Leadership to ignite learning

Instructional Rounds: Not just a Repackaged Walkthrough

They’re the newest thing out of Harvard: Instructional Rounds. But aren’t they just walkthroughs repackaged? I think not. After years of working with those responsible for developing the instructional rounds protocol and facilitating a number of iterations across the country, I can say unequivocally that walkthroughs and rounds are not the same, nor should they be. Both procedures are designed to spark improvements in student learning and they can easily supplement one anothe

Resourceful Schools: Doing More with Less

Here’s what we know: resourceful schools do more with less. In other words, they are successful regardless of the resources at hand and here’s why. Successful schools are focused. They do more with less by design. They limit their initiatives to a few strategic priorities (this is the “less” part) and make sure they are implemented deeply and fully (this is the “more” part). If you talk with staff at successful schools, you’ll find collective priorities. While this is common

Are We Deskilling Our Teachers?

I’ve always been an advocate of standards, high ones, to be sure – those benchmarks that target minimum levels of competency. They seem to me to be something to shoot for, a guarantee, if you will, that the goals we set for our students will ready them to do whatever they decide to do with their futures. On the other hand, I’ve never been a fan of standardization. I’ve had many a conversation with parents over the years explaining the difference between standards and stand

Do You Need a Coach or a Consultant?

A good question – one we like to ask and help clients answer often because there are distinct differences and justifiable needs for both. The key is in knowing the difference and assessing your needs as an organization. A simple way of distinguishing between the two is to think of a consultant as a way of addingstaff capacity and a coach as building staff capacity. Here’s how it looks:Many organizations need a task completed for which they lack adequate staffing. This could b

Who is Sponsoring the Change You Want to See?

In any change initiative, there are distinct roles to be played. In education, the ones we pay attention to the most are the roles of sponsor and agent. Who are these folks, what are their roles, and why do they matter? A quick primer: A sponsor is an individual who has authority over those responsible for implementation –line authority to be exact. In schools this is often the principal but it could be someone several rungs above the principal, such as the principal’s superv

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