Teachers meet, coaches observe, leaders plan… but are we making progress? And how do we know? Too often coaching success is still judged by “how many coaching cycles” or “how many PD sessions, or classroom model lessons or data reviews were conducted. ” But research and practitioner insight emphasize the need to measure coaching by […]

Throughout my career, I’ve often been frustrated by school, district, or state requirements that were intended to support improvement but ended up as little more than a paper chase. Professional Growth Plans (PGPs) frequently fall into this trap. In some systems, teachers—concerned they might be evaluated against their PGP outcomes—choose minimal, “safe” goals. Too often, […]

I have been using the term PWC….professional working community to define teachers collaborating to get work done, tasks completed. PWCs differ from PLCs where teacher learning is expected as an outcome. Working collaboratively is valuable in supporting teachers’ effective use of time and for aligning expectations. However, without educator- learning there is unlikely to be […]

I was invited to be part of a schools’ start of the year faculty day (virtually). Teachers had the choice to take part in two of several different offerings on this day and then select one of those topics for extension sessions during the first semester. Here is what I was asked to address: How […]

AJ Crabill, the director of governance for the Council of Great City Schools and the conservator for Desoto ISD in Texas, explores the need for district alignment on continuous improvement in student learning outcomes. These statements from AJ spark the conversation: “The sole reason that schools exist is to improve student outcomes” and “Student outcomes […]

Planning backwards from student desired outcomes eventually leads to identifying teachers’ needs for understanding or learning. I suggest that as teachers study student work and assessments in a PLC, the question, “What do students need us to learn?” emerges. I believe that as teachers we are doing everything we can to have students reach mastery […]