leadership

10 Tips for District Leaders During Hiring/Firing Season

I am writing this as an open letter to my colleagues as superintendents and to the Boards of Education they serve. This is hiring and firing season – actually, in reverse order. This is the time of year where evaluations and finances lead to uncomfortable recommendations to end a person’s or persons’ employment within the district. These are incredibly challenging times. They are easily the most difficult Board meetings of the year and at no time is a Board’s trust… Read More »10 Tips for District Leaders During Hiring/Firing Season

Learning from Failure

The beginning of the year is wonderful. The world is very much defined by renewed enthusiasm and conviction to lead a better life in the new calendar year than the one led in the past. Twitter is a great place to see these proclamations of new focus and energy. The one word movement started by Jon Gordon has reached an enormous number of people and is profoundly important and revered in the educational community – where I spend the lion’s… Read More »Learning from Failure

Top 10 Educational #GameChangers of 2017

As we draw to the end of the calendar year, I thought it an appropriate time to highlight the educators that are truly moving things forward in our profession. The true #gamechangers. The new-year is the time for hope and renewal. For many educators, this renewal is about focus and professional growth. So, this list is to highlight the best and brightest (in my opinion) in the world of education in hopes others follow their work and follow their lead… Read More »Top 10 Educational #GameChangers of 2017

Let’s Change the Conversation Surrounding Evaluation

In the past few weeks I have been honored and privileged to be interviewed by Justin Baeder, Jason Leahy, and Randy Ziegenfuss to discuss Making Evaluation Meaningful. I appreciate the opportunity to discuss my views and philosophies regarding evaluation and to (of course) promote my book. What I found amazing is that every time I am able to engage in deep conversation regarding this topic – one that I just spent months of my life writing about – I still… Read More »Let’s Change the Conversation Surrounding Evaluation

Industry Leaders Comment on Making Evaluation Meaningful

Making Evaluation Meaningful   Re-evaluate your perspective on teacher evaluation to truly transform school performance! The tools, strategies, and reflections in this book provide realistic solutions to the problem faced by many schools: meaningless evaluation. A considerable amount of time, energy, and money is spent on the teacher evaluation process, yet the question remains whether it is truly transforming the learning of teachers and, therefore, students. This practical guide shows how evaluation can become the tie that binds all school… Read More »Industry Leaders Comment on Making Evaluation Meaningful

Interview with Larry Ferlazzo about Making Evaluation Meaningful

PJ Caposey agreed to answer a few questions about his new book, Making Evaluation Meaningful: Transforming the Conversation to Transform Schools. Dr. PJ Caposey is an award-winning principal and superintendent who is an expert in teacher evaluation, school culture, personalized learning, and student voice. Find him on Twitter and Instagram @MCUSDSupe. LF: You talk about the importance of giving teachers feedback using a “why, how, what” formula. This seems to me to be a good strategy for teachers’ giving student feedback, too. … Read More »Interview with Larry Ferlazzo about Making Evaluation Meaningful

Divergence

Rhee Vs. Ravitch – Why not Both? I wrote the following blog four years ago – so assuredly the data on Twitter followers has since changed. However, the premise still exists. I saw a ‘news’ headline that noted Katy Perry (Democratic supporter in the past) follows Ivanka Trump on Twitter as if this were noteworthy. Not only is it not news – but it illustrates the exact point I was trying to make several years ago. We are far too… Read More »Divergence

The Power of Vulnerability

I require each of my administrators to administer a 360 survey as a component of their evaluation process each year. Every time this portion of the year rolls around they are quick to express the dread this process causes. After the surveys are sent out and data collected, the results come back overwhelmingly positive with 90+ percent of their faculty and staff strongly supporting the efforts of the principal. Not surprisingly, those pieces of data are largely ignored. The negative… Read More »The Power of Vulnerability