Leadership Self Assessment

http://www.flickr.com/photos/33224129@N00/ / CC BY-NC 2.0 We are excited to collaborate with principals on various initiatives that encourage them to embrace an active instructional leadership role in their schools! In our conversations, we frequently explore two key...

Balancing Expectations for the Role of School Leader

Being a school principal often feels like walking a tightrope, balancing various stakeholders’ diverse and sometimes conflicting expectations. District leaders envision well-run schools hitting academic targets, fostering positive learning environments, and...

Achieving School Turnaround

Over the years, the call for school reform, closing achievement gaps, and raising overall achievement has grown increasingly urgent. Despite our best efforts, too many students still fail to meet academic standards. For persistently low-performing schools, the focus...
What Makes Great Conversation?

What Makes Great Conversation?

When was the last time you were involved in a quality conversation? What characteristics distinguished it from other conversations you have had? We have all been part of company that lost our attention because the conversation was very one-sided. An exchange that...

Student Choice Is Key to Turning Students Into Readers

As we come to the end of another school year, I find myself reflecting on how education has changed in the past few years, which then takes me down the rabbit hole of reflecting on how education has changed over the course of my 30-year (I can’t believe it!) career as...
Artful Thinking and Project Based Learning

Artful Thinking and Project Based Learning

From its inception in the mid-1990s, CTL has incorporated into its work inquiry-based approaches to classroom instruction, as well as a healthy dose of the arts to spur creative thinking and artistic expression.  For more than 20 years, the arts have remained a...