The Themes that Captured Our Time, Attention, Concern, and Consternation
[CLICK HERE to read this Blog
on the Project ACHIEVE Webpage]
Dear Colleagues,
Introduction
Today’s Blog closes out my 10th full year of writing these bi-monthly Blogs.
Over the past 231 Blogs—with topics ranging from research to reflections to rants—I have tried to analyze current topics, reports, and practices in education, psychology, and organizational change, emphasizing effective practices that improve student, staff, school, and systems-level outcomes.
I have done this in the spirit of “paying it forward”. . . and while it may result in a keynote invitation or a workshop presentation or a needs assessment or on-site consultation. . . the time I spend thinking about and writing these pieces really is the best “compensation.”
The world has dramatically changed over the past ten years. . . our country has seen significant challenges and advances. . . and education—in its widely diverse areas—has selectively experienced innovation, inertia, stagnation, and regression.
Rather than review an entire decade, let’s reflect instead just on the past year, and the “top areas” that caught my (and, hopefully, your) attention.
Below, I have clustered (with
some reordering) all 24 of this past year’s Blogs into organizational areas. While
each cluster has a brief introduction, I will leave it to you to personally and
professionally reflect on these areas. . . perhaps, revisiting a full Blog
message or one that you missed.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
This Year’s Blogs: Themes and Clusters
While some Blogs could have been clustered into more than one theme, and the theme titles below are broad, this year’s 24 Blog messages can be organized in the following areas:
· Theme 1: School Improvement: Changing Thinking, Processes, and Practices to Change Outcomes
· Theme 2: Choosing Effective School-Wide Programs and Practices: Avoiding Media Hype While Facilitating Staff Consensus
· Theme 3: Students’ Engagement, Behavioral Interactions, and Mental Health
·
Theme 4: Improving Multi-Tiered and
Special Education Services: Bridging the General Education and Special
Education Wall
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Theme 1: School Improvement: Changing Thinking, Processes, and Practices to Change Outcomes
Districts, schools, and other educational agencies or settings must continually evaluate their student, staff, school, and system outcomes—especially in the continually changing social, political, economic, and demographic world that we live in.
Education is not a “one size fits all” undertaking. It needs to be responsive to many different stakeholders, constituencies, and consumers, and yet it also needs to be effective and efficient.
Strategic planning, needs assessments, resource analyses, and formative and summative evaluations are conscious, continual processes that are essential for school improvement and success.
But these processes need to be grounded in innovative thinking, evidence-based blueprints, and proven practices and strategies.
Our 2024 Blogs in this area were [CLICK DATE to Link to Blog]:
· November 23, 2024 School Improvement Requires Changing Thinking, Not Just Changing Programs: The “Moneyball Thinking” Needed in Education
Using
the movie “Moneyball” as a metaphor, we suggest that many districts and schools
are locked into antiquated data analysis and school improvement thinking. We
advocate that they use “Moneyball Thinking” to rethink and revolutionize their
thinking and practices, applying these to linking Needs Assessment results to
more successful strategic planning and action.
_ _ _ _ _
· July 13, 2024 The Seven Sure Solutions for Continuous Student and School Success: “If You Don’t Know Where You’re Going, Any Road Will Get You There” (Part I)
This
Blog discusses the Seven Sure Solutions to school improvement and students
success as significant numbers of students continue to academically
under-perform and demonstrate social, emotional, and behavioral challenges in
the classroom and across their schools. Too many schools still focus on how
many students “pass the state test.” While they avoid school improvement
status, millions of students are not proficient and unprepared after
graduation.
_ _ _ _ _
· August 10, 2024 Will Your School “Win the Gold” for Your Students This Year? Why the U.S. Women’s Gold Medal Olympic Gymnastics Team is a Model for All Schools (Part III)
This
Blog discusses the courage, characteristics, and conditioning that educators
need to consider so that their schools are successful for all
students—especially as a new school year approaches. This Blog uses the Gold
Medal-winning Women’s Olympic Gymnastics team—at this year’s Paris Olympic
Games—as a model and analogy of what schools need to do to “Win the Gold” in
these three areas for every one of their students.
