Saturday, July 12, 2025

National Trends and Evidence-based Approaches that Improve Education and our Schools

A "Running Record" of the Project ACHIEVE Educational Solutions' Bi-Monthly Blog and Related "Improving Education Today: The Deep Dive" Podcast

   Twice per month, Dr. Howie Knoff, President of Project ACHIEVE Educational Solutions publishes a Blog article and a related Podcast on the Better Education (BE) Podcast Network

   The Blog and Podcast are dedicated to discussing and analyzing national trends in education, effective school and schooling, staff and student effective practices, and ways to increase the academic and social, emotional, and behavioral success of students from preschool through high school (including alternative, residential, charter, and other more-specialized schools).  

   Though it all, Dr. Knoff always take a "common sense" approach to my discussions, but I also come from a school psychological and research-based perspective (which makes this Blog especially unique).

   The Blog messages themselves are hosted on the following Blog-site:

http://www.projectachieve.info/blog

     Below is a chronological list of all of the Blogs- - from the most-recent to those that date back to late 2013.

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A Related Podcast is Included for Each Blog

We are also engaged in a new partnership and have developed a new resource for you.

The partnership is with popular AI Educators, Davey Johnson and Angela Jones. . . and the resource is their Podcast:

Improving Education Today: The Deep Dive

   For each bimonthly Blog message that is published, Davey and Angela summarize and analyze it in their free-wheeling and “no-holds-barred” Podcast. . . addressing its importance to “education today.” They also discuss their recommendations on how to apply the Blog's information so that all students, staff, and schools benefit to “the next level of excellence.”

   You can find the Podcast on the Better Education (BE) Podcast Network which distributes our Podcast to ALL of the major podcast platforms. These platforms include: Spotify and Apple, as well as Overcast, Pocket Casts, Amazon Music, Castro, Goodpods, Castbox, Podcast Addict, Player FM, and Deezer.

On some of these platforms, you can sign up to automatically receive each new episode:

SPOTIFY LINK HEREImproving Education Today: The Deep Dive | Podcast on Spotify

APPLE LINK HEREImproving Education Today: The Deep Dive | Podcast on Apple Podcasts

LINK HERE for All Other PlatformsImproving Education Today: The Deep Dive | Podcast on ELEVEN More Podcasts

Davey and Angela have also created a Podcast Archive of more than 35 additional podcasts-- all of our 2024 Blogs (Volume 2), and 14 of our most-popular Blogs from 2023 (Volume 1).

Many districts and schools are using the Podcasts in their Leadership Teams and/or PLCs to keep everyone abreast of new issues and research in education, and to stimulate important discussions and decisions regarding the best ways to enhance student, staff, and school outcomes.

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Check Out the Project ACHIEVE Bookstore with On-Line Courses, E-Books, and Other Resources

In addition to our Blog messages and Podcasts, I encourage you to visit my ever-changing website where there are many, many resources that address the different facets of school improvement:  strategic planning, effective professional development, academic instruction through intervention, school discipline and classroom management, establishing positive behavioral support systems, implementing the necessary multi-tiered services and supports for students who are academically struggling and/or behaviorally challenging, and community and family involvement and outreach.

ALL of the Electronic Books on the Website are continually UPDATED to reflect the newest facets of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA/ESSA), IDEA, recently decided federal court decisions, and the most current research.

GO TO THE PROJECT ACHIEVE BOOKSTORE HERE

All of these school improvement components are part of Project ACHIEVE, the evidence-based (through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration) that we have been implementing nationwide since 1989, and that has been designated as a national model prevention (and CASEL Key) program since 2001.

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Once again, to link to all of Blog messages below, go to:     www.projectachieve.info/blog

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Newest--This Year (2025)

July 12, 2025  The Characteristics of an Effective Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS): What You Need to Assess to Ensure Your Fall Success (Part III)

June 28, 2025  School Discipline, Classroom Management, and Student Self-Management: The Summer Preparations Needed for Excellence This Fall (Part II)

June 7, 2025  Preparing for Excellence This Coming School Year: Strategic Summer Planning to Transform Classroom Instruction (Part I)

May 17, 2025  Understanding Seizure Types, Causes, and Connections to Stress and Brain Injury: Connecting Students’ Sensory and Neurological Functioning with School Learning, Socialization, and Disabilities (Part III)

May 3, 2025  Connecting Students’ Sensory and Neurological Functioning with School Learning, Socialization, and Disabilities (Part II): Differentiating Headaches and Four Different Types of Migraines

April 19, 2025  Connecting Students’ Sensory and Neurological Functioning with School Learning, Socialization, and Disabilities: A Primer on Vision, Hearing, and Respiratory/Nasal Functioning (Part I)

April 5, 2025  Five Essential Skill Sets for Middle and High School Students During Uncertain Times: Future-Proofing Their School Success— Now and After Graduation

March 22, 2025  Essential Strategies for Educational Leaders During Uncertain Times: Future-Proofing Your School(s) for Today’s Sweeping Changes

March 8, 2025  The “Charlie Brown” Reality of Race and DEI in Education: How the Trump Administration is Creating Fear by Using “Ready-Fire-Aim” Tactics

February 22, 2025  Repelling a Wolf Attack on Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973: Protecting Everyone When Chance Events Result in Life-Defining Disabilities

February 8, 2025  Minimizing Classroom Distractions to Maximize Student Learning: Building Walls to Buffer Politics, Phones, Prejudice, and Preferential Treatment

January 25, 2025  Students’ Behavior is NOT Improving. . . But It Can: Classroom Management Lessons for Teachers from the Detroit Lions’ Shocking Playoff Loss

January 11, 2025  While You Can Write a Student’s Individualized Education Plan. . . It (Legally) Needs to be Acceptable, Actionable, and Appropriate

2024

December 28, 2024  Education’s 2024 Year in Review: The Themes that Captured Our Time, Attention, Concern, and Consternation

December 7, 2024  Improving Special Education Services for our Students: What the New Administration Must Do on this 20th Anniversary of IDEA 2004

November 23, 2024  School Improvement Requires Changing Thinking, Not Just Changing Programs: The “Moneyball Thinking” Needed in Education

November 9, 2024  Delegating Duties and Decisions in a Shared Leadership School: Avoiding Staff Reservations or Resentment

October 19, 2024  Speed Counts When Making Successful Changes Across Your District or School—When to Go Slow and When to Go Fast

October 5, 2024  Breaking Down the Wall Between General and Special Education Teachers in Our Schools: How Organizational Missteps Create Classroom Barriers

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

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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

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?

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

May 11, 2024  When a School’s Multi-Tiered System of Supports Needs Support: How Do You Motivate Educators and Avoid Educational Malpractice?

April 27, 2024  Social Media and the “Double-Edged” Sword of Damocles: Survival Rests on Humility, Self-Control, and the Principles of Public Relations

April 13, 2024  Laundromats, Lawyers, Learning Loss, and Life: An Autobiographical Day in Education

March 30, 2024  How Cognitive Biases Affect Student Perceptions and Educator Decisions: Making the Unconscious, Conscious and the Implicit, Explicit

March 16, 2024  Helping Schools Pick and Implement the Best Evidence-Based Programs: Avoiding Mistakes, Best Practices, and Pilot Projects (Part II)

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)

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?

January 27, 2024  Strategies for Safe, Productive Classroom Conversations on Race, Religion, and National/ World Events: It’s Not If, It Should Be When

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

2023

December 30, 2023  A 2023 Review of Education’s Most (De)Pressing Issues: Productive Practices to Address the Pressure Points in Your District or School

December 9, 2023  The Over-Simplification of Education: When Evidence-based Practices are Diluted, They No Longer are Evidence-Based

November 25, 2023  Too Many Schools are Teaching Students to Control their Emotions. . . the Wrong Way! Because They Don’t Understand the Science, They Won’t Succeed in the Practice

November 11, 2023  Solving Schools' Most Persistent Problems: Safety and Mental Health Services, Discipline and Disproportionality, Special Education Litigation, and Staffing Shortages. Solutions from Four Recent Education Talk Radio Interviews

October 21, 2023  Bringing Justness to Terrorism, Murder, History, and Heartbreak: It’s Not Alright (Part II—A Eulogy of Resolve)

October 7, 2023  What Boston’s Battle for Integration, Anne Frank, and the Little Rock Nine Can Teach a Divided Country: A Personal Reflection on Why Black Lives, History, and Education Matter

September 23, 2023  Twelve Critical Components for (Continuous) School, Staff, and Student Improvement: Motivation Cannot Compensate for a System with Systemic Deficits

September 9, 2023  Seven Suggestions to Help Districts Avoid Special Education Hearings: A Short-Term Win May Be a Long-Term Loss

August 26, 2023  Research Does Not Support Growth Mindset Strategies in the Classroom: How “Culturally Fluent Ideas” Influence Educators to Waste Time, Money, Resources, and Good Faith

August 5, 2023  When High School Students Have Significant Academic Gaps: More Concerns and Common Sense Solutions “When State Policy Undermines Effective School Practice” (Letters to the Editor)

July 22, 2023  When School Policy Undermines Effective Practice: Too Much of Anything Often Results in Nothing (or Worse)

July 8, 2023  Is the Restorative Discipline Bandwagon Rolling Back? Five Reasons Why Its Roll-Out Wasn’t Warranted in the First Place

June 24, 2023  New Paths to Address Disproportionate Discipline with Black Students: New Directives, Research, Solutions, and Another Example of Racial Hate

June 10, 2023  Using “Flipped Learning” in a School’s Professional Development Initiative: Engaging Teachers and Support Staff in Outcome-Based PD—Even in a Virtual World

May 27, 2023  Ensuring that Post-Tenure Teachers Remain Actively Engaged as Collaborative Contributors in their Schools: Aligning the Seven Areas of Continuous School Improvement to Teacher Leadership and Advancement (Part IV)

May 13, 2023  Maintaining Teacher Motivation and Effectiveness After Tenure: Accountability, Growth, Coaching, and Continuous Improvement (Part III)

April 29, 2023  Teacher Induction and “Tenure with Teeth”: Improving Hiring and Staffing in a Nation Where Teaching is At Risk (Part II)

April 8, 2023  Improving Hiring and Staffing in a Nation Where Teaching is At Risk: If Student Success Depends on Teachers, Why is the Selection Process so Simplistic? (Part I)

March 25, 2023  How the “System” Forces Schools into Decisions that Harm Struggling Students: The “Groundhog Day” Impact of Fear on Staff Mental Health and Job Retention

March 11, 2023  Judy Heumann, Special Education’s History of Litigation, and the Continuing Fight: Complacency and Defensiveness Still Stand in the Way of Students with Disabilities’ Rights

February 25, 2023  Solutions for Selectively Mute Students and Educators: The Long-Term Adverse Educational Effects When Inappropriate Behavior is Ignored

February 11, 2023  Was a First Grade Virginia Teacher Shot Because Her Student was Denied Special Education Services? What School Administrators Face that State Departments of Education Ignore

January 28, 2023  Why “Do” SEL If It Doesn’t Improve Student Behavior in the Classroom and Across the School: Focusing on Individual and Group Skills to Enhance Student Engagement and Cooperative Group Outcomes

January 14, 2023  Ebony and Ivory: Education’s “Racial Divide” Cannot be Crossed Until We Can “Talk Like Friends”

2022

December 31, 2022  Reviewing the Challenges of 2022: The Need for Improvement in the Midst of Academic Gaps, Discipline and SEL Problems, School Shootings, and Continued Disproportionality

November 26, 2022  How to Create High-Performing, Collaborative Teams of Staff in Schools: No Woman/Man is an Island

November 12, 2022  Teaching Students Needed Academic and Social-Emotional Skills: We Need to Sweat the Small Stuff

October 29, 2022  The Three Keys to Closing Students’ Academic and Social-Emotional Gaps: Strategic Planning, Proven SEL Strategies, and Student-Centered Multi-Tiered Services and Supports

October 15, 2022  Emotionally Responding to a Crisis: Short-Term, Long-Term, Adults, and Children. Fight, Flight, Freeze, Resilience, and Resolve

October 1, 2022  Reflecting on My 50th High School Reunion and What I’ve Learned about Life and Life in Education: A Poetic Sequel to “American Pie”

