April 2012 Issue
Best Practices Are Stupid Re-Thinking Innovation, Creativity and Collaboration
With Stephen Shapiro
School leaders face many challenges, of course, and responding to them with innovative solutions is essential to keeping our schools moving forward. But what if most conventional ideas about innovation are misguided or simply don’t work? That is the contention … Continue
One-to-One On a Budget: Moving From Print to Digital
Technology expert Jonathan Costa, the director of school and program services for a regional education service center in Litchfield, CT joins us once again this month. In this segment, he explains that getting equipment into schools is really just the … Continue
Transforming School Culture
With Mike Siebersma
Research reveals that school culture is a crucial factor in school performance. Indeed, often it’s the deciding factor between whether even the most well-intentioned and conceived improvement effort succeeds or fails. In this segment, Mike Siebersma, who leads McREL’s school … Continue
The School Leader’s Guide to Differentiation
With Kimberly Kappler Hewitt and Daniel Weckstein
Dr. Kimberly Kappler Hewitt and Daniel Weckstein, co-authors of the new book, Differentiation is an Expectation: A School Leader’s Guide to Building a Culture of Differentiation talk about the topic of differentiation from the school leader’s perspective – what it is, … Continue
Leading the Common Core State Standards
Cheryl Dunkle, author of the new book, Leading the Common Core State Standards: From Common Sense to Common Practice, joins us to talk about the task of transforming the CCSS into an effective curriculum and assessment system and how to … Continue
Counteracting Workplace Negativity
With Cathie West
Very few factors affect the morale of your teachers and staff more than a negative workplace. Cathie West, a school principal with 30 years of experience and author of the new book, Problem Solving Tools and Tips for School Leaders, … Continue
Five Leadership Tools
Barbara Blackburn provides five leadership tools and strategies that can be used immediately to improve your practice and help you become a more effective school leader in this segment. Dr. Blackburn’s ideas are easily executable and based on decades of … Continue
A Look At Formative Assessment
With Caroline Wylie
Caroline Wylie joins us to talk about the topic of formative assessment. Wylie is the co-author of the new book, Improving Formative Assessment Practice to Empower Student Learning, and in this segment she provides an overview of formative assessment and … Continue