What is leadership....really? Who wants a leader....really? Is leadership always just a moment in time when all things come together? Could we believe that the Florida Superintendent of the Year for 2015 was a leader? Who would believe how soon after receiving that honor the superintendent would be terminated with a buyout of over a million dollars? And, who would believe that this resilient woman would become the Commissioner of Education in New York State within months after the…

We have arrived at a place where the right issue and the right time have come together. Some have recognized the advantages of having arrived at this place and have begun their journeys toward making the shift to becoming 21st century schools. Our belief remains that the teaching and learning that is required in a STEM based environment benefits all students and demands that teaching and learning be responsive to 21st century…

Our public education system, the center of our democracy, lives within a global environment now. Technology and mobility have made it so. Our graduates from one place will probably work in another. Can we guarantee parity if there were no national standards? So the intention of Carnegie credits, minutes of instruction, and national standards is to guarantee all students, across the country, the same learning expectations. But they don't.…

If attention to creating and maintaining a safe, welcoming, encouraging and disciplined environments in which roles and responsibilities are clearly defined, engaging teaching and learning is taking place, respect and consideration for others is the norm, stress and burnout is in our control and can be ameliorated. It has to happen for adults before they can make it happen for our students. …

At a time when schools are feeling pushed and pulled from outside forces, this is another opportunity for the exercise of local control.  Any time anyone or any organization can take action, it is empowering.  Schools and the people within them need to feel empowered...for without that feeling, we are inviting students into a depressed environment, aren't we?  …

It is difficult enough to truly hear what we are being told. We can turn to the Chinese symbol for listening to remember that deep listening involves eyes, ears, and heart.

Pressures and stresses provoke a lot of negative feelings. Those negative feelings can easily be dismissed as "typical" end of year complaints. They well may be the same typical end of year complaints that have arisen year after year.  Perhaps no one was listening. …

Evaluation is supposed to be the production of evidence and performance of learning and knowledge. When done well, the evaluation process is open and fair, well communicated, and in the best of cases, leaves room for improvement before a final, summative evaluation takes place. There are hundreds of evaluations of students that take place during the learning process. Teachers observe students doing their work, effort, confidence, correct process, types of thinking, clarity, attitude, and…

Need STEM as a foundation. Read more...

Whoever said "Sunshine is the best disinfectant" should have added "if you have the courage to face what the sunshine reveals and do something about it."  Perhaps it is our lack of courage, or simply a desire to not face what isn't pretty, but the matter of how children of different races are handled still needs some sunshine shed upon it. …

"We'll just have to agree to disagree" a statement rife with dissent.  Considered a way to stand our own ground, it allows the conversation to stop, the wall between us to stand, and progress to be stifled. Anyone can take the lead in creating consensus as the mode of decision-making in an organization but the one with the true responsibility for making it a common practice is certainly the leader.  What is consensus, truly?  …

Having spent the last two years focused on the potential for transforming schools by examining schools engaged in a STEM shift, it was with great interest we reviewed Gary Marx's new book, 21 Trends for the 21st Century: Out of the Trenches and into the Future.  His work underscores what we found as we studied school districts and the different paths taken to welcome 21st century designs into their schools.  Had his book been…

It is not likely that the structure and standards for schools will ever again become a local design.  Nor should it be. The degree of interconnectivity across the country throughout the segments of economy, politics and society are too great. Technology is rendering the notion of local obsolete, except in farm products. Yet, there still remains the opportunity for local decisions and values to coexist with national standards. Schools and school districts that are pushing away from…

Improved practice and achievement involves feedback, motivation, coaching, support and belief in the impact principals can have on teachers and teachers on their students.  It involves questioning the manner in which evaluations, all of them, are accomplished. If we want teachers to develop students, modeling it in the assessment of teachers by principals, and of principals by superintendents is key.  When principals, teachers, and students are being coached, supported, encouraged, and…

Educators are simultaneously creative (as they develop activities for learning and for extra-curricular opportunities) and stuck in the confines of a structure that is now centuries old. They continue to seek new ways to engage their students in learning while students are more and more distracted and uninterested. The paradox remains because the structure does not change. Schools are locked into time requirements, regulatory barriers, and contract limitations. Educators know what…