology, engineer and math or STEM,” said David Saba, president of LTF. “The whole will become greater than the sum of its parts.”

The merger of the two nonprofit organizations has been approved by the boards of directors for both groups and will take effect at the end of 2011. Carolyn B. Dickson, executive director of the O’Donnell Foundation, and a member of the LTF board of directors, will join the NMSI board.

“This merger will allow us to enhance STEM education and improve the ability of many more students to compete in the workforce — outcomes that are essential to the future of our country,” said Dr. Rankin. She pointed out that research indicates students who take an AP course that culminates in an AP exam grade of 3 or higher are more likely to complete a college degree than comparable students who did not take an AP course. Further, AP students are among the few American students who compare favorably with their counterparts in other countries on international math and science exams.

This morning I am taking a quick break from my usual research and policy posts to share StoryCorps’s National Teachers Initiative. 

StoryCorps is the national nonprofit oral history project which collects life stories from everyday Americans and preserves the interviews at the Library of Congress. The highlight of my Friday commute is listening to the StoryCorps story of the week broadcast on NPR’s Morning Edition.

The StoryCorps National Teachers Initiative began this year specifically to capture the stories of students and teachers who inspire each other.

From their website:

“By recording, sharing, and preserving their stories, we hope to call public attention to the invaluable contributions teachers have made to this nation, honor those who have embraced the profession as their calling, encourage teaching as a career choice, and unify the country behind its teachers—helping us all recognize that there is no more important or noble work than that of educating our nation’s children.”

The stories are only a minute or two long, but they are sure to inspire. Treat yourself to a mug of hot chocolate and take a break to listen to one or two (or all five!).

http://storycorps.org/initiatives/national-teachers-initiative/