Archive: 2017
5 Minutes to Change Culture: The 5 to Thrive Challenge
By: Tom Vander Ark and Jillian Darwish. The “5 to Thrive Challenge” encourages education leaders to dedicate five minutes each day for a month to improving the culture of their schools. In this post, we provide strategies and a free toolkit to help get you started.
Teacher Reflection | The Power of Place-Based Professional Learning
By: Helen Ommen. I'm comfortable teaching inquiry-based lessons, but I have always felt less secure letting students ask and pursue their own questions. That all changed after my place-based professional learning experience.
Using Student Feedback to Improve School Culture
By: Hannah Bartlebaugh. School culture matters for students, teachers and education equity, and the best way to know if we’re on track in building a positive school culture is to ask—and listen to—students.
7 Apps for Working with Special Needs Students
By: Jana Rooheart. Digital tools can be very helpful in bridging developmental gaps; these apps can help you tailor your curriculum to your special needs students without an overwhelming amount of preparation.
Early Learning as a Strategy for Achieving Equity
By: Rafael Otto. Far too many children are receiving an outdated education that will leave them behind in a competitive world and reinforce achievement and opportunity gaps. A focus on early learning could change that.
What the Rise of Interconnected Learning Means for Higher Ed
By: Hossein Rahnama. The growing prevalence of interconnected learning means that most colleges and universities will have no choice but to evolve. In this post I discuss what that evolution will look like.
Agreement Crafting: The New Work of EdLeaders
It’s a series of agreements that help a school community meet new challenges, adopt new learning models and leverage new partnerships—these are the agreements that EdLeaders should be prepared to make.
Two Secrets to Energize Your Culture in 2017
By: Jillian Darwish. Reinvigorated after the holiday break, many of us will begin to think about culture transformation initiatives to sustain that momentum. These two secrets and two big questions will help get you started.
Are You an Improver or an Innovator? Differentiating EdLeader Roles
Schools go through seasons—some periods demand an innovation sprint, while other periods require a sustained focus on improvement. The question is, does every EdLeader need to be a master of both?
Superintendents Reflect on their Move Beyond Test Scores
By: Todd Brekhus. To truly understand and support their students’ literacy, these two superintendents have adopted an innovative method they call “measuring reading with reading." Learn more about their strategies here.