A recent opinion blog, written by Michael J. Petrilli, President of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, discusses the education sector’s exhaustion with policies on education reform. Mr. Petrilli writes: It strikes me, and several others with whom I’ve spoken in recent months, that education reform is at a turning point. It’s not just the new Read more about Policy Change is not the Only Path to School Reform[…]
Great teachers matter-we all know that. But great principals matter nearly as much. When they lead a team of teacher-leaders in instructional excellence, student learning can soar. But then what? Can principals like these take their leadership to the next level and stay connected to teachers and students? In An Excellent Principal for Every School: Read more about Steps to Transform Schools into Leadership Machines[…]
A significant challenge to school turnaround efforts is a lack of turnaround leaders available to work in these schools. Four education organizations —The Center on School Turnaround at WestEd, the Center on Great Teachers and Leaders, Public Impact, and the University of Virginia Darden/Curry Partnership – have been studying issues of school turnaround and have Read more about Identifying, Selecting, and Retaining School Turnaround Leaders: How-To Modules[…]
University Council for Educational Administration (UCEA) and New Leaders have released a toolkit, called SEP3, to help states evaluate principal preparation programs. This toolkit provides essential guidance, tools, and resources for implementing a more in-depth and rigorous principal preparation evaluation process, thereby enabling states to accurately assess quality, promote improvement, and intervene in the case Read more about State Evaluation of Principal Preparation Programs Toolkit[…]
School administrators serve as instructional leaders and set the tone for the culture of a school. The principal’s influence is pivotal. In this month’s issue brief, we explore effective school leadership and recommendations for improving the training, support and evaluation of educational leaders. You can read the issue brief here: http://us5.campaign-archive2.com/?u=a4ae2b1b129b9f8a29d50b80f&id=ade984414e&e=60969abf82 To ensure you do Read more about February Issue Brief: Effective School Leadership[…]
The University of Washington Center for Educational Leadership (CEL) has released an updated version of the Principal Support Framework. Representing the best thinking of educators from across the country, the framework describes key actions of central offices that effectively support principals as instructional leaders. School system leaders can use this framework and the related self-assessment Read more about Principal Support Framework[…]
The new Every Student Succeeds Act returns to the states much of the authority for directing school improvement that the federal government had assumed in the past 15 years. Some states are ready to roll, but plenty are searching for potential role models. Fortunately, at least two such candidates are easy to find. Earlier this Read more about A Tale of 2 States: Lessons to Be Learned[…]
Recently, Tom Vander Ark from Getting Smart published an insightful to-do list for education leaders. Vander Ark states, “Being an education leader is complicated and challenging. The politics are personal and multilayered. It can be the best and worst job in the world at the same time. But there is no role where an individual Read more about 7 Things Education Leaders Should Do Right Now[…]
Discovery Education, a leading provider of digital content and professional development for K-12 classrooms, invites superintendents and curriculum leaders to attend a unique new series of professional learning events exploring critical topics in education leadership. This series, which launches on January 28 in Hershey, PA, will explore critical topics in education including equity, personalized learning, Read more about Free Instructional Leadership Series from Discovery Education[…]
The Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) has released new standards that provide a clear, practical definition of what the supervisors of school principals should know and be able to do to improve the effectiveness of principals. With support from The Wallace Foundation, a team of educators from across the nation has spent more Read more about Principal Supervisor Professional Standards[…]
Is a principal’s educational experience, professional behavior, or leadership style related to increased student learning? This systematic review of the literature conducted by Regional Educational Laboratory Southeast with support from the Institutes of Education Sciences answers these questions. The research team identified 52 peer-reviewed studies that met the review criteria, including: One experimental study that Read more about The Relationship between Principal Characteristics and Student Achievement[…]
School System 20/20 from Education Resource Strategies presents the first version of School System 20/20 Assessments and Metrics, a detailed set of key questions and metrics used to create the Lawrence case study, and designed to help school systems understand whether their policies, structures, and practices create the conditions for improving student performance at scale. Read more about School System 20/20 Assessments and Metrics[…]
The Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) and the National Policy Board for Educational Administration (NPBEA) have recently released new standards for educational leaders. This project started last year with the intent to update the 2008 standards. The standards, now known as the Professional Standards for Educational Leaders (formerly ISLLC), were designed to ensure Read more about New Educational Leadership Standards seek to Increase Student Achievement[…]
The National Association of State Boards of Education’s fall issue of its journal, The State Education Standard explores the many ways policymakers can ensure that those who teach and lead our children in public schools are better prepared and better supported to do their jobs well. Research shows that teacher quality makes the biggest difference Read more about A Fresh Look at Preparing Teachers and Leaders[…]
The Sustainability Rubric for Local Educational Agencies is a tool developed by the United States Education Department for LEAs to assess the sustainability of a specific priority reform that they are undertaking. This rubric is flexible enough to help LEAs with wide-ranging reform goals, but also will help the Agency create practical ways to evaluate Read more about Sustainability Rubric for Local Educational Agencies[…]
Michael J. Petrilli of the Fordham Institute on Education recently delivered an address to the New York State Council of School Superintendents about how to end the American education reform wars. Admittedly coming from a more conservative perspective, Petrilli advocates three main goals for school leaders: Be the voice of the sane, sensible center. Grab Read more about How to End the Education Reform Wars[…]