_ _ _ _ _
· October 19, 2024 Speed Counts When Making Successful Changes Across Your District or School—When to Go Slow and When to Go Fast
This
Blog emphasizes that the success of a district or school’s change process or
initiative often rests on the speed of its implementation. We review ten
variables that help determine if a change process needs to be implemented
slowly or quickly, and provide two Case Studies that apply these principles and
practices.
_ _ _ _ _
· November 9, 2024 Delegating Duties and Decisions in a Shared Leadership School: Avoiding Staff Reservations or Resentment
This
Blog discusses the significant benefits of having a Shared Leadership structure
and process in every school across the country. The structure is defined by
seven research-to-practice components evident in all successful schools. These
are aligned to six school-level committees—each responsible for their part of
the school success operation. The process is defined by describing the
different ways to make school and schooling decisions, and the importance of
staff training in this area.
_ _ _ _ _
· January 13, 2024 While Grades May Be Meaningful, It’s Still About the Skills. “Resolving” to Recognize that Report Cards are Less Meaningful than Student Mastery
This Blog reviews a major study demonstrating that high school grades across the country have been inflated from 2010 through 2022. At the same time, it emphasizes that grades are less important than the mastery of specific academic skills when predicting success in the next course, the next level of education, or a graduate’s performance once employed.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Theme 2: Choosing Effective School-Wide Programs and Practices: Avoiding Media Hype While Facilitating Staff Consensus
Anyone can buy a website, garner some testimonials, collect some “data,” post a TikTok, and claim that their “new and improved” curriculum, intervention, application, or product has “changed the life” of a student or school.
That is not research. It is marketing.
In our quest for educational innovations that work, we need to apply sound, objective social media and product evaluation principles and skills to cut through the hype and get to the heart.
We need to recognize and reject the fads, and embrace the fact that success in school takes time, resources, training, and persistence. . . and that it does not often occur immediately or without periodic challenges and temporary setbacks.
It takes at least 12 to 14 years to educate a qualified high school graduate.
Surely, we—the educators—can invest the time to validate the approaches that we select and deliver to these students. . . to ensure the optimal readiness for their post-graduation lives.
Our 2024 Blogs in this area were [CLICK DATE to Link to Blog]:
· March 16, 2024 Helping Schools Pick and Implement the Best Evidence-Based Programs: Avoiding Mistakes, Best Practices, and Pilot Projects (Part II)
Continuing
this two-part Series, this Blog Part II discusses the evaluative criteria used
by the What Works Clearinghouse and Evidence-Based Practices Resource Center to
rate the validity of curricula and approaches in educational settings. We then
summarize the five “mistakes” that educators should avoid when choosing
evidence-based programs, and explain why education should change the term “Best
Practices” to “Effective Practices,” and “Pilot Projects” to “Field-Testing.”
_ _ _ _ _
· September 7, 2024 How Fad or Flawed School Programs Increase Poor Teacher Morale and Resistance to Change: When Education Keeps Adopting the Same Shaky Stuff, It Will Keep Getting Repeated Rocky Results (Part V)
This
Blog reviewed and integrated recent articles reporting that (a) teachers’ job
satisfaction and mental health worsened last year, as did the need for student
supports and interventions; and (b) districts and schools continue to adopt
unproven programs and practices as part of a fad-driven decision-making
process. . . with no end in sight. An analysis emphasized the need for
data-driven decision-making, and suggested that ineffective practices
negatively impact teacher morale and create a resistance to future practices
that will effect change.