September 10, 2022  The Academic and Social-Emotional Impact of Multiple Moves on Students in Poverty. The Stress We Feel When Moving is Exponentially Higher for Disadvantaged Students

August 27, 2022  Generation C (COVID) is Entering School with Significant Language, Academic, and Social Delays. The Pressure on Our Preschool and Kindergarten Programs to Act NOW

August 6, 2022  Closing the (Pandemic?) Reading Gap in Our Schools: We Need to Link Sound Assessment with Strategic Intervention. How One New Federal Status Report (and Three Popular Press Articles) May Lead Educators Astray

July 23, 2022  Should the U.S. Supreme Court Limit the Powers of the U.S. Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP)? How OSEP Has Taken “Liberties” with the Law, and Spent Tax-Payers’ Money on Flawed Frameworks

July 9, 2022  Reviewing Three New Studies on Student Discipline, Disproportionate Office Referrals, and Racial Inequity. It’s Not about School Shootings! It’s about Recognizing What Needs to Change in our Classrooms

June 25, 2022  In Order to Improve. . . Schools Need to Understand How to Improve. School Improvement Begins with Principles before Principals: Paying It Forward

June 11, 2022  Why School Shootings should be Considered Extreme Events along the Social-Emotional Learning Continuum. . . And Why Schools Need to Conduct SEL Audits and Needs Assessments to Decrease the Future Risks

May 26, 2022  How Many More Children Need to be Gunned Down in our Schools and on our Streets? A Historical Plea to Protect our Children from the Politics of Polarization

May 14, 2022   Reconceptualizing Professional Development for the Coming School Year: Moving Away from Fly-by, “Spray and Pray,” and Awareness-Only Training

April 30, 2022  Using Effective Practices to Screen and Validate Students’ Social, Emotional, and Behavioral Status: Finding, Sorting, Analyzing, and Synthesizing the (Right) Data (Part II)

April 16, 2022   YES: Teachers Should Help Screen Students for Social, Emotional, and Behavioral Challenges. NO: That’s NOT Where the Screening Process Ends. Schools Must Use Effective Practices to Screen and then Validate Students’ Mental Health Status (Part I)

March 26, 2022  Students Understand Social “Reality” Only When They Can Socially Analyze Multiple Realities. Are Students Prepared When Personality and Power Control, Misrepresent, or Lie About the Truth?

March 5, 2022  Fitting Social Skills Instruction into the School Day: Necessity, Priority, Fidelity, and the Secondary School Advisory Period. Effective Planning, Execution, and Accountability are Essential to SEL Success

February 19, 2022  The SEL Secret to Success: You Need to “Stop & Think” and “Make Good Choices.” Helping Students Learn and Demonstrate Emotional Control, Communication, and Coping

February 5, 2022  Why Do They Keep Trying to “Validate” Restorative Practices with Lousy (or Worse) Data? More Proof that Schools Need to Avoid Restorative (Justice) Programs and Practices

January 22, 2022  (Pandemic-Related?) Behavioral Challenges and Student Violence in Our Schools Today: Preparing for Action by Pursuing the Principles Needed for Assessment and Intervention

January  8, 2022   Educators Need to Deal with Reality by Facing, Analyzing, and then Changing Reality. The Damage Done When We Ignore, Lie About, Misinterpret, Sugar-Coat, or Surrealize Reality

2021

December 18, 2021  The Blog-Year in Review: Politics and the Pandemic, SEL and MTSS, Race and Disproportionality. Learning from the Past to Improve Student Outcomes in the Future

December 4, 2021  Will the Controversy Over Critical Race Theory Damage Students’ Pursuit to Better Understand Cultural, Racial, and Individual Differences? Is Our Nation At-Risk. . . for Different Reasons than in 1983?

November 20, 2021  What Do Race, Reading, Billy Joel, and Jeopardy Have in Common with our Nation’s Students? They are All Putting our Nation’s Students At-Risk

November 6, 2021  The Current State of SEL in our Schools: The Frenzy, the Flaws, and the Fads. If the Goal is to Teach Social, Emotional, and Behavioral Skills, Why are We Getting on the Wrong Trains Headed “West”? (Part II)

October 23, 2021  Addressing Students’ SEL Pandemic Needs by Addressing their SEL Universal Needs: What Social, Emotional, Attributional, and Behavioral Skills Do ALL Students Need from an SEL Initiative? (Part I)

October 9, 2021  A Setting is NOT an Intervention: It’s Where the Real Intervention Has the Highest Probability of Success. It’s Not WHERE We Put Students and Staff, It’s WHAT We Do When They’re There.

September 25, 2021  How Have Districts Tried and Failed to Eliminate Disproportionate Discipline Rates for Students of Color and With Disabilities? It’s Not About the Plan, It’s About What’s IN the Plan. . .  The Most Frequently Recommended Strategies Do Not Work

September 11, 2021  A Review of the BEST Resource to Guide Your School’s Instruction of the Whole Child: Connecting the Pandemic Needs of Your Students with Strategic Actions Supported by American Rescue Plan Funding

August 28, 2021  Disproportionate School Discipline, and How Long-Term Suspensions Don’t Work and Don’t Improve Classroom Conditions When Students are Gone: The Numbers Don’t Lie, But Are They Enough to Prompt Change? (An Unexpected Series Part III)

August 14, 2021  The Components Needed to Eliminate Disproportionate School Discipline Referrals and Suspensions for Students of Color Do Not Require Anti-Bias Training: Behind Every Iron Chef is an Iron-Clad Recipe (Part II)

July 31, 2021  The Critical Common Sense Components Needed to Eliminate Disproportionate School Discipline Referrals and Suspensions for Students of Color: This is NOT About Critical Race Theory (But We Discuss It) (Part I)

July 10, 2021  Reconsidering or Rejecting SEL/Character Education, Meditation/Mindfulness/Trauma-Informed, and Restorative Justice Programs: Put on Your Hard Hat and Bring Your Lunch Pail (Part II)

June 26, 2021  Reconsidering or Rejecting Collective Teacher Efficacy and the Acceleration of Students Who are Academically Behind: Take the Bus, Get Off the Bandwagon (Part I)

June 5, 2021  Maximizing Meeting Participation and Productivity: Is Everyone “Bringing It” to Your (Virtual or In-Person) Meeting? Why Be There if You’re Not There?

May 22, 2021  Sustaining Student Outcomes Beyond the Pandemic: Where Districts Need to Allocate Their American Rescue Plan (2021) Funds.  Lessons Learned from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (2009)

May 1, 2021  Addressing Students’ Social, Emotional, and Behavioral Needs: All is Not What it Appears to Be. Remembering Bob Slavin and Applying his Legacy

April 17, 2021  Reconciling “Civil Liberty” Claims that Compromise Public Health and Student Welfare: When a “Me-First” Perspective Undermines Our “We-First” Needs

April 3, 2021   Why Schools Need to Evaluate and Validate Before They Select and Direct (Their New Federal Funds to Services and Interventions). Be Cautious—What We Don’t Know about Student Mental Health and the Pandemic

March 20, 2021  A Consumer Alert: Student Awareness Does Not Usually Change Student Behavior. Do We Need to Dig a Moat Around CASEL’s Approach to Social-Emotional Learning (SEL)?

March 6, 2021   A Pandemic Playbook to Organize Your Pandemic Strategies Now and to Prepare for the 2021-2022 School Year: Where We’ve Been and What You Should Do

February 20, 2021   The Pandemic, Students’ Academic Performance, and Preparing for the Rest of the School Year: Helping Teachers Prioritize Their Efforts, Emotions, and Efficacy

February 6, 2021  Implementing Effective Multi-Tiered Systems of Supports during a Pandemic: Upgrading Your Academic and Social-Emotional Prevention, Assessment, and Interventions. It’s Not Your Fault...

January 23, 2021  An Inaugural Poem for the Ages Challenges All Educators as the Torch is Passed: A Lesson Plan to Help School Staff Become Part of the Solution

January 9, 2021   Analyzing, Understanding, and Changing Extreme Behavior: In the Capitol and In the Classroom. It’s Never as Easy as We Think or Want

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2020

December 19, 2020  Putting the “Power of Three” to Work for Your Students, Staff, Schools, or Systems: The Three Hours during Your Holiday Break that You Need to Succeed in 2021

December 5, 2020  Training Racial Bias Out of Teachers: Who Ever Said that We Could? Will the Fact that In-Service Programs Cannot Eliminate Implicit Bias Create a Bias Toward Inaction?

November 21, 2020   Curbing the Pandemic Slide by Putting the Right Students into the Right Instructional Groups. Which Peas are You Going to Put in Your Pandemic Pod? (Part II)

November 7, 2020  It’s Not About the Size of the Pandemic Slide—It’s About Where to Start Teaching. During a Crisis, You Have to Change the Definition of Success (Part I)

October 24, 2020  Classroom Management and Students’ (Virtual) Academic Engagement and Learning:  Don’t Depend on Teacher Training Programs. Districts Need to Re-conceptualize their School Discipline Approaches—For Equity, Excellence, and Effectiveness

October 10, 2020  The Pandemic is No Longer an Educational Crisis—It is a Catastrophic Opportunity for School Improvement. Using Catastrophes to Create Change: We Need to Innovate When We Renovate

September 26, 2020  The Seven High-Hit Reasons for Students’ Challenging Behavior: Functional Behavioral Assessment and Why Schools Don’t Climb into the 21st Century. When Personal Agendas Overrule Effective Professional Practices

September 5, 2020  Celebrating Our Labors on Labor Day . . . While Recognizing the Contribution of White Privilege

August 22, 2020  How Would Covey Organize an SEL School Initiative?  Strategically Planning for the Usual and the Unusual

August 8, 2020  Why Stress-Informed Schools Must Precede Trauma-Informed Schools: When We Address Student Stress First, We Begin to Impact Trauma. . . If It Exists

July 25, 2020  Identifying Students with Back-to-School Social, Emotional, and Behavioral Needs: How to Screen Without Screening.  In Uncommon Times, Uncommon Sense is Best

July 11, 2020  Do Black and Students with Disabilities’ Lives Matter to the U.S. Department of Education? Institutional Bias, Power-Based Decisions, and Ineffective Practices?

June 27, 2020  Teaching in this Fall’s Post-Pandemic World:  Addressing the Academic Needs of the “Way High” and “Way Low” Students. For Some Students, There Will Be No COVID-19 Slide (Part II)

June 13, 2020  Using Valid Assessments of Students’ Functional Literacy, Math, and Language Arts Skills to Instructionally Group Students this Fall: The Importance of Assessing—NOT Guessing—Each Student’s COVID-19 Slide (Part I)

May 30, 2020  Preparing NOW to Address Students’ Social, Emotional, and Behavioral Needs Before They Transition Back to School: Let’s Use Caring and Common Sense as Our Post-Pandemic Guides (A Bonus Podcast Included) (Part II)

May 16, 2020  Why is Education Week Sensationalizing Student Trauma During this Pandemic? Will Schools Re-Open Without Pathologizing their Students' Emotional Needs? (Part I)

April 25, 2020  How to Organize, Survive, and Thrive During Your School Re-Opening: The Pandemic Power of Three. How Understanding Small School Districts Can Help the Larger Ones

April 11, 2020   The Pandemic Unearths the Raw Reality of Educational Inequity and Disparity:  COVID-19 Forces Us to Realize We Need to Change the Village

March 28, 2020  Rethinking Your Personal, Professional, and Partnership Goals During CoVid-19’s “Lifestyle Sequestration":  Disruptive Innovation and Redefining What is Truly Important

March 14, 2020  Underachieving, Unresponsive, Unsuccessful, Disabled, and Failing Readers.  Diagnostic Assessment Must Link to Intervention: If We Don’t Know “Why,” We Can’t Know “What” (Part II)

February 29, 2020  Literacy Instruction and Student Reading Proficiency:  The Multi-Tiered Whole Must be Greater than the Sum of Its Disconnected Parts.  How a Comprehensive Blueprint Prevents Isolated Solutions and Inconsistent Results (Part I)

February 15, 2020   Did a Misguided U.S. Department of Education E-mail “Confirm” Its Improper Favoritism of the PBIS Framework?  Using the School Climate Transformation Grant to Misrepresent, Re-Brand, and Strong-Arm Educators toward Only PBIS Consultants

