School of Thought Blog

AVID: A Transformative Pathway for School Improvement

Guest post by Nick Nelson

During the 2015–16 school year, The Dalles High School in Oregon was awarded a state grant for AVID training. We didn’t know much about AVID at the time, just that it was a philosophy centered on writing, inquiry, collaboration, organization, and reading, and that its goal was to close the achievement gap.

The grant allowed a team of five teaching staff, me, and one additional administrator to attend the initial summer AVID-training session. After that session, our team began to grasp more concretely the significance of what we were involved in and the potential impact AVID could have on our instructional practice with targeted students and schoolwide. What we didn’t know was how instrumental AVID would be in creating a powerful cultural transformation for our high school. (more…)

June 7, 2018

National Principals Conference 2018: A Forum for National Problem-Solving

Guest post by Amber Schroering

After the recent Parkland shooting in Florida, I found myself sitting in church and couldn’t bring myself to sing. I just stood there, almost feeling numb, wondering how I could make a difference. I began to feel the same feelings creep in as I read and saw the extent to which our country is still divided over race and gender inequality. My hopelessness continued when a seventh-grade student came into my office because her dad had been arrested the night before after his inebriated girlfriend called the police and claimed domestic violence. The student said her father was punched in the nose, handcuffed, and arrested. And my feelings of despair hit rock bottom when Deputy Jake Pickett was shot and killed in the line of duty. His wife teaches at one of our elementary schools and he was a 2002 graduate of Brownsburg High School. (more…)

June 5, 2018

Collaborative Leadership Leading Learning Other Principal/Teacher Preparation

2018 Digital Principals of the Year Announced

Innovative. Bold. Creative. These are the qualities exemplified by the 2018 NASSP Principals of the Year. Each year, NASSP recognizes principals who harness the potential of new technologies to further students’ learning.

Congratulations to this year’s digital principals: Kristina MacBury, Brian McCann, and Mariah Rackley. (more…)

June 4, 2018

Other Recognition Technology & E-learning

A Professional Learning Community That Achieves Results

Guest post by Jack Baldermann

At Westmont High School (WHS)—a Title 1 school just outside Chicago, IL—our team has sustained tremendous growth and significant gains in student achievement. WHS continues to rank in the top 1 percent in Illinois and in the nation for its graduation rate. Over the past five years, 98.5 percent of our students have graduated on time, up from a 10-year average of 90 percent. For five years straight, 100 percent of Latino and African-American students at WHS have completed all graduation requirements on time. In addition, WHS can also claim one of the most improved and top performing AP programs in Illinois and in the nation.

What has caused our substantial growth and gains in student achievement? (more…)

May 24, 2018

data informed graduation rates high school reform Leading Learning Other Principal/Teacher Preparation Reflection & Growth school improvement Vision & Mission

Igniting Every Student’s Spark of Genius

Guest post by Stephen Spahn

As chancellor of Dwight School for the last 50 years, I have had the distinct privilege of witnessing some of the more dramatic changes in education. As the world continues to be transformed at an unprecedented pace, we are living in a new age of educational enlightenment, challenging educators to assess, rethink, and innovate curricula as never before. (more…)

May 21, 2018

Building Culture Leading Learning personalization Relationships Vision & Mission whole child

Giving Students a Voice in School Improvement

Guest post by Kasey Teske

In secondary schools, the greatest untapped resource is our students. Most of our students care deeply about school and have numerous ideas about how to improve their campus community. But how often do we, as principals, involve students in our school improvement efforts? Do the students in our school even know our improvement priorities? Are they allowed to give input and help create our school improvement plans? I submit that the more principals give students a voice in their school, the more improvement will move in the right direction. (more…)

May 17, 2018

Building Culture Collaborative Leadership Innovation Leading Learning school improvement

