Blog
24 blog posts in 2020
Putting the “Power of Three” to Work for Your Students, Staff, Schools, or Systems
During this holiday break, we suggest taking three hours—one hour before and immediately after Christmas, and one after New Year’s Day—to plan your classroom, grade-level, school, or district’s suc...
Read Full ArticleTraining Racial Bias Out of Teachers: Who Ever Said that We Could?
Training Racial Bias Out of Teachers: Who Ever Said that We Could? Will the Fact that In-Service Programs Cannot Eliminate Implicit Bias Create a Bias Toward Inaction?Dear Colleagues,Introduction...
Read Full ArticleCurbing the Pandemic Slide by Putting the Right Students into the Right Instructional Groups (Part II)
Curbing the Pandemic Slide by Putting the Right Students into the Right Instructional Groups. Which Peas are You Going to Put in Your Pandemic Pod? (Part II)Dear Colleagues,Introduction While clear...
Read Full ArticleIt’s Not About the Size of the Pandemic Slide—It’s About Where to Start Teaching (Part I)
It’s Not About the Size of the Pandemic Slide—It’s About Where to Start Teaching (Part I)During a Crisis, You Have to Change the Definition of SuccessDear Colleagues,Introduction The existence and i...
Read Full ArticleClassroom Management and Students’ (Virtual) Academic Engagement and Learning: Don’t Depend on Teacher Training Programs
Classroom Management and Students’ (Virtual) Academic Engagement and Learning: Don’t Depend on Teacher Training ProgramsDistricts Need to Reconceptualize their School Discipline Approaches—For...
Read Full ArticleThe Pandemic is No Longer an Educational Crisis—It is a Catastrophic Opportunity for School Improvement
The Pandemic is No Longer an Educational Crisis—It is a Catastrophic Opportunity for School ImprovementUsing Catastrophes to Create Change: We Need to Innovate When We RenovateDear Colleagues,Introduc...
Read Full ArticleThe Seven High-Hit Reasons for Students’ Challenging Behavior: Functional Behavioral Assessment and Why Schools Don’t Climb into the 21st Century
The Seven High-Hit Reasons for Students’ Challenging Behavior: Functional Behavioral Assessment and Why Schools Don’t Climb into the 21st CenturyWhen Personal Agendas Overrule Effective Professional P...
Read Full ArticleCelebrating Our Labors on Labor Day . . . While Recognizing the Contribution of White Privilege
Celebrating Our Labors on Labor Day . . . While Recognizing the Contribution of White PrivilegeDear Colleagues,Introduction Earlier this week, I was on a conference call with a superintend...
Read Full ArticleHow Would Covey Organize an SEL School Initiative? Strategically Planning for the Usual and the Unusual
How Would Covey Organize an SEL School Initiative? Strategically Planning for the Usual and the UnusualDear Colleagues,Introduction I hope everyone is doing well as many school distr...
Read Full ArticleWhy Stress-Informed Schools Must Precede Trauma-Informed Schools
When We Address Student Stress First, We Begin to Impact Trauma. . . If It ExistsDear Colleagues,Introduction I hope that you, your families, and your colleagues are safe, healthy, and pro...
Read Full ArticleIdentifying Students with Back-to-School Social, Emotional, and Behavioral Needs: How to Screen Without Screening
In Uncommon Times, Uncommon Sense is BestDear Colleagues,Introduction Since the full force of the Pandemic began in March—dramatically changing the educational landscape for students, parents, and e...
Read Full ArticleDo Black and Students with Disabilities’ Lives Matter to the U.S. Department of Education?
Institutional Bias, Power-Based Decisions, and Ineffective Practices?Dear Colleagues,Is Institutional Bias Driving the U.S. Department of Education?Friday, July 10, 6:14 AM I rolled over i...
Read Full ArticleTeaching in this Fall’s Post-Pandemic World: Addressing the Academic Needs of the “Way High” and “Way Low” Students (Part II)
For Some Students, There Will Be No COVID-19 SlideDear Colleagues,Introduction The pandemic clearly is not over. In fact, over the past two weeks, the number of COVID-19 cases and deaths have inc...
Read Full ArticleUsing Valid Assessments of Students’ Functional Literacy, Math, and Language Arts Skills to Instructionally Group Students this Fall (Part I)
The Importance of Assessing—NOT Guessing—Each Student’s COVID-19 SlideIntroduction Despite the fact that the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases and deaths continues unabated—if not increasing in man...
Read Full ArticlePreparing NOW to Address Students’ Social, Emotional, and Behavioral Needs Before They Transition Back to School (Part II)
Let’s Use Caring and Common Sense as Our Post-Pandemic Guides (Including a Bonus Podcast)Dear Colleagues,Introduction Last time, in Part I of this Blog Series, I discussed concerns that some in the...
Read Full ArticleWhy is Education Week Sensationalizing Student Trauma During this Pandemic? (Part I)
Will Schools Re-Open Without Pathologizing their Students' Emotional Needs?Introduction As a school psychologist and Past-President of the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP), the so...
Read Full ArticleHow to Organize, Survive, and Thrive During Your School Re-Opening: The Pandemic Power of Three
How Understanding Small School Districts Can Help the Larger OnesIntroduction Like many of my colleagues in education, the COVID-19 pandemic has forced me to think, act, and react in very different...
Read Full ArticleThe Pandemic Unearths the Raw Reality of Educational Inequity and Disparity
COVID-19 Forces Us to Realize We Need to Change the VillageDear Colleagues,Introduction With the pandemic still dominating our world in innumerable ways, most of us are still sequestered,...
Read Full ArticleRethinking Your Personal, Professional, and Partnership Goals During CoVid-19’s “Lifestyle Sequestration”
Disruptive Innovation and Redefining What is Truly ImportantDear Colleagues,Introduction As I write this week’s Blog, there is no way to avoid or ignore our current sequestered state of affairs. ...
Read Full ArticleUnderachieving, Unresponsive, Unsuccessful, Disabled, and Failing Readers (Part II)
Underachieving, Unresponsive, Unsuccessful, Disabled, and Failing ReadersDiagnostic Assessment Must Link to Intervention: If We Don’t Know “Why,” We Can’t Know “What” (Part II)Dear Colleagues,Introduc...
Read Full ArticleLiteracy Instruction and Student Reading Proficiency: The Multi-Tiered Whole Must be Greater than the Sum of Its Disconnected Parts (Part I)
How a Comprehensive Blueprint Prevents Isolated Solutions and Inconsistent ResultsDear Colleagues,Introduction Well. . . “all of a sudden,” there has been a nationwide rush of policy, publ...
Read Full ArticleDid a Misguided U.S. Department of Education E-mail “Confirm” Its Improper Favoritism of the PBIS Behavioral Framework?
Using the School Climate Transformation Grant to Misrepresent, Re-Brand, and Strong-Arm Educators toward Only "Department-Approved" PBIS ConsultantsDear Colleagues,Introduction I actu...
Read Full ArticleMindfulness & Meditation Will NOT Change Students’ Emotional Volatility or Immediate Reactions to Trauma
The Neurological Science Does Not Add Up—Another Fad & More Wasted Time in Pursuit of a Silver Bullet (Part II)Dear Colleagues,Introduction Our last Blog message (January 11, 2020) was the first in...
Read Full ArticleTrauma-Informed Schools: New Research Study Says “There’s No Research”
Schools “Hitch-Up” to Another Bandwagon that is Wasting Time and Delaying Recommended Scientifically-Proven Services (Part I)Dear Colleagues,Introduction While most educators know that they are supp...
Read Full Article
