Learning Forward

School Leadership The Changing Role of the Principal: How High-Achieving Districts Are Recalibrating School Leadership Center for American Progress, 2014 This report examines the changing landscape of school leadership. Although teacher evaluation reform is not its primary focus, the report discusses the components of certain appraisal systems and the demands […]

As we talk about how those who work in today’s central office contribute to transformative professional learning systems, we consider how they serve other educators in different ways than they used to. We recognize central office staff members’ shifting roles and responsibilities. How does that affect what such educators need […]

While teachers face new expectations for student learning and more equitable educational outcomes, instruction and assessment remain rooted in traditional approaches that are largely inequitable, culturally irrelevant, and intellectually disengaging, contributing to gaps in academic achievement across student groups (Darling-Hammond, 2010; King & Bouchard, 2011). The quality of teaching is […]

In Ontario, Canada, supporting new teachers and mentors as part of new teacher induction is a mandate for all 72 districts within the province. The Ontario Ministry of Education established the New Teacher Induction Program in 2006, ensuring that new teachers in the province receive orientation, mentoring, and continuous professional […]

Maria Cristina Lopez loved her work as a central office coordinator in mathematics, but she realized that she needed to learn more about how to coach effectively. With her supervisor’s encouragement, she “apprenticed” herself to the best coach in the district — a coordinator of social studies. It wasn’t long […]

On a steamy morning in July, about 200 educators from around the country pored over model algebra and English lesson plans at the Relay Graduate School of Education’s 12-day summer intensive program for principals in New York City. Their task: to identify why these lesson plans succeed and how principals […]

To keep pace with expectations for student literacy achievement, instructional leaders need professional learning designed with the understanding that individuals in system-level leadership have widely varied professional backgrounds and experiences. For example, some leaders have deep knowledge of how students learn and corresponding knowledge of classroom practices but may have […]

About a decade ago, Saskatoon Public Schools — the largest in district Canada’s province of Saskatchewan — typified all districts in the province. Though the nature of the work shared between central office and the district’s 50-plus schools was professionally harmonious and positive, that work did not always align or […]

Imagine you are on a tour of an assembly line factory that makes air conditioners for large vehicles. Assembly line workers wearing hard hats, safety goggles, and ear protection are arranged in “pods” (similar responsibility teams): one for welding, another for electrical components, yet another for painting. Dozens of pods […]

At a turnaround high school where staff had experienced four leaders in as many years, a first-year principal brought teachers together to change the way they work. He zeroed in on a few strategic goals and asked teachers to collaborate around those. Then, along with the administrative team, he provided […]