Archive for February 2019
Learning by doing
For the past year I have been doing a national “landscape review” to better understand trends in school ‘district improvement.’ Here’s what I learned: Improvement Science has been given a big boost by the Carnegie Foundation. The basic idea is: Do it, Try it, Fix it. At Seattle Public Schools we used Learning to Improve…
Read MoreBalancing Leadership Demands
How do you balance all the challenges, opportunities, and crises that come your way—and still find time for family, health, and retaining a positive outlook? I haven’t always balanced priorities as well as I should have, but here are a few strategies that have worked for me: Put High Priority Work FirstLeadership experts tell you…
Read MoreLeading for Professional Learning
Leading for Professional Learning:What successful principals do to support teaching practice By Anneke Markholt, Joanna Michelson, and Stephen Fink This is a great book about learning from practice (see blog post on Learning by Doing). The authors, all associated with the University of Washington, Center for Educational Leadership, have captured the nuance and essence of…
Read MoreA Passion for Equity
Virtually all of my career has focused on equity—striving to grow opportunity for each and every student. Everything I’ve learned in more than five decades as an educator tells me that today our mission to reach every student is more urgent than ever. Without a good education, half of our students have little hope of…
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