Newsletter

Last week I detailed my 10 favorite interview questions for prospective principals. This week I will do the same with interview questions for teachers. As we approach the start of the school year, there will be thousands of educators hired throughout the country over the next few weeks. My hope for you is that these questions will help you (as an administrator) in your endeavor to hire an outstanding teacher or aid you (as a teacher) in your personal search… Read More »Interview Season is Upon Us (Part 2 of 2)

July 1st is the official start of a new fiscal year in many places but almost universally serves as the symbolic dividing line between the concluding school year and the one about to begin. This also means that many school leaders are in a mad dash to hire high quality educators to work within their school systems. So, while I could rant about the educator shortage (as I did here) – I thought it would be more fun to list… Read More »Interview Season is Upon Us

Just about everyone I know has worked in a school, district, or organization that has gone through some type of planning activity to set itself up for future success. That said, I want to make this resoundingly clear: Not every school, district, or organization that I work with has an operational improvement plan. As a disclaimer, organizations call these plans all sorts of different things, so whatever vernacular you may use is fine. I am talking about some type of… Read More »Your Strategic Plan May Stink, But We Can Fix That

I get called a lot of names as superintendent. Most of them, not flattering. Some, I must say, are incredibly creative, however. But nothing gets under my skin more than questioning my integrity. If you want to get my blood pressure up, just call me a liar. As such, this idea for a newsletter has been sitting on my idea whiteboard for about two months and I have not had the guts to write it. But, here it goes .… Read More »Who are you lying to?

So, I have made a mistake. It is certainly not the first, but it is the one that has stuck in my head the most over the past month or so and as a result, I need to come clean. One of the topics I speak, rant, consult, and blog the most on is the concept of school culture. I subscribe to a few simple and direct theories about school culture and my experience, research, and beliefs have shown me… Read More »Culture Conundrum

When was the last time you walked out of a meeting and thought, “that was an awesome use of time!”? Ideally, you say that pretty often – particularly if you are in charge of leading the meeting. However, my suspicion is that isn’t the case. While there are literally countless ways to talk about why many meetings are ineffective at best, and torture at worst, I want to focus on the common practice of establishing norms in this newsletter. Discussing… Read More »Normal Norms Are Not Awesome

Standardized tests are AMAZING!! (Said nobody ever) Except me. Right now. Standardized tests are amazing at measuring exactly what they say they are going to measure. It is true. They are pretty incredible at it. Now, as for the coerced usage, cost, and accountability measures associated with standardized tests, I am with the rest of the educational universe (besides the policy makers) in regards to having a generally anti-standardized test vibe. But, just because we do not like something does… Read More »Standardized tests are AMAZING!! (Said nobody ever)

Self-efficacy is the concept which defines one’s belief in themselves to traverse the challenges that present themselves. Said more plainly – self-efficacy is whether or not you believe you will be successful in a given situation.  If you want to do a quick check on your self-efficacy think of your private, internal self-talk. The last fifteen months of your life were challenging, but did you say things to yourself like, “This is going to be rough, but I am the… Read More »It Is Time To Take Inventory

May 14, 2021 Typically, the end of the year is not easy, but there is a sort of energy that carries us through. Kids are excited. The weather is changing. Celebrations abound. Again, it typically is not easy, but we tend to ‘glide’ to the end of the year.My experience with my team and those I support is that the sense of relief and the ‘exhale’ that most tend to experience in May just is not coming this year. Given… Read More »The End is in Sight!!!

An Introduction, from Dr. PJ Caposey: My friends and colleagues have been receiving random emails containing my musings on all things education and leadership for years. This newsletter is just my attempt to formalize the process and add value to anyone’s journey that I possibly can.   As part of this newsletter you will receive NO MORE than two emails per week sharing my thoughts on what is happening in the educational and leadership world and linking you to articles, blogs, and videos that have… Read More »Welcome to my Newsletter!