Schools may not be reflecting the needs of the economy and society in regard to some things like how teaching and learning take place, how technology is used, how subjects are organized, standards are applied, or assessments are developed,  but they do reflect society's hunger for heroes.  Just like the world outside of schools, where athletes, movie stars, authors, and rock stars have fans and followers, educators choose their own rock stars to revere. …

Schools are local entities, basically funded by mostly local taxes and are subsidized by state and national government funds. Lobbies exist, even if shrouded in sheep's clothing.  There has been no time in recent memory when discussion of school improvement was not in the news, or on the minds of leaders, boards, parents, communities, and politicians. Each has a vested interest in the quality of education.  There are the plethora of businesses that offer advice through professional…

For some, a leader stands above us and apart from us, in a position of authority, and guides us toward a vision. For others, leaders are one of us, inclusive in process, and highly transparent as we move toward the vision. Both can be inspiring and also can be successful. The heavy lift rests in the blending of these; the yearning for the patriarch who vowed to take care of us all and so we followed and the yearning to own a part of the leadership process with efficacy seeking a leader…

Leaders are extraordinary people. To be clear, we are talking about persons who choose to take the responsibility of leading and do so with integrity and with courage and with purpose, not those who have simply attained positions of power and authority. The difference is often revealed in moments.  In schools, sometimes leaders can be found within those who step into that role when a crisis arises or who speak up when a wrong is being done or who become a champion for those who are…

Lack of funding, crumbling infrastructures, reduced faculties and administration, low salaries, corruption and poverty are all contributing factors to school failures. Now, the rise in the number of competing charter schools is either another causal factor for failures or the long sought solution. Just as it is not unusual for teachers to think of their sphere of influence as their classroom or school, we, as leaders, may limit our thinking to our local buildings or districts. But,…

Schools are faced with moral dilemmas every day.  The implementation of a new set of standards may come accompanied with moral dilemmas.  Even more obvious are the dilemmas about team names and mascots. Schools who have taken on the fight between those who hold strongly to the tradition of a name and those who feel deeply the offensive meaning of a name know the difficult nature of the fray as they engae the two groups and come to a decision. Other moral dilemmas are presented in…

Student engagement, project-based learning, interdisciplinary teaching and learning, inclusion, STEM, blended learning, online learning, writing across the curriculum, authentic learning and assessment, team teaching...all these goals and movements within education can become catchwords or overused phrases. Before the fall momentum takes over, there are opportunities to enter a deeper conversations about what we have chosen as priorities and why. Those conversations span the…

We have an achievement gap in schools that in many cases supports a national income gap. Our economy demands workers who are innovators, collaborators, communicators, creative thinkers, and critical thinkers.  It is important that educators understand and incorporate STEM as more than four subjects (or five if art is being discussed).  It is less about adding courses in four subject areas and more about how teaching and learning takes place, less about an elective or a club or event…