January 25, 2020  Mindfulness & Meditation Will NOT Change Students’ Emotional Volatility or Immediate Reactions to Trauma.  The Neurological Science Does Not Add Up—Another Fad & More Wasted Time in Pursuit of a Silver Bullet (Part II)

January 11, 2020  Trauma-Informed Schools: New Research Study Says “There’s No Research.”  Schools “Hitch-Up” to Another Bandwagon that is Wasting Time and Delaying Recommended Scientifically-Proven Services (Part I)

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2019

December 21, 2019  The Year in Review (Part II):  Schools’ Pursuit of Effective School Discipline, Classroom Management, and Student Self-Management Strategies.  Prevention, Disproportionality, Trauma, and Seclusions & Restraints

December 7, 2019  The Year in Review (Part I):  Schools’ Pursuit of Academic Achievement and Student Proficiency.  Curriculum, Instruction, Intervention, and Equity

November 23, 2019   Maybe It’s the (Lack of) Money that Explains the Relationship Between Black-White Achievement Gaps and Disproportionate Disciplinary Suspensions?  Analyzing the Results of a New National Study: Why Some “Two-Dimensional Problems” Need “Three-Dimensional Thinking”

November 9, 2019  Closing Secondary Students’ Significant Academic Skill Gaps: Teach at Their Grade Level or Their Skill Level?  Reviewing Two Recent Studies of Math Deficient Students (Part II)

October 12, 2019   The Traps and Trouble with “Trauma Sensitive” Schools:  Most Approaches Are Not Scientifically-Based, Field-Tested, Validated, or Multi-Tiered.  A National Education Talk Radio Interview (Free Link Included) Puts it All into Perspective

September 28, 2019  Closing Academic Gaps in Middle and High School:  When Students Enroll without Mastering Elementary Prerequisites. The MTSS Dilemma—Differentiate at the Grade Level or Remediate at the Student Skill Level? (Part I)

September 14, 2019  Inequities in the Distribution of School Funds to Individual Students Revisited:  Required Transparency, ESEA/IDEA Funding Flexibility, and Multi-Tiered Efficacy.  Reminding Schools of their Responsibilities and Possibilities

August 31, 2019   As Cyberbullying Increases, Positive School Climate Decreases:  Student Involvement Must Be Part of the Solution. . . How to Do It

August 17, 2019   Aren’t Schools with Positive, Safe Climates Already “Trauma Sensitive”?  Unmasking the ACEs, and Helping Students Manage their Emotions in School

July 27, 2019  An Open Letter to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights Regarding Its Report, Beyond Suspensions: Examining School Discipline Policies.  Begin with the End in Mind:  It’s about Root Causes and Intervention—Not About Policies or Positions

July 13, 2019 Revisiting the School Seclusion and Restraint Epidemic:  The Federal Government Says It's Worse than Thought.  While the Numbers are Important, We Need to Focus on the Reasons and Solutions

June 30, 2019   Analyzing Your School Discipline Data Now . . . to Prepare for the New School Year (Part III):  Conducting “Special Situation Analyses” for Your Hallways, Bathrooms, Buses, Playgrounds, and Cafeteria

June 15, 2019   Analyzing Your School Discipline Data Now . . . to Prepare for the New School Year:  Conducting “Special Situation Analyses” for Common School Areas and Peer-Related Anti-Social Behavior  (Part II)

June 3, 2019  Analyzing Your School Discipline Data and Your SEL (PBIS or School Discipline) Program: Students’ Discipline Problems are Increasing Nationally Despite Widespread SEL/PBIS Use (Part I)

May 20, 2019  The Journey toward Real School Equity:  Students’ Needs Should Drive Student Services … and Funding (Part II).  The Beginning of the Next School Year Starts Now: The “Get-Go Process”

April 27, 2019   Solving Student Crises in the Context of School Inequity:  The Case for “Core-Plus District Funding” (Part I).  When Schools Struggle with Struggling Students:  “We Didn’t Start the Fire”

April 13, 2019  How Hattie’s Research Helps (and Doesn’t Help) Improve Student Achievement.  Hattie Discusses What to Consider, Not How to Implement It . . . More Criticisms, Critiques, and Contexts

March 30, 2019  The Art of Doubling Down:  How the U.S. Department of Education Creates Grant Programs to Fund and Validate its own Frameworks.  Call Congress:  The Tainting of RtI, PBIS, MTSS, and SEL

March 16, 2019  States Take Note: How to Really Address the School Seclusion and Restraint Epidemic.  What State Departments of Education Need to Learn If Using PBIS to “Solve” This Problem (Part II)

March 2, 2019  Congress Take Note: How to Really Address the School Seclusion and Restraint Epidemic.  The U.S. Department of Education Keeps Pushing PBIS, but PBIS Ain’t Got Nothing to Give (Part I)

February 16, 2019  Redesigning Multi-Tiered Services in Schools:  Redefining the Tiers and the Difference between Services and Interventions

January 26, 2019  New Rand Corporation Study Finds Restorative Practices Produce Mixed and Underwhelming Results:  But Some Publications are “Spinning” the Outcomes and Twisting these Results

January 12, 2019  The School Year in Review: Successful School Safety and Equity in School Discipline (Part II).  Putting Politics Aside to Protect our Kids—A Review of the Federal Commission’s School Safety Report

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

2018

December 22, 2018  The School Year in Review:  Choosing High-Success Academic and Behavioral Strategies (Part I).  Committing to Educational Excellence by Learning from Hattie’s and SEL’s Limitations

December 8, 2018  Reconsidering What Effective High Schools Do, and What Failing High Schools Miss:  Credit Recovery Programs Should be Strategic, Selective, Student-Focused, and Not the Only Game in Town

November 25, 2018  It’s Not Too Late to Change: The School Year’s Not Even Half Over.  Why Schools Fail to Act When their Students Fail

November 10, 2018  The SEL-ing of Social-Emotional Learning:  Education’s Newest Bandwagon. . . Science-to-Practice Goals, Flaws, and Cautions (Part II).  Why Schools Need to Re-Think, Re-Evaluate, Re-Load, and Re-Boot

October 27, 2018  Looking for District/School Partners: Collaborating on a U.S. Department of Education "School Climate Transformation Grant" Proposal.  How this Five-Year Grant Can Support Your School's Climate & Student Discipline Needs

October 13, 2018  Social-Emotional Learning:  Education’s Newest Bandwagon. . . and the History of How We Got There (Part I).  Why Most Schools are not Implementing Scientifically-Sound Practices—Wasting Time and Resources

September 22, 2018  The U.S. Department of Education Wants to “Rethink Special Education,” But Is It Willing to Look at Itself First?  The Department Needs to Change at the “Top” in Order to Successfully Impact the “Bottom”

September 8, 2018   Preventing School Shootings and Violence. . .  States Not Waiting for the Federal Commission on School Safety Report:  The Guidance You Need is Here and Available

August 18, 2018   Students’ Mental Health Status, and School Safety, Discipline, and Disproportionality:  An Anthology of Previous Blogs.  Integrating Successful Research-to-Practice Strategies into the New School Year  (Part II of II)

August 4, 2018   School Improvement, Strategic Planning, ESEA, and Multi-Tiered Services:  An Anthology of Previous Blogs.  Integrating Successful Research-to-Practice Strategies into the New School Year (Part I of II)

July 21, 2018    Hattie Haters and Lovers:  Both Still Miss the Effective Implementation that Practitioners Need.  Critical Questions to Ask your “Hattie Consultant” Before You Sign the Contract

July 7, 2018    Elementary School Principals’ Biggest Concern:  Addressing Students’ Behavior and Emotional Problems.  The Solution? Project ACHIEVE’s Multi-Tiered, Evidence-Based Roadmap to Success

June 26, 2018   Learning from Another Gates Failure:  It's Not Just the Money--It's What You Accomplish with It.  How to Spend ESEA's Title IV Money Wisely

June 4, 2018   Making Mountains Out of Molehills:  Mindfulness and Growth Mindsets.  Critical Research Questions the Impact of Both

May 23, 2018   Solving the Disproportionate School Discipline Referral Dilemma:  When will Districts and Schools Commit to the Long-term Solutions?  There are No Silver Bullets—Only Science to Preparation to Implementation to Evaluation to Celebration (Part III)

May 5, 2018    Decreasing Disproportionate School Discipline Actions with Black, Male, and Special Education Students:  A Roadmap to Success.  Taking a Hard Look at Our Practices, Our Interactions, and Ourselves (Part II)

April 15, 2018    New Federal Government Report Finds that Disproportionate School Discipline Actions Persist with Black, Male, and Special Education Students:  Manipulating Policy, Buying Programs, and Following Federally-Funded Technical Assistance Centers Do Not Work (Part I)

March 25, 2018   School Climate, Student Voice, On-Campus Shootings, and now Corporal Punishment???  Listening to Students—When They Make Sense; and Not Listening to Students—When They’re Ready to Kill (Part III)

March 10, 2018   School Shootings, Comprehensive Prevention, Mandatory (Mental Health) Reporting, and Standardized Threat Assessments:  What Schools, Staff, and Students Need to Do, and the Help that They Need to Do It (Part II)

February 24, 2018   School Shootings:  History Keeps Repeating Itself. . . What We Already Know, and What Schools, Staff, and Students Need to Do (Part I)

February 10, 2018   The Folly and Frustration of Evaluating Schools and Staff Based on the Progress of Students with Significant Social, Emotional, and Behavioral Challenges:  Understanding the Student, Home, and Community Factors that Impact Challenging Students

January 28, 2018   How Strategic Planning and Organizational Development is Done by Every School . . . Every Year:  An Introduction to Successful School-based Strategic Planning Science-to-Practice [Part II of II]

January 13, 2018   Every School is in “School Improvement” Every Year:  Preparing for ESEA/ESSA--What Effective Schools Do to Continuously Improve . . . and What Ineffective Schools Need to do to Significantly Improve [Part I of II]

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

2017

December 27, 2017   The Year in Review:  What We’ve Learned about Effective Educational Practices to Increase Student, Staff, and School Success. . . Reflections on Policies, Practices, Pronouncements, and Progress

December 2, 2017   Teaching Social, Emotional, and Behavioral Self-Management Skills to All Students:  The Cognitive-Behavioral Science Underlying the Success of The Stop & Think Social Skills Program. . . Don’t We Really Just Want Students to “Stop & Think”?   [Part III of III]

November 18, 2017   Teaching Social, Emotional, and Behavioral Self-Management Skills to All Students:  The Cognitive-Behavioral Science Underlying the Success of The Stop & Think Social Skills Program. . . Don’t We Really Just Want Students to “Stop & Think”?   [Part II of III]

November 4, 2017   New Article Again Debunks “Mindfulness” in Schools:  Teaching Emotional and Behavioral Self-Management through Cognitive-Behavioral Science and The Stop & Think Social Skills Program. . . Don’t We Really Just Want Students to “Stop & Think”?   [Part I of III]

October 21, 2017   Improving Student Outcomes When Your State Department of Education Has Adopted the Failed National MTSS and PBIS Frameworks:  Effective Research-to-Practice Multi-Tiered Approaches that Facilitate All Students' Success (Part II of II)

October 7, 2017   Improving Student Outcomes When Your State Department of Education Has Adopted the Failed National MTSS and PBIS Frameworks:  Effective and Defensible Multi-Tiered and Positive Behavioral Support Approaches that State Departments of Education Will Approve and Fund (Part I of II)

September 25, 2017   Hattie’s Meta-Analysis Madness:  The Method is Missing !!!   Why Hattie’s Research is a Starting-Point, but NOT the End-Game for Effective Schools  (Part III of III)

September 9, 2017   “Scientifically based” versus “Evidence-based” versus “Research-based”—Oh, my!!!  Making Effective Programmatic Decisions:  Why You Need to Know the History and Questions Behind these Terms (Part II of III)

August 26, 2017   The Top Ten Ways that Educators Make Bad, Large-Scale Programmatic Decisions:  The Hazards of ESEA/ESSA’s Freedom and Flexibility at the State and Local Levels (Part I of III)