Get Real With Visible Learning

Guest post by Jamie Richardson

Creating authentic learning for students is challenging. No longer do students simply complete a project, get a grade, and move on to the next assignment. Their learning is long-term and connected to the next experience. Our work at LaCreole Middle School in Dallas, OR, revolves around project-based, problem-based learning. We strive to put our kids into real-world situations, similar to the conditions that many working adults encounter every day. When done right, these types of learning opportunities help students develop collaborative abilities and critical thinking skills along with a host of other skills and knowledge. (more…)

May 16, 2018

Building Culture Curriculum, Instruction, & Assessments digital literacy Leading Learning student projects

iCARE, Part Three: Helping Troubled Students Care

Guest post by Thomas Kachadurian

Two weeks ago, I introduced you to iCARE, and last week, I shared how this initiative has helped to unite our school community. In this final post, I will explore how iCARE has changed the way we work with our most difficult students.

In 2014, I inherited a unique sophomore class. Within the class there was a particular group of sophomores who were regarded as a notable challenge and needed a lot of TLC. As I got to know them, I realized that only a few of them were truly challenging and the rest were just looking to carve new titles for themselves among their peers. I hadn’t realized it yet, but iCARE was to become a saving factor for many of them and their sophomore academic and social careers. (more…)

May 15, 2018

Building Culture Discipline mindset Relationships whole child

Responding After a Student Death by Suicide

Guest post by Richard Lieberman

As a school psychologist with 40 years of experience in school crisis response, I have collaborated with many principals in the aftermath of tragic events that have impacted their schools and communities. I have found their leadership under such challenging and pressured circumstances to be admirable. However, many administrators are uncertain about how to respond after a student dies by suicide. Community members may believe that talking about suicide will put the idea into the heads of our students, but the research indicates that talking about suicide and taking action are the keys to prevention. (more…)

May 14, 2018

Building Culture crisis response Human Capital Management Leading Learning Other Relationships School Safety Wellness

Navigating School Transitions

Guest post by Gordon Klasna

Summer is near and, as principal, I find myself already thinking about student transitions from one year to the next. For kids today, traditional school transitions seem to be growing even more difficult as children are living in an era of constant interruptions and limited attention span.

Since Eileen Johnson Middle School (EJMS) is an independent elementary district, we do not have a high school in our district, so instead we partner with our neighboring high schools to help ensure that our students are prepared academically when they cross their thresholds. While we all follow the same state academic standards, we don’t measure the soft skills that students need which are essential to making smooth transitions from one school to the next.

What are the skills that students need to navigate these transitions? (more…)

May 10, 2018

Collaborative Leadership Curriculum, Instruction, & Assessments Leading Learning Other Principal/Teacher Preparation whole child

iCARE, Part Two: Uniting Our Community

Guest post by Thomas Kachadurian

In last week’s post, I discussed the beginnings of the iCARE program at Colonie Central High School and how it has given students an opportunity to make a difference in our school. This week, I will share how iCARE has grown and united our entire community around a variety of events that aim to serve others and build a positive culture. (more…)

May 8, 2018

Building Culture student projects student voice Wellness

So Many Questions, So Little Time: Exploring Online PD

Guest post by Tracy Ragland

One of my goals as principal of Newcastle High School (NHS) in Wyoming is to provide my staff with ongoing, quality professional development. Currently, we follow a traditional, face-to-face PD model, where our administrative team shares best practices with our entire teaching staff during in-service time. Though this approach provides some benefits, our team has struggled to develop programming that addresses all of the different needs of our staff, especially since NHS offers a wide variety of electives ranging from multimedia to welding, in addition to our core classes. How can we as school leaders provide more effective professional development that meets all of the different needs of our staff? (more…)

May 3, 2018

Collaborative Leadership Human Capital Management Leading Learning Reflection & Growth

3 Myths About Innovative School Leadership

Guest post by Bill Ziegler

School administration is often missing innovative leaders who are willing to make the courageous decisions, think creatively, and use the vision casting necessary to move schools and student learning forward. Perhaps we don’t fully understand what it takes to be an innovative leader and we buy into the societal idea that innovators are risk-takers searching for their next new thing to create or design. (more…)

May 2, 2018

change difference maker Innovation Leading Learning

iCARE, Part One: Students Making a Difference

Guest post by Thomas Kachadurian

In 2011, I attended a character education summit at Sage College with my fellow associate principal Chris Robilotti. After attending a seminar on cultivating stakeholder ownership, we walked away with a new mission to take our successful middle school bullying prevention program and build it in the high school setting.

