Make 2020 a Change Year!
December 30, 2019Here is a very simple way to start your school’s new year and decade. Jean Case, in her book Be Fearless, distills five common elements of people and organizations that are effective change makers. There is really nothing new here; we have been shouting this for well over the last decade in K-12 education. But…
Three Key Tipping Points to School Change
December 19, 2019Why do some schools change and others do not? Why do some schools change quickly, while others take decades? Having visited and worked with more than 200 schools and districts in the last seven years, I am convinced it is not a function of demographics, school type, geography, or socio-economics. The key, I have found,…
Busting Myths That Inhibit Change
December 13, 2019Schools are full of myths; we create and perpetuate them all the time, which adds to the inertia that resists needed change. I have been fighting against the “small class sizes are always better” myth, and the “we can’t ged rid of our AP’s” myths for many years. Multiple studies have busted myths about the…
Go Outside and “Blow Stuff Up”!
December 11, 2019Several weeks ago I was visiting and working with an independent high school in New England that is fortunate to be blessed with wonderful new classrooms, some wooded acreage, and small class sizes. As I wandered on my traditional observational tour, I noticed that students seemed to be spending most of their time at their…
More Exemplars of “Learning In and With the Community”
December 3, 2019Do you see real-world learning as a disruptive challenge at your school or district? You want to provide those potentially life-changing, highly relevant experiences that break the artificial boundary between “school” and “world”, but just can’t see how to re-imagine time, space, and required subject patterns? The great news is that you don’t have to…
The Evolving Face of “High School”
November 17, 2019I met a young woman this weekend. Her neighborhood high school is considered quite good. It is in a largely white, middle and upper-middle class section of southern California. Largely on her own, with the support of her parents, she has “hacked together” a completely personalized high school learning experience. She takes online courses at…
A Cabin We All Need to Find
November 6, 2019I have visited a LOT of schools in the last decade. It takes something special to shorten my breath, to stop me dead in my tracks, so full of wonder and questions that I just want to sit down, boil a pot of tea, and shut up and listen for a few hours or a…
Images of a Very Different Strategic Planning Process
November 5, 2019Strategic plans should reflect the vision of a school community. Most do not. Most plans are the result of relatively shallow input from some school stakeholders, followed by a rapid synthesis by a small committee of board and senior administrators. As I have shouted for years, most school strategic plans are a re-statement of “this…
Mt. Vernon School Sets a New Bar for High School Learning Spaces
November 3, 2019Last week was packed with learning and sharing for me, so I am going to do a set of very short blogs. First up is the INCREDIBLE new high school building at Mt. Vernon School in Atlanta. Followers will know that I have viewed Mt. Vernon as an exemplar, leading-edge school for a number of…
“THRIVE” podcast with TLTalkRadio
October 24, 2019If you need any more of a boost to order my new book, Thrive, here is a podcast I did with TL TalkRadio a week ago. It summarizes some of the major themes in about a 20 minute interview. On my home page, you can download the book introduction for free, and link to order…
Part 2: What Does Your Admin Leadership Team Actually Do?
October 21, 2019Last week I posted Part 1 of the evolving role of a school or district admin leadership team. I want to dig deeper into this: How might we really amplify the power of this team of leaders? Think about your admin leadership team and your team meetings. Like any group within an organization, your admin…
What Does Your Admin Leadership Team Actually Do?
October 18, 2019What does your administration leadership team actually DO? That is not a rhetorical question. What are the actual tasks of the team that gathers around the conference room table every week or month for an hour or two? Are these meetings just an aggregation of pieces, or is there something that is greater than the…
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