_ _ _ _ _
· February 24, 2024 What Super Bowl Commercials Teach Education About Media and Product Literacy: The Language and Process that Helps Schools Vet New Products and Interventions (Part I)
Metaphorically
using the commercials at the Super Bowl as a guide, this Blog emphasized and
outlined (applying the goals and questions within a sound middle school Media
Literacy program) why educators need to be both Media and Product Literate when
reviewing and evaluating the marketing materials or on-line reviews of new
products or services.
_ _ _ _ _
· March 30, 2024 How Cognitive Biases Affect Student Perceptions and Educator Decisions: Making the Unconscious, Conscious and the Implicit, Explicit
This
Blog defines Cognitive Bias, discusses how eight specific biases affect
educators’ positive and negative perceptions of students, staff, and systems,
and then address how they similarly impact judgments at the individual, grade,
and school levels. We especially focus on how to understand, prevent, or
address the implicit or unconscious biases or explicit and conscious biases
that interfere with or undermine productive interactions and objective
decision-making.
_ _ _ _ _
· April 27, 2024 Social Media and the “Double-Edged” Sword of Damocles: Survival Rests on Humility, Self-Control, and the Principles of Public Relations
This
Blog discusses Social Media as a “Sword of Damocles” that hangs above us with the power to enhance
or destroy those who use it. We can control the power by (teaching)
self-control, humility, common sense, and the ability to honestly
self-reflective before making a social media faux pas.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Theme 3: Students’ Engagement, Behavioral Interactions, and Mental Health
A clear post-pandemic theme—that persisted through 2024—involved issues related to (a) students’ chronic absenteeism and “quiet quitting” of public schools; (b) classroom disengagement and inappropriate behavior toward teachers; (c) social media addiction and peer-to-peer bullying; and (d) mental health concerns—including real concerns about school and personal safety.
While these issues need data-driven analyses as to their root causes and multi-tiered solutions, easy-fix Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) solutions are continually cited. . . even as virtually any solution is touted as an “SEL solution.”
During this year, we addressed the SEL bandwagon (and most of the other issues above) head on. . . we discussed the root causes. . . and we detailed the prevention, response, and intervention approaches needed.
If you are amazed that 2024 is over. . . you understand the importance of time.
We need to make sure that every school and schooling moment is well spent.
Our next generation of leaders are in our classroom seats today. We don’t have time to waste on generic suggestions, self-serving frameworks, and unproven practices.
Our 2024 Blogs in this area were [CLICK DATE to Link to Blog]:
· January 27, 2024 Strategies for Safe, Productive Classroom Conversations on Race, Religion, and National/World Events: It’s Not If, It Should Be When
Many
challenging, controversial, and emotional social issues have impacted the
climate and interactions across students, staff, and schools. To ensure that
discussions around these issues are safe and productive, staff need to be
trained to teach and guide students in the necessary discussion expectations,
ground rules, and conflict prevention and resolution strategies. This Blog
describes seven phases to accomplish this, providing specific guidance and
examples. The Blog also includes a YouTube video of a recent Education Talk
Radio interview summarizing and extending the discussion to the next level.
_ _ _ _ _
· August 24, 2024 Students' Health, Mental Health, and Well-Being Worsens Over the Past 10 Years: Summary of the August 2024 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Report (Part IV)
This
Blog summarizes the CDC’s national 2013-2023 Youth Risk Behavior survey results
for high school students. Detailing the shaky emotional status of our students,
the Blog asserts why students need multi-tiered services and supports, and that
an evidence-based social skills program—based on cognitive-behavioral and
social learning theory research—should anchor the core preschool through high
school universal instruction.
_ _ _ _ _
· July 27, 2024 Are Schools Really Prepared to Address Educators’ Biggest Behavioral Student Concerns Right Now? “We’ve Got Serious Problems and We Need Serious People” (Part II)
This
Blog discusses the significant classroom and school social, emotional, and
behavioral challenges demonstrated by students this past year as identified in
a recent national survey by K-12 school leaders. Using three quotes from a
national presentation, short- and long-term solutions are recommended that will
result in real and sustained success.