August 12, 2017   Back to the Future:  What My High School Reunion Reminded Me about High School Reform. . . The Non-Academic Essentials for High School Students’ Success

July 29, 2017   School Climate and Safety, and School Discipline and Classroom Management:  A Summer Review of My Previous Blogs in these Areas (Part IV of IV)

July 15, 2017   Students’ Mental Health Status and Wellness, and School Discipline and Disproportionality:  A Summer Review of My Previous Blogs in these Areas (Part III of IV)

July 1, 2017   The New Every Student Succeeds Act (ESEA/ESSA), and Multi-Tiered and Special Education Services:  A Summer Review of My Previous Blogs in these Areas (Part II of IV)

June 17, 2017   School Improvement, Strategic Planning, and Effective School and Schooling Policies and Practices:  A Summer Review of My Previous Blogs in these Areas (Part I of IV)

June 4, 2017    Effective School-wide Discipline Approaches: Avoiding Educational Bandwagons that Promise the Moon, Frustrate Staff, and Potentially Harm Students. . .  Implementation Science and Systematic Practice versus Pseudoscience, Menu-Driven Frameworks, and “Convenience Store” Implementation

May 14, 2017    The Endrew F. Decision Re-Defines a “Free Appropriate Public Education" (FAPE) for Students with Disabilities:  A Multi-Tiered School Discipline, Classroom Management, and Student Self-Management Model to Guide Your FAPE (and even Disproportionality) Decisions (Part III)

April 22, 2017    The Endrew F. Decision Re-Defines a “Free Appropriate Public Education" (FAPE) for Students with Disabilities:  A Multi-Tiered Academic Instruction-to-Intervention Model to Guide Your FAPE Decisions (Part II)

April 2, 2017    Special Education Services Just Got Easier. . . and Harder:  The Supreme Court's Endrew F. Decision Re-Defines a “Free Appropriate Public Education” for Students with Disabilities (Part I)

March 18, 2017    What Happens When School Leaders Make Decisions Not for the Greater Good, but for the Greater Peace:  “You Can Please Some of the People Some of the Time. . . But You Can’t Please All of the People All of the Time”

March 5, 2017    The Revolving Door of the Superintendency:  A Case Study on Resetting the Course of a School District. . . When Mission, Vision, and Values Count More than Resources, Requirements, and Results

February 19, 2017   Federal and State Policies ARE NOT Eliminating Teasing and Bullying in Our Schools:  Teasing and Bullying is Harming our Students Psychologically and Academically—Here’s How to Change this Epidemic through Behavioral Science and Evidence-based Practices

February 4, 2017   ESEA/ESSA, School Improvement, Race/Ethnic Status, and Students with Disabilities:  We Need to Differentiate Disability Just as We Differentiate Race and Ethnicity

January 22, 2017   ESEA/ESSA Tells Schools and Districts: Build Your Own Multi-Tier System of Supports for Your Students’ Needs--- Focus on Your Principles, Students, and Staff. . .and Verify the ESEA/ESSA “Guidance” Advocated by Some National Groups

January 7, 2017    Education Week Series on RtI Highlights Kentucky/Appalachian Mountain Grant Site’s Successful School Discipline Program:  An Overview of the Scientific Components Behind this Success, and a Free Implementation Guide for Those Who Want to Follow

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

2016

December 18, 2016    What the Next Director of the U.S. Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) Needs to Do:  My “First 100 Days” if I was Appointed the New OSEP Director

November 27, 2016   When Character Education Programs Do Not Work:  Creating “Awareness” Does NOT CHANGE “Behavior” . . .  TEACHING Social, Emotional, and Behavioral Skills Requires Behavioral Instruction

November 13, 2016   Beating Kids in Schools:  How Corporal Punishment Reinforces Bias, Violence, Trauma, Poor Social Problem-Solving, and the Fallacy of Intervention. . .  The Alternative?  Eliminate Corporal Punishment by Preventing its Need, and Implementing Interventions that Actually Change Student Behavior

October 31, 2016   Braiding Five Critical Concerns for Children:  Reading Instruction, Grade Retention, Skill Remediation, Response-to-Intervention, and Chronic Absences. . . Why Effective Practice Needs to Dictate Good Policy (Rather than the Other Way Around)

October 14, 2016  National Policies, State Procedures, and Local Practices:  Avoiding Untested Traps and Unhelpful Trends... Links to My “Most-Liked” Blogs:  Effective Practice, Questionable Policies, and Unproven Bandwagons

September 25, 2016   U.S. Department of Education Reminds Educators about Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports for Students with Disabilities:  But. . . Watch Out for Their Recommendations and References

September 5, 2016   Political Doublespeak, Students with Disabilities, and Common Sense:  A Legal Case Study on Students’ Rights and Standards-based IEPs. . . How Departments of Education Use Language, Fear, and Ignorance to Get their Way

August 20, 2016   From One Extreme to the Other:  Changing School Policy from “Zero Tolerance” to “Total Tolerance” Will Not Work. . . Decreasing Disproportionate Discipline Referrals and Suspensions Requires Changing Student and Staff Behavior

August 7, 2016   Effective School Discipline, Classroom Management, and Student Self-Management:  The Five Components that Every School Needs. . . Reflections on a National Survey of Administrators and Teachers

July 24, 2016   Rethinking School Improvement and Success, Staff Development and Accountability, and Students' Academic and Behavioral Proficiency:  Using ESEA/ESSA’s New Flexibility to Replace the U.S. Department of Education’s Ineffective NCLB Initiatives

July 9, 2016   Teaching Students Self-Management Skills:  If We Want Them to Behave, We Need to Teach Them to Behave

June 28, 2016   ADHD Students in Schools:  New CDC Data and Their Implications for Intervention

June 12, 2016   How to Improve your Chronically Absent Students' Attendance. . . During the Summer

May 30, 2016   The Difference between Social Stories and Social Skills Training?  A BIG Difference!

May 15, 2016   Student Engagement (Down), Teacher Satisfaction (Down), School Safety and Academic Expectations (Down)-- How Do We Raise Up our Students and Schools to Success?

May 1, 2016   Parents and Students in Jail:  How do Schools Support Students with Parents in Jail, and Students who--Themselves--are Incarcerated?

April 17, 2016   School Resource Officers: Helping or Hurting Students and School Discipline?  The Need to Integrate Criteria for Hiring, Training, and Involving School Resource Officers, School-based Police, and Security Guards in Our Schools, and into the ESEA/ESSA’s Required Bullying, Restraint, and Suspension Plans

March 20, 2016   Grade Retention is NOT an Intervention!  How WE Fail Students When THEY are Failing in School

March 4, 2016   The New ESEA/ESSA:  Discontinuing the U.S. Department of Education's School Turn-Around, and Multi-tiered Academic (RtI) and Behavioral (PBIS) System of Support (MTSS) Frameworks

February 13, 2016   Reviewing Mindfulness and Other Mind-Related Programs (Part II).   More Bandwagons that Need to be Derailed?

January 30, 2016    Reviewing Mindfulness and Other Mind-Related Programs:   Have We Just Lost our Minds? (Part I).  Why Schools Sometimes Waste their Time and (Staff) Resources on Fads with Poor Research and Unrealistic Results.

January 17, 2016   The Seven C's of School Success (Part II):  The Ultimate Staff Strategies to Build Strong, Cohesive Relationships and Effective, Productive Teams

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2015

December 19, 2015   The Seven C's of School Success (Part I):  The Ultimate Organizational Strategies for School Success

November 28, 2015   Start the School Day Later?  How Students Use their After-School Time, Media and Smartphones, and Opportunities to Sleep

November 14, 2015    New U.S. Department of Education Report:  Students in RtI Tier II Interventions are Losing Ground.  What the Report Says. . .Why RtI is Not Working. . . Recommendations for Improving the RtI Process

November 1, 2015    Research to Practice:  How do Teachers Influence Students' Classroom Self-Management?  New Report says that Positive Classroom Climates and Relationships Most Influence Student Motivation

October 20, 2015   Want to Improve Student Learning?  Look at your "Instructional Environments" - - Standards Don't Teach . . . Teachers Do !!!

October 3, 2015   Is Your Strategic Plan Focused on Outcomes. . . or Just a Direction?   There are "Many Roads to Rome"- -  But You Need an Address and a GPS to Get There

September 19, 2015  Why Students Don't Behave?  Because We are not Teaching Them the Social, Emotional, and Behavioral Skills that They Need

September 7, 2015   When Kids Can't Read:  Policy and Practice Mistakes that Make it Worse

August 22, 2015   New National Education Association (NEA) Policy Brief Highlights Project ACHIEVE's Positive Behavioral Support System (PBSS) as an Evidence-based Model for School Discipline, Classroom Management, and Student Self-Management

August 9, 2015   Donald Trump, Negative Campaigns, and Social Skills:  Modeling Intolerance for our Students?

July 25, 2015  The Seven Sure Solutions to School Success:  How Many do You Need?

July 8, 2015   The Unfulfilled Promise of Education:  Students' Social, Emotional, and Behavioral Skills

June 21, 2015   School Disproportionality and the Charleston Murders:  Systemic Change vs. State Statutes

May 31, 2015   School Improvement? The Questions your Department of Education Needs to Know

May 9, 2015   The Beginning of the New School Year Starts in April

April 25, 2015   Extending the School Day? Is it Due to Ineffectiveness, Disengagement, or Enrichment?

April 10, 2015   The NEW ESEA Draft: Tell Congress that Capital Letters Make a Difference

April 4, 2015   Planning for Next Year's Successes THIS Year: Addressing Your Professional Development, On-Site Consultation, and Technical Assistance Needs at the System, School, Staff, and Student Levels

March 28, 2015   March Madness: How Effective Schools are Like Successful Basketball Teams

March 15, 2015   Restorative Practices and Reducing Suspensions: The Numbers Just Don’t Add Up

March 1, 2015   Stop Your Best Teachers from Leaving the Field: Breaking the Vicious Cycle of Recruiting, Training, and then Losing Your Best Teachers

February 15, 2015   Your State's Guide to RtI: Some Statutes Just Don't Make Sense- - What your Department of Education isn't Sharing about its Multi-tiered/Response-to-Intervention Procedures

January 31, 2015   Correcting the Flaws: The Feds’ Thinking on Academic Proficiency and Results Driven Accountability

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2014

December 13, 2014   Rich District, Poor District: Common Sense Practices to Maximize Resources and Improve Student Outcomes

November 22, 2014   Academically Struggling and Behaviorally Challenging Students: Your Doctor Wouldn’t Practice this Way

November 8, 2014   A New Federal Report Documents What Low-Performing are NOT Doing to Succeed: 12 Questions that WILL Guide School Improvement Success

October 26, 2014   School Improvement Succeeds only with Shared Leadership: A Field-Tested Blueprint

October 11, 2014   Another Federal Push… What’s the Deal with Trauma Sensitive Schools?

September 21, 2014   Minneapolis Superintendent Bans Most Suspensions for their Youngest Students: What Districts Need to do Instead of Suspending (Young) Students

September 6, 2014   New Superintendents’ Survey: Suspensions Do NOT Change Behavior—  What does?

August 17, 2014   Beginning the New School Year on the Right Foot: Why Classroom Routines, Behaviorally Disordered Students, and the Brain Matter

August 3, 2014    Implementing the U.S. Department of Education's School Safety Report: Resources to Prepare your School at the Policy, Procedure, and Practice Levels

July 22, 2014   Student Mental Health and Wellness: What the New RWJ Foundation Report Means for You

June 22, 2014   The 2013 U.S. School Crime Report Just Released by the US Departments of Education and Justice:  Making Schools Safer during the Summer, so They are Safe in the Fall

June 8, 2014   New National Report Discusses Ways to Improve School Learning Conditions for Students and Staff. . . and How to Break the "School to Prison" Link for Behaviorally Challenging Students

April 19, 2014   Don't Reinvent the Wheel: The Beginning of the New School Year Starts in April

April 6, 2014   Preschoolers Most Suspended Age Group: New Report and What It Means for You

March 9, 2014   Approaches to Eliminate Disproportionality: New Study Reinforces State-wide Student Discipline Inequities

March 1, 2014   Implementing the U.S. Department of Education's New School Discipline Policies: A Three-Year Positive Behavioral Support Implementation Blueprint

February 8, 2014   Congress Passes New Improvement Option for Struggling Schools:  Recognizes that the Department of Education's Turn-Around Options and More (SIG) Money are NOT Improving Schools or Student Outcomes

January 26, 2014   New Brown University Study: 90,000 Students per Year Suffer "Intentional" Injuries at School between 2001 and 2008….Resources to Help Schools and Districts Prevent Student Violence, Assaults, and Aggression

January 12, 2014   U.S. Department of Education Report:  "Guiding Principles: A Resource Guide for Improving School Climate and Discipline"

December 15, 2013   The National Council on Teacher Quality and The New York Times:  Teacher Training Programs NOT Preparing New Teachers in Classroom Management, and Zero Tolerance Procedures for School Discipline Do not Work

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During the school year and even into the Summer, I typically write bi-monthly Blog messages, unless an issue or new federal/state report comes out that needs attention.

