Why Superintendents Turn Over

By Andrew Saraf

That urban superintendents have short tenures—an average of three years—is well known in the education community. But little empirical research has been done to ascertain why or to determine whether this trend holds for suburban and rural supes, too. This study by Jason Grissom (Vanderbilt) and Stephanie Anderson (Washington University) seeks to do both. The authors analyze survey data (of both…

The Talking Cure: Teaching Mathematical Discourse

What's on the horizon for my young learners? I can't predict the future, but I know this much is true: Performing basic computational tasks won't be a gateway to a…

A Teacher's New Year's Resolution: Brag More

Last month, I joined a friend for dinner and drinks after her Chamber of Commerce "Wednesday Friendsday." Sitting at the martini bar amidst real estate agents and financial…

Practice As a Key to Improving Supervisory Conversations

In this New York Times article, Troy, NY principal Katie Yezzi describes how her Uncommon Schools boss, Doug Lemov, coached her in preparation for a midyear conference with a struggling teacher. “I was dreading the review,” says Yezzi. “I didn’t want to be harsh, but I also didn’t want to water down the message and give this teacher a false impression. I knew I wasn’t ready to have that…

Madeline Hunter on Pre-Observation Conferences (an Oldie but Goodie)

(Originally titled “Let’s Eliminate the Pre-Observation Conference”)

In this provocative Educational Leadership article from 1986, instructional guru Madeline Hunter said, “The pre-observation conference is a vestigial organ remaining from the days when observation of teaching was a ‘fuzzy’ activity, depending on the intuition or bias of the supervisor……

David Brooks on Changing Bad Behavior

In this New York Times column, David Brooks tells the story of a scorching e-mail that Nick Crews, a British father of three grown children, sent his offspring last February. It’s come to be known as the “Crews Missile” in Great Britain because of its hectoring language toward the hapless children. It concluded, “I want to hear no more from any of you until, if you feel inclined, you have a success or an…