Fighting Fuzzy Purpose

Perhaps the first and most important task of a successful education leader is to establish clarity of purpose. The vocabulary list for this concept well known… mission statements, vision casting, core values identi cation, goal setting, coherence of effort, teamwork,...

What Type of Talent?

All human beings have talents… and weaknesses. In their best-selling book, Now Discover Your Strengths, Marcus Buckingham and Donald O. Clifton define talent as “a recurring pattern of thought, feeling, or behavior that can be productively applied”....

Creating a Great Place to Work

I once had the opportunity to participate in a leadership development experience that paired schools and businesses for the purpose of sharing ideas and strategies for success. The business partner I worked with was Hixson Architecture, Engineering, and Interiors in...

Design Lessons for Active Engagement

One of the most consistent predictors of student learning is the degree to which students are actively engaged in the teacher’s lesson. It makes sense, even to the non-educator, that an inspired lesson never produces the intended result without an inspired response....

The Case for Coaching

Skillful instruction drives student achievement. Simply stated, a teacher’s pedagogy (skill in the art and science of teaching) clearly and directly affects the rate and degree of student learning. Since pedagogy is a skill-set, not merely a knowledge base, it is best...