Using the information we gathered at Sage, Chris and I plotted a course (more…)

May 1, 2018

Building Culture Leading Learning Vision & Mission

A Voucher Bill That Harms Military Families

NASSP has long been an opponent of private school vouchers and an active member of the National Coalition on Public Education (NCPE). Private school voucher policies drain necessary funds from our nation’s public school system, are not required to follow many federal nondiscrimination statutes, and have no concrete proof that they serve students better than their public counterparts.

(more…)

April 30, 2018

Education Policy Other

Getting the Most Out of Block Scheduling

Guest post by Sedric G. Clark

As a young English I and Algebra I teacher, I always searched for best practices that would help my students succeed. One of the practices I encountered and embraced early in my career was 4×4 block scheduling. In fact, I completed my master’s degree paper on the topic and later chaired a committee for my district that recommended the implementation of 4×4 scheduling in all high schools.

That was more than 20 years ago. Since then, I have served as assistant principal and principal in five different schools in four different school districts—in two different states. I am now in my first year as superintendent, and hopefully, my last year as a doctoral student. When my doctoral adviser asked me to choose a topic for my dissertation, I once again turned to block scheduling. I wanted to see if block scheduling still offered the benefits that I thought it did at the beginning of my career. (more…)

April 26, 2018

block scheduling change schedule scheduling

School Safety Advocacy From a Student’s Perspective

Following the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL, which claimed the lives of 17 students and educators, advocates around the country organized a national movement demanding change to better protect our schools and communities from gun violence. Leading that movement are student survivors of the shooting joined by thousands of young people across the country.

The NASSP Student Leadership Advisory Committee joined those efforts, organizing advocacy events and actions to honor the lives of the Stoneman Douglas victims and to call for policy change. Here are testimonials about that advocacy from one of the students on the committee and one of the committee’s adult advisers: (more…)

April 20, 2018

Building Culture Communication Education Policy Other School Safety Wellness

Every Student Matters

Guest post by John C. Bartlett

When I woke up the morning after Election Day, my to-do list had a new priority: a visit to my English language learner classroom and a conversation with our 50 students who were getting their first taste of American democracy at work. What did these students want and need from me and their teachers? These students wanted to know that they matter, that someone cared about them, and that they were safe. Essentially, they wanted to know what every student needs to know when they walk through the front door of our schools every day. (more…)

April 19, 2018

Building Culture Equity Other School Safety

Are Your Students Life Ready?

Guest post by Akil E. Ross

As principal of Chapin High School (CHS) in South Carolina, I’m always trying to promote ways to make our students college and career ready. After all, the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) calls for our students to meet higher academic standards and for us to help them find success beyond high school. But I often find myself wondering: Does college and career ready mean life ready? Regardless of which path our students take, just possessing the knowledge and skills to succeed in college and a career is only one part of the equation to becoming a productive and happy human being. In addition to making our students college and career ready, my goal is to make 100 percent of our students ready for life.

What does it mean to be life ready, and how can schools prepare students? (more…)

April 19, 2018

Building Culture Communication mindset Relationships Wellness whole child

Leveraging Title IV, Part A to Create Safe and Supportive Schools

Guest post by Kelly Vaillancourt Strobach

Principals have a responsibility to ensure student safety while also providing a supportive environment that is conducive to learning. This requires a careful balance of addressing physical safety while also addressing the psychological safety of students. Despite the current focus on arming teachers and other school personnel, this tactic does not improve school safety, carries significant risk, and can actually undermine the learning environment. Rather, reasonable physical security measures include: (more…)

April 18, 2018

Building Culture Collaborative Leadership Education Policy federal funding Leading Learning Other School Safety Wellness