B.Y.O.T Bring Your Own Thoughts
The latest on all student-centered models, leadership development, strategic planning, teacher retention, and all things innovation in K-12 education. We answer questions before you think to ask them.
District Leadership | Teacher Retention | Teams & Culture
A recent survey of more than 1,000 districts found that nearly two-thirds of districts are reporting teacher shortages heading into the 2021-2022 school year. To plug or refill leaks in this draining teacher pool, districts are increasingly leveraging stimulus funding to enact short-term solutions such as incentives and signing bonuses. But the foundational cracks in the teacher pool and pipeline are deep, widespread and found at every phase of the teacher lifecycle. We need to reassess and reimagine the way we engage and support teachers at every stage of this journey, and we can start by looking at the candidate profiles that drive our recruitment, hiring and onboarding.
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Education Elements | Equity | Teams & Culture
In my 22 years in the K-12 education profession, I have worked for, and led organizations that run the gamut - from those that are very process and compliance driven, to those that multiply and engage creativity. And yet, after experiencing, what some consider the ultimate freedom of being my own boss, I am excitedly joining the Education Elements team.
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Coaches | School Leadership | Teams & Culture
Everyone's first year at a new school comes with growing pains -- no matter if it’s their first role as a new Principal, or their 25th year opening a new, or newly redesigned school. One approach is particularly useful at helping to alleviate the growing pains - a “secret sauce” of sorts.
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Crisis Management | District Leadership | Organizational Leadership & Change Management | School Leadership | Teams & Culture
We have been reading, discussing, and reflecting quite a bit on the topic of leadership recently, and one of the products of this deep dive is a video series all about what leaders have learned this year. In his interview, Dr. Patrick Ward from Mayfield City Schools in Ohio mused on the fact that school leaders are trained to manage acute crises, but for the past year they have been managing a chronic crisis, with several acute crises emerging as the chronic crisis continued. We’ve been thinking about the phrase “chronic crisis” and drawing from some inspiring resources to consider the best way to rally your community through it. With the end of the school year in sight, now is the time to re-energize your teams so you can finish strong. To do that, you need to address three interrelated dimensions: Emotions, Mindsets, and Behaviors.
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District Leadership | School Leadership | Teams & Culture
Leading change, whether systemic or individual, requires strong habits. Last month I had the opportunity to chat with Greg Carlson, Founder of Leading Well, about how to create purposeful habits, and how strong habits can help one move from reactive and ad-hoc motions to strategic and lasting practices. From our conversation came three essential practices which together create a framework for lasting change – whether working to improve the physical and mental wellness of a single educator, or to create a thriving culture in your school system. At Education Elements and Leading Well, we believe that through alignment to purpose, consistency, and continuous improvement we can continually strive to realize our goals. What follows is a synopsis of our reflections on leading change through purposeful habits.
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District Leadership | Innovative Leadership | Personalized Learning | School Leadership | Teams & Culture | Virtual Learning
I got started with this tradition of predictions in 2010 after reading Disrupting Class, a book by Clayton Christensen and Michael Horn. In their book, they predicted that by 2019, 50% of all high school courses will be online in some blended learning model. That was a pretty bold prediction in 2008 when the book was published, but their model for cycles of innovation seems pretty accurate now that we have hindsight. Even as of May 2019, there were people pointing out the failure of this prediction. Now at the end of 2020, I’d estimate that +95% of all K-12 students took some form of an online class, and most likely this trend will continue into 2021.
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