_ _ _ _ _
· May 25, 2024 Increasing Student Engagement: The New School Year Begins Before this “Old” Year Ends. How to Prepare and What Needs to be Done
This
Blog discusses the importance, need, and how to identify, analyze, and plan
interventions for disengaged students before the end of the current school year
so that the re-engagement interventions selected can occur either during the
summer or immediately at the beginning of the new school year.
_ _ _ _ _
· June 22, 2024 Does Your School’s SEL Program Teach Social Skill Behaviors, or Just Talk About What Students “Should Do”? If We Taught Reading the Way We Teach SEL, None of Our Students Would Learn How to Read
This
Blog discusses the building blocks needed when teaching students—from preschool
through high school—the social skills they need to be successful. Described are
the specific skills, teaching steps, and scripts—using the Stop & Think
Social Skills Program as an exemplar—to help students learn, master, and easily
apply their social skills to real-life situations.
_ _ _ _ _
· June 8, 2024 Revisiting Title IX’s Sexual Harassment Requirements While Avoiding Secondary Victimization: A Procedural Primer. Why Do Too Many Districts Not Know (or Abdicate) their Responsibilities?
This
Blog provides a detailed overview of the federal Title IX Sexual Harassment
law—describing definitions, required procedures, and sample district policies
in specific areas relative to responding to and investigating allegations. It
also discusses the psychological impact of sexual harassment on school-aged
students, and the importance of avoiding secondary traumatization.
_ _ _ _ _
· September 21, 2024 Research Teases Out the Impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences. . . But Many Educators Still Don’t Understand Social-Emotional Screeners, and the Limitations of ACEs-Only Assessments
Given
the school-related challenges since students returned from the pandemic, this
Blog discusses (a) the characteristics and concerns with social-emotional
screening, and with only using an ACEs tool; (b) how to interpret a recent ACEs
study that found ACEs correlations for young students’ social-emotional status,
but not for their academic performance; and (c) the serious limitations with
ACEs assessments’ validity and ability to causally explain students’
social-emotional—and, especially, trauma-related—difficulties. We identify many
reasons (beyond traumatic events) that explain students’ significant
social-emotional challenges, and discuss Tier 2 and 3 interventions available
to help.
_ _ _ _ _
· February 10, 2024 Michigan Mother Found Guilty of Manslaughter in Her Son’s School Shooting: Should Schools Lean-In to Hold Parents More Accountable for their Children’s Behavior?
On
February 6, 2024, Jennifer Crumbley was found guilty of four counts of
involuntary manslaughter for allowing her son to bring a gun to school where he
killed four and injured seven others. This Blog analyzes the case and asks
schools: Will this decision move the pendulum toward greater parental
accountability when schools recommend outside supports to address their
children’s significant health, mental health, and wellness needs; Will the
threat of litigation motivate these parents to take timely and effective
action—consistent with the recommendations; and Will schools become more
assertive in their interactions with parents, especially when there is a
documented threat of student, staff, and school violence?
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Theme 4: Improving Multi-Tiered and Special Education Services: Bridging the General Education and Special Education Wall
The research has continually demonstrated that most “students with disabilities” do not have pervasive educational challenges. . . they have “niche” areas where their disability impacts their academic or behavioral progress.
As such, these students are more typical than atypical, and their instruction is best guided by general education teachers in the general education curriculum in their general education classrooms.
At the same time, special education teachers are important and needed. . . as consultants to their general education colleagues (and vice versa). . . and as direct instruction co-teachers and teachers for students with more strategic or intensive multi-tiered needs.
But there should be no general education-special education “divide”. . . there should only be an educational “continuum.”