PLEASE feel free to comment on my thoughts at any time.  PLEASE ALSO feel free to connect with me on social media:

You can e-mail me at:  howieknoff1@projectachieve.info

To see my website, go to:  www.projectachieve.info

To go to my Publications Store, go to:    www.projectachieve.info/store

Connect with me on Twitter:  twitter.com/DrHowieKnoff    or @DrHowieKnoff

Check out my LinkedIn Profile:  www.linkedin.com/in/knoffprojectachieve

Or see, join, or "like" my Facebook Page:  www.facebook.com/pages/Project-ACHIEVE

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Once again, to link to all of my past Blog messages below, go to:     www.projectachieve.info/blog

Best,

Howie

Saturday, June 28, 2025

School Discipline, Classroom Management, and Student Self-Management: The Summer Preparations Needed for Excellence This Fall (Part II)

The Discipline Crisis That's Breaking Teachers (and What Schools Can Do This Summer)

  • 72% of educators reported this year that student behavior is WORSE than before the Pandemic. Teachers are quitting mid-year. Office Discipline Referrals have tripled. Classroom instruction stops daily for disruptions. Some students are not even showing up for school.

  • The brutal truth? The discipline strategies schools are relying on are failing spectacularly. . . including the PBIS and SEL frameworks. . . and suspending MORE kids this Fall is NOT the solution.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

This Blog article (and accompanying Podcast) provides a proven lifeline by describing:  

📊 The 5 Pillars of Safe & Effective Schools - The exact model used by award-winning principals nationwide.

The 5-Component Solution for Classroom Management and Student Self-Management - Dr. Howie Knoff's evidence-based framework that's transformed 1000s of schools nationwide over the past 40 years.

🔍 How Teachers and Support Staff fit in – What teachers and related service professionals need to do - this Fall - to turn things around.

📋 Your Summer Action Plan - Exact steps to implement before August (includes Needs Assessment Questions to ask NOW).

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

FACT: This isn't another education Blog or Podcast with feel-good theories. This is a survival guide, backed by hard data and proven results.

Don't let another school year slip away while your teachers burn out and students fall behind. The research is clear. The solution exists. 

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

The question is: Will you act?

Every day you wait, you lose another great teacher.

 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

👉 BONUS:   The Blog Article and Podcast are FREE (see the Link)...

And you can Subscribe NOW to Automatically Receive EVERY Podcast.

👉 Share With Your Team - Everyone needs this information NOW.

👉 Forward this to every educator and administrator who needs hope again.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

The Blog and Podcast go to 100,000+ education professionals worldwide. Join the movement.

 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

CLICK HERE for Blog:    https://bit.ly/44nvMNt

CLICK HERE for Podcast analyzing this Blog:   https://bit.ly/4kf28QI

 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

Saturday, June 7, 2025

Preparing for Excellence This Coming School Year (Part I)

Summer Planning to Strategically Transform Classroom Instruction

_ _ _ _ _

Listen to a summary and analysis of this Blog on the Improving Education Today: The Deep Dive podcast—now on the Better Education (BE) Podcast Network

     Hosted by popular AI Educators Angela Jones and Davey Johnson, they provide enlightening perspectives on the implications of this Blog for the Education Community.

[CLICK HERE to Listen on Your Favorite Podcast Platform]

(Follow this bi-monthly Podcast to receive automatic e-mail notices with each NEW episode!)

_ _ _ _ _

[CLICK HERE to read this Blog on the Project ACHIEVE Webpage]

_ _ _ _ _


Dear Colleagues,

Introduction

   This is the first in a five-part Blog Series on what schools can do right now to strategically prepare for the coming new school year in the areas of:

·       Quality Instruction,

·       Discipline and Classroom Management,

·       Multi-tiered Services and Supports,

·       Staff Cohesion and Collaboration, and

·       School Climate and Student Engagement.

   These are five core areas that are most-predictive of effective schools with strong and sustained student academic and social, emotional, and behavioral outcomes.

   While some may say—here in June as the current school year sunsets:

“It’s time for vacation.”

   Truly, right now, for effective schools:

“It’s time for preparation.”

   And this preparation centers around the question:

“Will your district, school, or educational organization be ready, come August, to (a) extend its strengths, (b) address its weaknesses, and (c) close its gaps, as it (d) (re)positions its staff and acquires the needed resources to move to the next level of excellence?”

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Prologue: A (Past) Tale of Two Needy Middle Schools

As the school year drew to a close and the echoes of graduation ceremonies faded into summer quiet, two middle schools in the same district found themselves standing at critical crossroads. Both Jackson and Roosevelt Middle Schools had concluded the academic year grappling with remarkably similar challenges that are all too familiar in today's educational landscape:

 

Declining student attendance and engagement across the grade levels, Inconsistent academic productivity with dramatic differences from classroom to classroom, and Learning outcomes that were well short of both state standards and community expectations.

 

The Spring assessment data reinforced the troubling stories: Failing reading comprehension scores, mathematics achievement with persistent and concerning gaps, and climate surveys revealing disconnected students who felt unprepared for High School.

 

Teachers reported frustration with classroom management issues, inconsistent implementation of curricular standards, and the persistent feeling that—despite their best efforts—they weren't reaching all students effectively.

 

As the summer “break” began, the leadership approaches at these two schools diverged dramatically, setting the stage for vastly different outcomes when students returned in August.

_ _ _ _ _

 

At Jackson Middle School (a pseudonym), the Principal and her School Leadership Team (SLT) and others engaged in a series of research-based  school transformation actions. Two days after the last day of school, the SLT—including assistant principals, committee co-chairs and department heads, the guidance counselor, special education teachers, and general education representatives from each grade level—began an intensive analysis and strategic planning process for two full weeks.

 

During these two weeks, they objectively and systematically analyzed grade-level and student subgroup data and artifacts from the school’s Data Dashboard—completing a forensic analysis that identified pivotal problems and their root causes.

 

They also examined (a) classroom observation data—looking for patterns in instructional effectiveness, student engagement strategies, and classroom management approaches; and (b) lesson plans, assessment practices, and other evidence of successful differentiated instruction. These analyses were completed at the individual teacher, grade level, and academic department levels.

 

By mid-June, clear patterns emerged. Some teachers consistently produced strong student outcomes through engaging instruction and effective classroom management, while others struggled with fundamental pedagogical practices. Some grade-level teams collaborated effectively to support student learning, while others functioned more as isolated collections of individual teachers. The analysis also revealed that instructional support staff—special education teachers, reading specialists, and counselors—were working hard, but not always in coordination with classroom instruction.

 

Armed with this comprehensive data-driven analysis, Jackson Middle School’s SLT developed targeted Action Plans that extended throughout the summer months. With previously-secured funding, intensive sessions began to implement the Action Plans, focusing on design and implementation, and professional development and staff learning. In addition, mentoring partnerships pairing highly effective teachers with colleagues needing specific support were established, creating vehicles for ongoing collaboration and growth for the new school year. Finally, a comprehensive onboarding process for the school’s new hires—and all other untenured staff—was prepared and scheduled for the entire school year, beginning with the new-school-year orientation.

 

The SLT also created detailed plans to align the curriculum, recognizing that scattered instructional approaches were contributing to inconsistent student outcomes. Monthly virtual check-ins occurred with all staff throughout July, balancing the need to maintain connection and build momentum while simultaneously respecting everyone’s need for some summer downtime.

 

By the end of June, Jackson Middle School had established clear goals, allocated resources strategically, and created the accountability systems needed to sustain its planned improvement efforts. This proactive approach positioned Jackson Middle for meaningful improvements that would extend far beyond surface-level changes.

 

When school reopened, staff returned with increased confidence, enhanced skills, and layers of collaborative support systems. Students encountered more engaging instruction, clearer expectations, and educators who were prepared to facilitate their success. The investment in the comprehensive summer planning and implementation process created the momentum that drove improvements in classroom instruction, student achievement, and school climate during the subsequent academic year.

_ _ _ _ _

 

In stark contrast, Roosevelt Middle School's Principal and SLT, despite facing the same challenges as those in Jackson Middle School, decided to postpone any comprehensive strategic planning until the traditional three pre-service days in August. Their collective reasoning reflected common, but counterproductive, thinking: That (a) staff needed a complete mental break from school-related work; (b) summer planning would interfere with colleagues’ vacation time; and (c) intensive preparation could wait until everyone returned refreshed and ready to work in August.

 

This laissez-faire approach ignored decades of research on change implementation and professional development effectiveness. The belief that meaningful school improvements could be designed and implemented in the short and intense August pre-service days reflected a fundamental misunderstanding of how complex educational systems transform. Indeed, the decision to wait until August left Roosevelt Middle School with virtually no time to collect and analyze the needs assessment data and information—that Jackson Middle School evaluated in June—much less develop and begin to implement strategic Action Plans to drive school improvements.

 

This approach resulted in (a) generic—rather than incisive—professional development during the new school year; (b) inadequate time to build strong, collaborative staff relationships, and the shared understanding needed to implement new practices effectively; and (c) a “build the airplane in the air while flying” mentality that undermined the deep learning required to meaningfully change the school’s instructional practices.

 

Given all of this, Roosevelt Middle School's teachers and other staff entered the new school year with the same knowledge, skills, and resources they left with in June. Moreover, the planning, discussions, and change strategies that were delayed until August were seen as additional burdens, rather than exciting opportunities for growth. As a result, staff experienced implementation anxiety, rather than confident anticipation, and they started the year in a reactive, rather than a proactive, mode.

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The Characteristics of Effective Classroom Teachers

   While both Jackson and Roosevelt Middle Schools needed to address all five of the school improvement characteristics that this five-part Blog Series will address (i.e., Quality Instruction, Discipline and Classroom Management, Multi-tiered Services and Supports, Staff Cohesion and Collaboration, and School Climate and Student Engagement), we have to start somewhere.

   And there is nowhere better to start—relative to both research and practice—than effective, high-quality classroom instruction. . .

   Decades of rigorous educational research—involving longitudinal studies, meta-analyses, and comprehensive reviews of effective practice, have identified remarkably consistent patterns among teachers who reliably produce strong student outcomes across all grade levels, demographic contexts, and academic subject areas. Understanding these research-validated characteristics enables school leaders to make informed decisions about hiring, professional development, and the support systems needed to for ongoing teacher evaluation and pedagogical growth.

   Supported by observations, interactions, and evaluations from this past school year (and earlier, as needed), School Leaders right now should functionally assess every one of their instructional and support teachers—returning this coming school year—comparing them to the effective teaching characteristics below. Anchoring these assessments should be the outcomes of the students taught by each respective teacher.

   The results of this analysis will help School Leaders plan and implement the strategic activities needed—starting this Summer—to (as above) bring their school (and instructional staff) to the next level of excellence. . . and the next level of proficiency for all of the students that they teach.

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The Core Characteristics of Effective Teachers

   Based on the decades of rigorous educational research above, the core characteristics of effective teachers are:

·       Strong Content Knowledge and Pedagogical Expertise. Effective teachers demonstrate a deep, nuanced understanding of their subject matter that extends far beyond basic curriculum standards or requirements.

This isn't simply knowing content or procedures; it is understanding the conceptual frameworks, historical development, and interconnections within their disciplines. For example, elementary teachers should possess the comprehensive knowledge of literacy development, mathematical concepts, scientific inquiry, and social studies themes. Secondary teachers should demonstrate sophisticated understanding of their specialized content areas.

