The principal is ultimately responsible for everything that happens in the school—from staff and student safety, to the operation and maintenance of the physical plant, to student achievement. How, then, can a principal share leadership, and what are the benefits and drawbacks? First, for those unfamiliar
We are part of an administrative team at a middle and high school of 750 students in San Diego. We are fortunate to be surrounded by an amazing team of educators, students, families, and community partners. Like every school, we are collectively faced with the
We aren’t in the business of preparing our students to take tests for the rest of their lives. We aren’t in the business of helping our students learn to navigate school as the end-all, be-all model of life’s journey. Nope. As Jeff Wilhelm reminds us
The instructional leader is a relic – an outdated caricature that never really existed. Note the emphasis on “the” and “leader.” Instructional leadership is alive and well – not to mention more necessary than at any point in history. Ask any great leader—I asked a number of them
Over the past few years, Poudre School District in Fort Collins, Colorado, has started a journey to focus on the learning of all students by building and sustaining high performing teams. We are guided by the words of one of our retired principals: Every child deserves to
Every system is perfectly designed to achieve the results it produces. Think about it – if a system is designed to produce great watches and 10 out of every 100 are defective, then the system as currently constituted is designed to produce great watches 90
A team of middle school content-area teachers agreed to commit to a year of professional learning around the concept of disciplinary literacy, an approach that teaches students how to read, write, reason and participate in discipline-specific ways. By respecting the varied ways that scientists, mathematicians,
Principals used to believe that THEY had to be the center of curriculum expertise and problem-solving for their staff. It was about THEM knowing, doing, and sharing. This way principals could be assured that high quality decisions were implemented. But the Breaking Ranks® research from NASSP
This is the third in a series of three posts. Check out Teams—Don’t Go It Alone and Teams—Build a Team to see the latest in the series! Teams, in many ways, are like performance automobiles. It takes time to build one. There is great care and
How do we prepare teachers and kids for an unknown future? As school leaders, we have a responsibility to lead with the future in mind. This requires us to relate, innovate, and invigorate. No longer can school leaders focus on just one of these skills;