To create a coaching culture, school leaders have to make it a priority and support coaching at every level, and continuously. This article offers five "dos" and four "don'ts" for school leaders on how to support coaching at their schools, highlighting topics such as professional development for coaches, scheduling time for…

Drawing on the title question of this article, Baruti Kafele prompts leaders to reflect on their work at the helm of their schools. He suggests that to answer this question, school leaders should consider their leadership identity, mission, purpose, and vision. Kafele explores what each of these qualities are and suggests how leaders can go about…

What is the difference between schools who are using technology effectively and those who are not? More often than not, says Culatta, it comes down to creating a vision for learning before jumping into buying devices or software. Culatta describes how using a shared set of digital-learning strategies helped the Los Angeles Unified School District…

New school leaders typically start out with enthusiasm--but sometime in their first year, they often find themselves disappointed, exhausted, and full of self-doubt. In this article, Cathy A. Toll discusses five perspectives that helped her enthusiasm for the job when she was a new school leader: (1) Teachers are well-intentioned, hard-working…

There is no doubt that in the past 10 years, school culture has become a testing culture. But all the "multiple measures" do not really lead one to achieve the three most often cited goals of testing: building proficiency in basic skills, closing achievement gaps, and fostering the top-notch knowledge and skills that students will need…

Professional assessment organizations almost universally endorse the use of multiple measures for making education decisions. In practice, however, the concept of multiple measures is defined and applied in many different ways, depending on how we answer two questions--What counts as a "measure"? and How are the multiple measures…

The purpose of this study was to determine what kinds of plans teachers make prior to the time they enter the classroom. (CD)

Describes a project to help teachers and administrators identify challenging goals for professional development. Activities that help to heighten awareness include breaking routine, changing perspective, examining assumptions, and reading challenging material. Two important ingredients for the professional development process are time and…

By identifying evaluation activity in relation to one or more specified curriculum problems, it should be possible to make evaluation something other than an escape route from uncomfortable criticism or a mirror reflecting only those images that please ourselves. (Author)

The purpose of this article is to offer a process for motivating people for change based upon specific strategies. (Authors/CB)

An outline of how to set and attend to priorities as a newly appointed assistant superintendent. (MLF)

Whereas the writing process is recursive, Instructional Theory into Practice (ITIP) is a linear, sequential series of instructional decisions. By understanding the relationship between these two models, staff development and curriculum specialists can assist teachers by coordinating support group sessions and followup training using a common…

Evaluation procedures should focus on improving instruction, should be realistic and practical, and should enhance the supervisor-teacher relationship. (Author)