Equally important is pedagogical content knowledge—understanding how to make subject matter accessible to diverse learners. Effective teachers know which concepts students typically find challenging, what misconceptions commonly arise, and which instructional strategies work best for different learning objectives. They understand developmental progressions and can sequence learning experiences, building systematically toward individual student mastery. This expertise enables them to provide clear explanations, design meaningful activities, and adapt instruction based on student responses.

Critically, pedagogical research demonstrates that content knowledge alone is insufficient relative to instructional excellence. Teachers must also understand how students learn specific subject matter. The most effective teachers continuously expand both their content knowledge and their understanding of effective pedagogical approaches, staying current with developments in their fields while refining their instructional practices.

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·       High Expectations Coupled with Appropriate Support. Effective teachers maintain rigorous academic standards while providing the scaffolding, differentiation, and support necessary for success for every student’s learning approach and needs.

This characteristic reflects a fundamental belief that all students can achieve at high levels, especially when instruction is effectively differentiated and students are strategically grouped according to the material and their skills. Effective teachers don't lower expectations for students facing challenges; instead, they intensify support and modify approaches to help students reach ambitious goals.

High expectations manifest in multiple ways: Challenging assignments that require critical thinking, consistent accountability for quality work, and a refusal to accept inadequate effort as satisfactory. These expectations, however, are accompanied by systematic support structures. Effective teachers provide clear rubrics, model expected performance, offer multiple opportunities for practice and revision, and create classroom environments where a student’s struggle is viewed as a part of learning, rather than evidence of inability.

Research shows that the combination of high expectations with appropriate support produces significantly better outcomes than either component alone. Teachers who maintain high standards without adequate support foster student frustration and learned helplessness. Teachers who provide systematic support without challenging expectations limit student growth and achievement.

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·       Systematic Use of Data to Inform Instruction. Effective teachers are sophisticated consumers of multiple forms of student data, going far beyond standardized test scores to include formative assessments, observational data, student work analysis, and informal feedback. Understanding that data collection without analysis and action is meaningless, they develop systematic approaches for gathering, interpreting, and responding to information about student learning.

These teachers use pre-assessments to determine whether students have the prerequisite skills to begin new instruction, formative assessments to monitor progress during scaffolded learning lessons, and summative assessments to evaluate mastery and plan next steps. They also analyze student work samples to identify patterns of understanding and misconception, adjust pacing and emphasis based on evidence of student needs, and provide targeted interventions for students requiring additional support.

Most importantly, effective teachers involve students in data analysis and goal-setting, helping learners to understand their own progress and take ownership of their growth and accomplishments. This creates a classroom culture where data is viewed as helpful information rather than judgmental evaluation, motivating students to self-assess and to actively seek improvement.

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·       Consistent Classroom Management and Positive Climate/Relationships. Effective teachers create learning environments that are both structured and supportive, with clear expectations and procedures that enable learning while facilitating positive student connections and relationships. Their classroom management is proactive rather than reactive—preventing problems through good planning, early responses, and relationship-building interactions, rather than responding to disruptions after they occur.

These teachers establish, teach, and reinforce clear routines and procedures that students understand and follow, creating predictable environments where learning routinely and organically occurs. They communicate expectations clearly, model appropriate behavior, and provide consistent feedback about both academic and behavioral performance. Most importantly, their classroom management is based on respect and relationship, rather than power and control.

Research reinforces that effective classroom management is inseparable from good instruction. Teachers who engage students in meaningful learning activities experience fewer behavioral problems, while those whose lessons lack purpose or appropriate challenge often struggle with management issues regardless of their disciplinary procedures.

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·       Continuous Reflection and Professional Growth. The most effective teachers are perpetual learners who regularly examine their practices, seek feedback from multiple sources, and actively pursue opportunities for professional growth and improvement. They view teaching as a complex craft requiring ongoing refinement rather than a set of skills mastered once and applied repeatedly.

These teachers engage in systematic reflection about their instructional practices, student outcomes, and professional interactions. They seek feedback from colleagues, administrators, students, and parents, using this information to identify areas for improvement and growth. They participate actively in professional development opportunities, join professional organizations, and pursue additional training and education relevant to their work.

Dedication to continuous growth also involves staying current with educational research, trying new instructional strategies, and adapting practices based on data that validates their effectiveness. Effective teachers are willing to abandon comfortable but ineffective practices in favor of approaches that better serve student learning, even when change requires significant effort and risk-taking.

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·       Effective Communication and Collaboration. Outstanding teachers understand that education is fundamentally a collaborative enterprise requiring strong partnerships with colleagues, families, and support staff. They communicate clearly and frequently with all stakeholders, sharing information about student progress, classroom activities, and learning goals in ways that build understanding and support.

With colleagues, effective teachers participate meaningfully in team meetings, share resources and strategies, and contribute to school-wide improvement efforts. They seek advice from more experienced educators while offering support to newer teachers—creating cultures of mutual assistance and shared responsibility for student success.

Family communication is particularly important, with effective teachers maintaining regular contact that goes beyond crisis situations. They provide frequent updates about student progress, suggest ways families can support learning at home, and respond promptly to parent questions and concerns. These teachers understand that strong home-school partnerships significantly impact student achievement and work intentionally to build these relationships.

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·       Cultural Responsiveness and Equity Focus. The most effective teachers understand and value the diverse backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives their students (and colleagues) bring to learning.

They recognize that cultural, socioeconomic, religious, gender-identity, and other differences are assets rather than deficits, and they integrate this understanding into building positive and respectful classroom climates and interactions. They also adapt their instruction accordingly to connect with students' prior knowledge and experiences, while expanding their horizons.

Culturally responsive teaching involves understanding how culture influences learning styles, communication patterns, and family expectations. Effective teachers learn about their students' communities and backgrounds, incorporate diverse perspectives into their curriculum, and create inclusive classroom environments where all students feel valued and respected.

This work also requires attention to equity and social justice, ensuring that all students have access to high-quality instruction and support regardless of their backgrounds or circumstances. Effective teachers advocate for their students, challenge biases and stereotypes, and work to eliminate barriers that prevent some learners from achieving their potential.

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   All of these characteristics manifest differently across grade levels while maintaining their essential integrity. Elementary teachers might emphasize relationship-building and foundational skill development—using more concrete examples and providing extensive scaffolding for developing learners. They often serve as primary adult figures in students' school lives, requiring particular attention to social-emotional support alongside academic instruction.

   Middle school teachers face the unique challenge of working with adolescents who are experiencing significant social, emotional, and developmental changes. Effective middle school teachers combine high academic expectations while understanding the psychoeducational impacts of adolescence—creating learning environments that are both challenging and supportive. They often work in interdisciplinary teams, requiring strong collaboration skills and flexibility in coordinating trans-disciplinary curricula.

   High school teachers typically focus more intensively on subject-matter expertise and preparing students for college and/or career post-secondary success. However, the most effective secondary teachers still maintain strong relationships with students and provide appropriate support while preparing them for increased independence and responsibility.

   Regardless of grade level, all effective teachers share fundamental commitments to student learning, professional growth, and collaborative practice. They understand that teaching is complex work requiring ongoing attention to both content expertise and pedagogical skill, and they approach their work with a combination of confidence and humility.

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   When completing the recommended year-end audit of their current staff—using the characteristics above as a guide—administrators and other educational leaders in a school should gather evidence from multiple sources over an extended period of time. The most comprehensive evaluations include classroom observations, student outcome data, peer and student feedback, parent communication records, evidence of professional growth activities, and artifacts demonstrating collaborative practice.

   In the end, three clusters of teachers can be identified:

·       Teacher Leaders—Accomplished. Teachers demonstrating consistent, high levels of competence across most of the characteristics above can be considered content, instructional, and/or organizational leaders in the school. . . and potential committee chairs, Leadership Team members, professional development presenters, and coaches or mentors for other colleagues. 

·       Teacher Leaders—Progressing. Teachers showing strength in some areas and needed growth in others are progressing—with time, targeted professional development, and support—toward higher levels of professional teaching proficiency. These individuals are “on-track,” and represent a core strength of any school.

·       Teacher Leaders—Emerging. Teachers lacking proficiency in many of the characteristics above may simply represent newer, alternative certification, or less-well-prepared teachers who need more seasoning and coaching. Or, they may involve teachers who have received—but not responded to—previous support and mentoring. The former group may need a systematic, structured professional development process. The latter may require intensive intervention, or may need assistance transitioning out of the profession.

   Ultimately, the results of these analyses—now in June—can help drive the strategic decisions and Action Plans that result in key teacher-instruction activities—this summer and in preparation for the new school year—that help Accomplished Teachers to serve, Progressing Teachers to advance, and Emerging Teachers to improve.

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Characteristics of Effective Teaching Teams

   While guaranteeing the instructional excellence of all individual teachers is essential to school success, teachers also naturally work in departments, grade levels, teams, committees, and other formal and informal groups.

   Thus, knowing the characteristics of effective teaching teams and then evaluating the quality of a school’s most pivotal teams is critical in June so that needed adjustments can be made for August and September.

   The evolution from isolated classroom practice to professional collaboration occurs by design, not chance. Indeed, effective teaching teams differ fundamentally from informal teacher groups. While traditional teacher interactions often focus on sharing resources, commiserating about challenges, or coordinating logistics, research-proven collaborative teams engage in systematic strategies focused on improving instruction and student outcomes.

   The development of effective teaching teams requires intentional leadership, dedicated time, and clear protocols for collaboration. Schools that simply assign teachers to teams without providing training, time, and support systems rarely see meaningful improvements in either collaboration or student outcomes. However, schools that invest in developing truly effective teams often experience transformational changes in professional culture and educational effectiveness.

   The core characteristics of effective teaching teams include:

·       Shared Vision and Collective Responsibility for Student Success. The foundation of effective teaching teams is a collectively developed and deeply held belief that all team members share responsibility for the success of every student they serve, not just those assigned to individual classrooms. This represents a fundamental shift from traditional concepts of teacher autonomy and individual responsibility toward collaborative accountability for shared outcomes.

Shared vision development involves extensive dialogue about beliefs, values, and goals relative to student learning. Effective teams spend significant time early in their development discussing their beliefs about how students learn, what constitutes academic and social-emotional success, and how their collective efforts can support improved instructional and student outcomes.

Collective responsibility manifests in multiple ways: Teams analyze all students' data together, share strategies for supporting struggling learners, and celebrate improvements regardless of which teacher's classroom produced the gains. When students experience difficulties, the team approaches it as a shared challenge requiring collaborative rather than individual teacher problem-solving. This collective approach often results in more creative and effective solutions while reducing the isolation that many teachers experience when facing challenging situations.

Research demonstrates that teams with genuine shared vision and collective responsibility produce significantly better student outcomes than groups of individually-skilled teachers working alone. The synergy created through truly collaborative approaches enables teams to accomplish more than the sum of their individual efforts.

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·       Regular, Focused Collaboration Time with Clear Protocols. Effective teaching teams require dedicated, protected time for meaningful collaboration, along with structured protocols that ensure this time is used productively. Random or sporadic meetings rarely produce significant improvements in instruction or student outcomes, regardless of participants' good intentions and professional commitment.

Regular collaboration means consistent, frequent meetings scheduled at times when participants can focus fully on the work without competing demands. Weekly meetings are typical, though some teams meet more frequently for specific purposes. The key is consistency and predictability, allowing teams to build momentum and maintain a laser focus on improvement goals over time.

Focused collaboration, then, requires clear agendas, defined outcomes, and systematic protocols or rubrics to examine student work, analyzing assessment data, and planning lessons collaboratively, or addressing specific student needs. Effective teams use protocols that structure their conversations, ensuring that discussions remain productive and outcome-oriented rather than devolving into complaint or superficial sharing sessions.

Critically, teams that meet regularly but lack focus often become frustrated and abandon collaborative efforts. Those using structured protocols resulting in meaningful student and staff outcomes maintain and extend their commitment, momentum, and productivity.

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·       Data-Driven Decision Making and Transparent Sharing of Results. Outstanding teaching teams make extensive use of multiple forms of data to guide their instructional decisions and measure their effectiveness. This goes far beyond looking at standardized test scores once or twice yearly to include the systematic collection and analysis of formative assessment data, student work samples, observational information, and other indicators of learning progress.