Our 2024 Blogs in this area were [CLICK DATE to Link to Blog]:
· December 7, 2024 Improving Special Education Services for our Students: What the New Administration Must Do on this 20th Anniversary of IDEA 2004
This
Blog uses the 20th anniversary of the signing of the last reauthorization of
the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA 2004), and the coming
second Trump administration to analyze, critique, and make recommendations on
how to improve special education services in our country’s K-12 schools.
_ _ _ _ _
· October 5, 2024 Breaking Down the Wall Between General and Special Education Teachers in Our Schools: How Organizational Missteps Create Classroom Barriers
This
Blog discusses the institutionalized wall between General Education and Special
Education Teachers that has existed since Students with Disabilities were fully
included in our nation’s public schools in the mid-1970s. Organized in five
“columns,” the Blog identifies bricks that need to be dislodged (i.e., changed)
so that the Wall can come down. Many of the recommendations focus on changing
staff and administrative beliefs, policies, procedures, or practices.
_ _ _ _ _
· May 11, 2024 When a School’s Multi-Tiered System of Supports Needs Support: How Do You Motivate Educators and Avoid Educational Malpractice?
This
Blog discusses the multi-tiered systems of support process, how to best prepare
for MTSS Case Study meetings using six “First Things First” activities, the
implications—through a Case Study—when these activities are not completed
before an MTSS meeting, and what to do when staff refuse to prepare and
participate in the MTSS process with intent and efficacy. The Blog asks,
“Should school staff be cited, like doctors and nurses, for ‘Educational
Malpractice’ when they have consciously and egregiously violated MTSS protocols
and harmed students?”
_ _ _ _ _
· April 13, 2024 Laundromats, Lawyers, Learning Loss, and Life: An Autobiographical Day in Education
This
Blog described an autobiographical day in the educational life of a school
psychologist who works nationwide as a consultant. He reflects on the harsh and
sometimes fixed realities he observed in a laundromat, on a special education
due process conference call as an Expert Witness, and during his work in a
rural school district with barely enough staff to address its students’ complex
needs.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Summary
Once again, today’s Blog closes out my 10th full year of writing these bi-monthly Blogs. Over the past 231 Blogs, we have tried to analyze current topics, reports, and practices in education, psychology, and organizational change, emphasizing effective practices that improve student, staff, school, and systems-level outcomes.
The world has dramatically changed over the past ten years. . . our country has seen significant challenges and advances. . . and education—in its widely diverse areas—has selectively experienced innovation, inertia, stagnation, and regression.
Rather than review an entire decade, this Blog reflected instead just on the past year, and the top areas that caught my attention. To do this, we clustered all 24 of this past year’s Blogs into organizational areas:
· Theme 1: School Improvement: Changing Thinking, Processes, and Practices to Change Outcomes
· Theme 2: Choosing Effective School-Wide Programs and Practices: Avoiding Media Hype While Facilitating Staff Consensus
· Theme 3: Students’ Engagement, Behavioral Interactions, and Mental Health
· Theme 4: Improving Multi-Tiered and Special Education Services: Bridging the General Education and Special Education Wall
We hope that this analysis will
help you to personally and professionally reflect on your year in Education. .
. helped, perhaps, by revisiting a full Blog message or one that you missed.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Meanwhile. . . . as 2024 turns to 2025, and our students and colleagues return from their Holiday Break, I hope that your break was restful and filled with much cheer and joy.
The “second half” of the school year gives us all an opportunity to rededicate ourselves to excellence and effectiveness. . . to improvement and success.
If you experienced success during the first part of the school year, I hope that you continue to go “to the next level of excellence.”
If you were not happy with your success—or need assistance with your next challenge, know that I am always available for a free “check-in” Zoom or conference call with you and your team.
June will be here in six months. . . one way or the other.
If you have a choice to act now or in June to improve your school or educational setting on behalf of your students or clients. . . which one will you choose?
I look forward to hearing from you.
Happy New Year,
Howie
[CLICK HERE to read this Blog
on the Project ACHIEVE Webpage]
