Actionable Strategies to Reduce Chronic Absences & Improve Student Achievement
Hedy Chang, Mary Sieu and Bryan Joffe engaged participants from across North America in visualizing the significant negative impact of student absence from school, regardless of reason (excused+unexcused+suspensions=total absences). In the research-based simulation, by the time three new Kindergarten students entered 1st grade, those with chronic absences were well behind their peers. In this simulation, […]
Round Table Session
I want to thank those of you who joined me at the round table session at 3:00 to discuss coaching and mentoring future district leaders using video. I enjoyed our conversation and feel that I learned a lot from all of you and your experiences, and I hope that you took away something from our […]
It is the Conversations that matter…..
The most valuable takeaways for me come from the conversations with colleagues from across the country. This morning alone I was able to engage superintendents and assistant superintendents from Iowa, Michigan, Maryland, Colorado, New Hampshire, and of course Massachusetts. The topics ranged from teacher contracts, budget formulation and management, teacher recruitment, career moves and pathways, […]
Equity, Race, Class, Poverty and Standardized Testing
These were just some of the topics discussed in “The Atlanta Public Schools Story, High Stakes Testing, Poverty and Race: A Cautionary Tale.” I want to thank LaRuth Gray for effectively moderating some challenging topics for our colleagues. This is much more complex than what appeared in the headlines across the country when the story […]
Two Interesting Exhibitors
Visited two tech-based exhibitors today that I thought were worth sharing. The first was TEACHFX, where I spoke to Zach Crago who shared their app that tracks the amount of teacher talk, student talk and group talk taking place in the classroom. While we only spoke for a short time, it looks like the app […]
Fast. And. Furious…
Not the movie. The session I just attended. Wow! I came to this session because the topic is so relevant to school leaders: social media in school emergency management. I was interested in hearing what these school leaders had to share about how best to communicate and engage with their communities in the midst of […]
A Nation at Hope
Attended a wonderful session this morning in the Knowledge Exchange Theater. Timothy Shriver, Sheldon Berman and Gene Wilhoit discussed the important inflection point at which we find ourselves as educators as we recognize the importance, in fact the essential nature, of social and emotional learning in our work. Tim Shriver made clear that we are […]
Quick Thursday Conference Cheat Sheet
For first time attendees the session options can be overwhelming-here is my plan for the day: 9 am AASA Federal Education Update-this is always extremely helpful, interesting, and a bit depressing. It provides some big picture policy and federal budget previews. 10:15 am Room 6D Screening and Discussion the Atlanta Public Schools Story-this is intriguing […]
U.S. Education Flying High, AASA Executive Director Illustrates at 1st General Session
Drawing on reported data from the U.S. Department of Education, the National Assessment of Educational Progress and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, AASA’s executive director used his remarks at the 1st General Session Thursday afternoon to portray an American public school system performing at its highest level. Daniel Domenech used his customary opening […]
Panel Promotes Principal Pipelines to Strengthen the Quality of School Leadership
With the ongoing success of the Wallace Foundation’s “Principal Pipeline Initiative,” a panel at AASA’s national conference encouraged school district leaders to recreate the program’s core components. Daniel Domenech, Douglas Anthony, Jeff Eakins, Monica Goldson and Nicholas Pelzer presented their findings during the Thursday Thought Leader session, “Principal Pipeline: A Cost Efficient Strategy to Improve […]