Effective instruction-focused teams develop shared assessments that enable them to compare student performance across classrooms, identify effective instructional strategies, and target areas needing additional attention. They create common rubrics for evaluating student work, ensuring consistency in expectations and providing opportunities to calibrate their judgment about student performance levels.

Perhaps most importantly, these teams transparently share results, including both successes and areas of needed improvement. This requires high levels of trust and professional maturity, as team members must be willing to acknowledge when their students aren't achieving desired outcomes, and to accept constructive assistance from colleagues. Teams that create cultures of openness and mutual support often solve problems more quickly and effectively than those where teachers feel pressured to appear successful regardless of actual student outcomes.

Data-driven decision making also involves using evidence to modify instructional approaches, adjust pacing and emphasis, and design targeted interventions for students needing additional support. Teams that collect data but don't act on findings rarely see improvements in student outcomes. Those that systematically adjust their practices based on evidence experience continuous improvement in their effectiveness.

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·       Complementary Skills and Distributed Leadership. The most productive teaching teams intentionally develop and utilize the diverse strengths that different members bring to their collaborative work. Rather than assuming all team members contribute equally in all areas, effective teams identify individual expertise and create structures for sharing and building on these strengths.

Complementary skills might include specialized knowledge in areas like technology integration, differentiated instruction, behavior management, assessment design, or family engagement. Some team members might excel at data analysis, while others have particular gifts for creative lesson design or relationship building with challenging students. Effective teams inventory these strengths and create opportunities for members to learn from each other.

Distributed leadership means that different team members take leadership roles based on their expertise and the team's needs rather than relying on a formal hierarchy or seniority. The teacher with the strongest technology skills might lead efforts to integrate digital tools, while the colleague with extensive assessment knowledge guides the team's work on developing common measures. This approach maximizes the team's collective capacity while providing professional growth opportunities for all members.

Distributed leadership also involves rotating team-facilitation responsibilities, sharing accountability for team outcomes, and ensuring that all voices are heard in decision-making processes. Teams that rely too heavily on single leaders often struggle when those individuals are absent or leave, while those with shared leadership functions maintain effectiveness even when membership changes.

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·       Open Communication and Constructive Conflict Resolution. Effective teams create cultures where honest dialogue about student needs and instructional practices is not only acceptable, but expected. This requires moving beyond surface-level politeness and platitudes, to candid and sophisticated root cause analysis critiques resulting in decisive actions that drive improvement.

Open communication involves sharing both successes and failures, asking for help when needed, and offering feedback to colleagues in supportive but honest ways. Team members feel comfortable admitting when they don't understand something, acknowledge when their students aren't achieving desired outcomes, and request specific assistance from colleagues with relevant expertise.

Effective teams also know how to constructively resolve conflict as meaningful collaboration inevitably involves disagreement about instructional approaches, student needs, resource allocation, and other important issues. Effective teams develop skills and protocols for addressing these disagreements professionally, focusing on student outcomes rather than personal preferences or territorial concerns.

This work requires establishing clear norms for communication, training in collaborative and conflict resolution skills, and creating safe environments where team members can take risks and make mistakes without fear of judgment or retaliation. Teams that suppress conflict often make poor decisions based on artificial consensus. Those that engage in destructive conflict waste time and energy that should be focused on student learning.

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·       Continuous Learning Orientation. Outstanding teaching teams approach their work with humility and curiosity, recognizing that improving instruction and student outcomes requires ongoing learning and adaptation. They actively seek new knowledge, pilot innovative practices, and learn from both successes and failures in systematic ways. They are dedicated to life-long learning is a lifelong process and work to continuously improve their practice to better serve those they teach.

Continuous learning involves staying current with educational research, participating in professional development opportunities, and seeking input from external sources of expertise. Teams might engage in book studies, attend conferences together, invite consultants to provide specialized training, or participate in networks of similar teams facing (or overcoming) similar challenges.

These teams also engage in action research, systematically testing new approaches and collecting evidence about their effectiveness. They document their experiments, analyze results honestly and objectively, and adjust their practices based on what they learn. This creates cycles of continuous improvement that enable teams to become increasingly effective over time.

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·       Systems Thinking and Coordination. Effective teaching teams understand that their work lives within a series of larger systems, and that they need to coordinate with other teams, departments, and school-wide initiatives. They avoid the isolation that can develop when teams lose sight of broader organizational goals and requirements become they have become too internally focused.

Systems thinking involves understanding how their students' experiences connect across different classrooms, grade levels, and subject areas. Elementary teams consider how their work prepares students for middle school expectations, while secondary teams coordinate to make sure that students receive coherent, transdisciplinary experiences rather than isolated silos of disconnected single-subject lessons.

Effective instructional teams also align their work with school-wide improvement goals, district initiatives, and state standards, ensuring that their collaborative efforts support rather than compete with broader organizational objectives. They communicate regularly with other teams and participate meaningfully in school-wide professional development and planning activities.

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   Effective instructional teams demonstrate their collaborative success by documenting, for example, improvements in members’ instruction, the generation of shared resources and strategies, and more coordinated approaches to supporting student needs. They maintain their focus on student learning and proficiency while building and sustaining their positive relationships, interactions, and professional growth. Less effective teams often struggle with unclear purposes, inadequate time allocation, or interpersonal conflicts that interfere with their work, while ineffective teams may meet regularly but produce no meaningful changes in instruction or student outcomes.

   As discussed in the first section of this Blog on effective classroom teacher expectations, the characteristics of effective teams—while maintaining their essential elements—are modified to account for students’ psychoeducational differences from elementary to middle to high school. Moreover, evaluations of team success are based not just on student outcomes, but on multiple group process indicators—for example, high quality meeting agendas and minutes, shared assessments and root cause analyses, team meetings and decision-making processes, and effective collaboration and conflict resolution.

   While the time and training investment required to develop truly effective teaching teams is significant, research consistently demonstrates that schools with strong collaborative cultures experience improved teacher retention, enhanced job satisfaction, and most importantly, better student achievement across all demographic groups and achievement levels.

   Reinforcing the theme of this Blog Series, school leaders and leadership teams need to take the time now—in June—to evaluate the most-pivotal teams in their schools against the characteristics of effective teaching teams above. These evaluations can then be folded into the strategic decisions, Action Plans, and summer activities needed for individual teachers in this instructional area as an additional layer of preparation for the coming school year.

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Characteristics of Effective Instructional/Intervention Support Staff

   Effective teachers and teaching teams still are not enough for complete instructional success in a school. Schools must be fully committed to providing students with multi-tiered services, supports, and/or interventions for academically struggling and/or behaviorally challenging students. This involves, for example, intervention specialists, special education teachers, counselors and school psychologists, media and technology specialists, and other related services professionals.

   Historically, the landscape of student support services has transformed from primarily a remedial pull-out model toward an integrated problem-solving, consultation, multi-tiered intervention model that supports both students and teachers in general and special education settings. Indeed, the research reveals that effective instructional support and related service professionals play critical roles in a school’s prevention and early through intensive intervention continuum that supports diverse learners. These roles include collaborative consultation, coaching, and systems-level intervention—in addition to direct student services.

   Given the depth and breadth of these roles, it is essential for schools to understand the core characteristics of effective instructional/intervention support staff.

   These characteristics include the following:

·       Systems Perspective and Collaborative Consultation Skills. The most effective support staff understand that their work occurs within a complex educational system, and that collaborative approaches maximize the capacity of this system. Rather than functioning as isolated specialists who address problems after they occur, these professionals work proactively to strengthen systems and support teachers in preventing difficulties even as they are ready to provide strategic and intensive interventions when needed.

A systems perspective here involves understanding how various factors—instructional practices, behavior support systems, family engagement, school climate, and community resources—interact to influence student outcomes. Effective support staff analyze problems from multiple angles, considering academic, behavioral, social-emotional, and environmental factors that might contribute to student difficulties. They avoid simplistic cause-and-effect thinking in favor of comprehensive ecological approaches that simultaneously address multiple contributing factors.

Collaborative consultation skills enable support staff to work effectively with general education teachers, sharing expertise in ways that build teacher capacity rather than creating dependency. This might involve co-teaching arrangements, instructional coaching, collaborative problem-solving processes, or professional development. The goal is to empower teachers to more effectively meet diverse student needs while maintaining access to specialized support when required.

Effective consultation requires strong interpersonal skills, cultural sensitivity, and the ability to communicate complex information in accessible ways. Support staff must build trust with colleagues, demonstrate respect for teachers' professional knowledge, and provide practical assistance that enhances, rather than complicates, instructional practices. They also need skills in facilitating change while minimizing resistance, as their work often involves helping teachers modify previously-established (but unsuccessful) practices and adopt new approaches.

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·       Evidence-Based Practice Implementation and Fidelity Monitoring. Outstanding support staff stay current with research in their specialized fields, implementing interventions known to be effective for the populations they serve. This involves continuous professional learning, critical evaluations of new approaches, and the systematic implementation of validated practices. This does not involve relying on tradition, intuition, or popular trends that lack empirical support.

Evidence-based practice implementation requires more than simply knowing which interventions work. It involves understanding how to adapt research-validated approaches to local contexts while maintaining the essential elements that make them effective. Support staff must consider factors like student characteristics, available resources, staff capacity, and organizational culture when selecting and implementing interventions.

Fidelity monitoring is also essential as even the most effective interventions will fail if implemented incorrectly or inconsistently. Effective support staff develop systems for tracking implementation quality, for determining when adjustments are necessary, and for ensuring that interventions are delivered as intended over time. This might involve creating implementation checklists, conducting peer observations, collecting student progress data, and maintaining documentation of service delivery.

These professionals also understand the importance of sustaining the integrity of effective interventions even when enthusiasm wanes or competing demands arise. Effective support staff build the systems and provide the ongoing support that maintain intervention quality over extended periods, recognizing that long-term success requires implementation supports that extend past the initial training.

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·       Cultural Competence and Stress-Informed Approaches. Effective support staff possess a deep understanding of how cultural factors, socioeconomic circumstances, and emotional home and school experiences influence student learning and behavior. They recognize the interdependence between academic and social, emotional, or behavioral problems, and that these may reflect cultural mismatches, economic stress, or responses to adverse experiences—rather than intrinsic student deficits that require remediation.

Cultural competence involves more than an awareness of different ethnic or linguistic backgrounds. It includes an understanding of how different forms of diversity—including socioeconomic status, family structure, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, and community characteristics—influence student experiences and educational needs. Effective support staff adapt their approaches based on cultural considerations while avoiding stereotypes or assumptions about student capabilities.

Stress-informed approaches recognize that many students have experienced (or are experiencing) stressful or traumatic events that interfere with their ability to engage, learn, and behave in typical ways. Rather than viewing challenging behaviors as willful defiance or academic struggles as laziness, support staff complete assessments to determine the presence and impact of these events. They then, as needed, implement practices that promote safety, trustworthiness, collaboration, and empowerment while avoiding approaches that might re-traumatize students.

This work also involves helping general education teachers understand the cultural and emotional factors that influence student behavior and performance. Support staff provide professional development, consultation, and ongoing coaching to help teachers create inclusive, sensitive learning environments that support all students' success regardless of their backgrounds or experiences.

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·       Strong Communication and Relationship-Building Skills. Perhaps no characteristic is more essential for support staff than the ability to communicate clearly with diverse audiences while building positive relationships with students, families, teachers, and administrators. Support staff often serve as bridges between different constituencies in a school or school community and, thus, they require sophisticated interpersonal skills and cultural sensitivity.

Communication with students requires age-appropriate language, cultural responsiveness, and the ability to establish trust and rapport with learners who may have experienced multiple disappointments or challenges in school, with peers, at home, and across their communities. Effective support staff create safe environments where students feel comfortable sharing their experiences and concerns while maintaining appropriate professional boundaries.

Family communication presents unique challenges, as support staff often work with families who are experiencing stress relative to their children's academic or behavioral difficulties. Effective professionals communicate with empathy and respect, provide clear information about student needs and available services, and avoid jargon or condescending or patronizing attitudes. They understand the family dynamics, cultural considerations, and economic constraints that influence families' ability to participate in school activities or implement recommendations at home.

Professional communication with teachers and administrators requires different skills, including the ability to share expertise without appearing superior, to provide feedback in constructive ways, and to collaborate as equal partners in assessment, problem-solving, and intervention processes. Support staff must navigate potentially sensitive situations where their recommendations might conflict with existing practices or challenge established assumptions about student needs or capabilities.

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·       Data Collection and Analysis Expertise. Effective support staff are sophisticated consumers and producers of data—understanding how to collect, analyze, and interpret multiple forms of information in ways that guide service delivery and measure intervention efficacy. This expertise extends far beyond standardized test administration to include behavioral observations, progress monitoring, functional assessments, and qualitative data collection methods.

These professionals understand the importance of collecting baseline data before completing assessments or implementing interventions. They focus on measuring progress accurately and making objective, data-based decisions about continuing, modifying, or discontinuing specific approaches. They also collect data systematically and frequently, using valid decision-making criteria to make timely adjustments—rather than waiting for “standard” implementation timeframes to elapse.

Data analysis skills also include understanding how to statistically analyze collected data, to accurately interpret assessment results, and to communicate findings clearly to different audiences. Support staff must translate complex data into actionable recommendations for teachers, understandable reports for families, and documented evidence for administrative and legal purposes.

Most importantly, effective support staff involve students and teachers in data review processes, helping them to understand progress patterns and to participate in goal-setting and intervention planning and modification. This collaborative approach builds capacity and ownership while ensuring that services remain focused on meaningful outcomes rather than abstract compliance.

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·       Professional Growth and Knowledge/Skill Currency. Given the rapid evolution of research and practice in specialized fields, effective support staff maintain a commitment to ongoing professional learning and skill development. They participate actively in professional organizations, pursue continuing education opportunities, and stay current with developments in their areas of expertise.

Professional growth involves more than accumulating continuing education credits. It includes critical evaluation of new research, reflection on effective practice, and a willingness to modify approaches based on evidence and experience. Effective support staff seek feedback from colleagues, students, and families, using this information to identify areas for improvement and growth.

This characteristic also involves sharing knowledge with colleagues through presentations, mentoring relationships, and collaborative projects. The most effective support staff view themselves as both learners and teachers, contributing to professional knowledge while continuously expanding their own understanding and skills.

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·       Maintaining a Prevention-Focused, Solution-Driven Mindset. Outstanding support staff emphasize proactive, preventive approaches rather than waiting for problems to reach a crisis level before intervening. They understand that early identification and intervention are more effective and efficient than remedial approaches, and they work to identify systemic changes that can prevent problems from developing.

A focus on prevention involves analyzing patterns in referral data, academic outcomes, and behavioral incidents to identify contributing factors that might be addressed through environmental modifications, instructional improvements, or systems-level interventions. Rather than simply responding to individual student needs, effective support staff work to create conditions that support all students' success. 

A solution-driven mindset means focusing on student strengths and capabilities rather than deficits and problems. While acknowledging the real challenges that students face, effective support staff frame their work in terms of what students can accomplish with appropriate support rather than the limitations that constrain their potential. This approach influences goal-setting, intervention planning, and communication with all stakeholders.

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   Once again, as discussed in the sections on effective classroom teachers and instructional teams, the characteristics of effective support staff will be adjusted for elementary versus secondary settings. . . and staff evaluations should be based on multiple indicators and assessment approaches. School leaders and leadership teams need to take the time now—in June—to evaluate their support and related services staff against the characteristics above, and the results should be integrated into the strategic decisions, Action Plans, and summer activities recommended above.

   Effective support staff share commitments to collaborative practice, evidence-based intervention, and student success. They understand that their specialized knowledge is most powerful when applied through partnerships with general education teachers, and their approaches are consistent with and add value to other systemic initiatives. While student outcome data provide important information about intervention and support staff effectiveness, these outcomes are not entirely in these (or other staff’s) direct control. What these staff do control are their collaborative practices, participation in professional development, and their contributions to school-wide improvement efforts.

   Less effective support staff may provide adequate direct services, but they may struggle with collaboration, fail to connect their work to broader school goals, or become overwhelmed by competing demands.

   The investment in developing highly effective support staff pays dividends throughout educational systems, as these professionals often serve as catalysts for broader improvements in instructional practices, inclusive environments, and comprehensive approaches to student success.

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A Call to Action: Strategic Implementation for School Leaders

   The earlier discussions of the characteristics of effective classroom teachers, instructional teacher groups, and support and related services staff, respectively, provide school leaders with research-proven templates to use to evaluate the strengths, weaknesses, gaps, and needed changes for these groups to best prepare for the coming new school year.

   After completing their assessments, the next critical challenge for administrators and other school leaders involves translating the findings into strategic actions that produce measurable improvements in teaching effectiveness and student outcomes.

   These actions involve decisions related to hiring new staff and, potentially, re-configuring existing staff and teams for success. Other actions involve professional development activities, team development initiatives, and the (re)building of support systems to create synergy rather than competing demands on staff time and energy.

   The summer months represent a unique and invaluable opportunity for teachers and other staff to engage in the kind of reflective analysis, strategic planning, and skill development that directly translate into enhanced classroom effectiveness when students return. Professional development, staff planning and discussion, and other scaffolded activities during the Summer allow staff to work proactively—thoughtfully designing improvements without the immediate pressures of daily instruction and classroom management.

   Research on teacher preparation and professional development consistently indicates that educators who engage in specific, purposeful summer activities demonstrate significantly stronger student outcomes, greater professional confidence, and enhanced job satisfaction when the new school year begins. These studies show that this sustained preparation time enables staff to integrate new learning, develop comprehensive plans, and build the resources necessary for effective implementation.

   In order to maximize success here, we recommend the following Summer approaches by School Leaders:

·       Focus on building understanding, enthusiasm, and commitment for improvement efforts. Summer sessions should be strategic and supportive rather than overwhelming or punitive.

·       Begin by transparently sharing the needs assessment results discussed above. These results should be presented in ways that honestly acknowledge both strength and growth areas. Frame challenges as opportunities for collective improvement rather than criticisms of individual performance. Emphasize shared responsibility for student success and professional growth.

·       Provide individualized feedback based on assessment findings, but focus on support and development rather than evaluation or criticism. Teachers identified as highly effective should receive recognition and leadership opportunities. Those needing improvement require specific, actionable guidance and resources for growth.

·       Offer differentiated professional development opportunities that address the varied needs identified through the needs assessments. Rather than requiring all staff to participate in identical activities, create multiple pathways that enable staff to focus on their specific growth areas while contributing their strengths to support colleagues.

·       Share resources, celebrate successes, and provide updates about preparation activities that demonstrate administrative commitment to improvement efforts. 

·       Most importantly, use the summer sessions to establish clear expectations and vision for the coming year. Help staff understand how assessment results inform improvement priorities, and how their individual growth contributes to collective success. This creates anticipation and purpose rather than anxiety about change implementation.

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Summary

   A May 30, 2025 article in Learning Forward (“Investing in principals in these areas offers big returns”) identified the following leadership practices demonstrated by effective principals.

   They:

·       Lead their own learning and contribute to a culture of collaboration in their schools.

·       Become stronger instructional leaders by developing one-one-on and team coaching skills.

·       Effectively manage school resources strategically.

·       Improve school culture and productive teacher collaboration through empowered leadership.

   In the teacher-instructional area, this Blog provided a “Summer Roadmap” toward these practices.

   Returning to our Prologue regarding the Jackson and Roosevelt Middle Schools. . . the contrast between proactive summer preparation and reactive August planning represents far more than a scheduling preference. Indeed, it embodies fundamentally different approaches to educational leadership and improvement—differences that research consistently shows produce dramatically different outcomes for students, teachers, and entire school communities.

   The comprehensive frameworks presented in this Blog provide school leaders with the criteria needed to conduct meaningful assessments of teaching effectiveness, collaborative team function, and support service integration, respectively. These assessments, however, are only powerful when coupled with strategic implementation planning that translates findings into targeted improvements in classroom instruction and student outcomes.

   Schools that invest their summer months in deep analysis, strategic planning, and systematic preparation create (or sustain) the momentum needed for (continued) transformational change. Schools that postpone this planning until the final days before school opens most often find themselves trapped in reactive cycles that perpetuate existing challenges rather than addressing underlying causes.

   Our review showed the overwhelming evidence. Effective teachers, collaborative teams, and integrated support staff share identifiable characteristics that can be assessed, developed, and supported through systematic approaches.

·       Effective teachers demonstrate strong content knowledge, maintain high expectations with appropriate support, use data to inform instruction, manage classrooms effectively, pursue continuous growth, communicate and collaborate skillfully, and respond to cultural diversity—creating learning environments where all students can succeed.

·       Effective teaching teams that share vision and responsibility, collaborate regularly with clear protocols, make data-driven decisions, utilize complementary skills, communicate openly, pursue continuous learning, and think systemically—producing significantly better outcomes than collections of individual teachers working in isolation. 

·       Effective instructional and related services support staff maintain a systems perspective, implement evidence-based practices, demonstrate cultural competence, communicate effectively, analyze data expertly, pursue professional growth, and focus on prevention and solutions—contributing not only to individual student success but to school-wide improvements in climate and achievement.

   These characteristics provide precise targets for summer professional development, hiring decisions, and ongoing support systems that enable schools to move beyond hope-based improvement. . . toward the systematic enhancement of educational effectiveness. Schools that use summer months for reflection, planning, resource development, relationship building, and skill enhancement enter the new school year with confidence and purpose rather than anxiety and uncertainty.

   The call to action here is both urgent and achievable.

   Educational leaders must choose between preparation versus procrastination, between systematic improvement versus wishful thinking, between investing in summer planning versus accepting the status quo. Continuing with traditional approaches that have produced current challenges virtually guarantees another year of similar outcomes, missed opportunities, and unrealized student potential.

   The choice is clear, the time is now, and the tools for transformation are available for the School Leaders ready to commit to the demanding, but rewarding, work of systematic school improvement.

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Our Improving Education Today Podcast Joins the Better Education (BE) Network of the Top Education Podcasts in the U.S.

   This past month, we announced that our Podcast . . .

Improving Education Today: The Deep Dive 

with popular AI Educators, Davey Johnson and Angela Jones. . . has joined the Better Education (BE) Network of the top podcasts in education in the country!

    This means that our Podcast is now available not just on Spotify and Apple, but also on Overcast, Pocket Casts, Amazon Music, Castro, Goodpods, Castbox, Podcast Addict, Player FM, and Deezer.

     Here's how you can sign up to automatically receive each new episode:

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LINK HERE: Improving Education Today: The Deep Dive | Podcast on Spotify

LINK HERE: Improving Education Today: The Deep Dive | Podcast on Apple Podcasts

LINK HERE for All Other Platforms: Improving Education Today: The Deep Dive | Podcast on ELEVEN More Podcasts

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

    Twice per month, Davey and Angela summarize and analyze the “real world” implications of our Project ACHIEVE bi-monthly Blog messages—adding their unique perspectives and applications on their relevance to you and our mission to: Improve Education Today.

   These Podcasts address such topics as: (a) Changing our Thinking in School Improvement; (b) How to Choose Effective School-Wide Programs and Practices; (c) Students’ Engagement, Behavioral Interactions, and Mental Health; and (d) Improving Multi-Tiered and Special Education Services.

   Davey and Angela have also created a Podcast Archive for all of our 2024 Blogs (Volume 2; see below), and the most important 2023 Blogs (Volume 1; see also below).

   They will continue to add a new Podcast each time a new Project ACHIEVE Blog is published.

   Many districts and schools are using the Podcasts in their Leadership Teams and/or PLCs to keep everyone abreast of new issues and research in education, and to stimulate important discussions and decisions regarding the best ways to enhance student, staff, and school outcomes.

   If you would like to follow up on today’s Blog or Podcast, contact me to schedule a free one-hour consultation with me and your team.

   I hope to hear from you soon.

Best,

Howie

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[CLICK HERE to read this Blog on the Project ACHIEVE Webpage]

[To listen to a synopsis and analysis of this Blog on the “Improving Education Today: The Deep Dive” podcast on the BE Education Network: CLICK HERE]