Blog
Improving Special Education Services for our Students: What the New Administration Must Do on this 20th Anniversary of IDEA 2004
This Blog uses the 20th anniversary of the signing of the last reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA 2004), and the coming second Trump administration to analyze, cr...
Read Full ArticleSchool Improvement Requires Changing Thinking, Not Just Changing Programs: The “Moneyball Thinking” Needed in Education
Using the movie “Moneyball” as a metaphor, we suggest that many districts and schools are locked into antiquated data analysis and school improvement thinking. We advocate that they use “Moneyball Thi...
Read Full ArticleDelegating Duties and Decisions in a Shared Leadership School: Avoiding Staff Reservations or Resentment
This Blog discusses the significant benefits of having a Shared Leadership structure and process in every school across the country. The structure is defined by seven research-to-practice components e...
Read Full ArticleSpeed Counts When Making Successful Changes Across Your District or School—When to Go Slow and When to Go Fast
This Blog emphasizes that the success of a district or school’s change process or initiative often rests on the speed of its implementation. We review ten variables that help determine if a change pro...
Read Full ArticleBreaking Down the Wall Between General and Special Education Teachers in Our Schools: How Organizational Missteps Create Classroom Barriers
This Blog discusses the institutionalized wall between General Education and Special Education Teachers that has existed since Students with Disabilities were fully included in our nation’s public sch...
Read Full ArticleResearch Teases Out the Impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences... But Many Educators Still Don’t Understand Social-Emotional Screeners, and the Limitations of ACEs-Only Assessments
Given the school-related challenges since students returned from the pandemic, this Blog discusses (a) the characteristics and concerns with social-emotional screening, and with only using an ACEs too...
Read Full ArticleHow Fad or Flawed School Programs Increase Poor Teacher Morale and Resistance to Change: When Education Keeps Adopting the Same Shaky Stuff, It Will Keep Getting Repeated Rocky Results (Part V)
Blog reviewed and integrated recent articles reporting that (a) teachers’ job satisfaction and mental health worsened last year, as did the need for student supports and interventions; and (b) distric...
Read Full ArticleStudents' Health, Mental Health, and Well-Being Worsens Over the Past 10 Years: Summary of the August 2024 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Report (Part IV)
Blog summarizes the CDC’s national 2013-2023 Youth Risk Behavior survey results for high school students. Detailing the shaky emotional status of our students, the Blog asserts why students need multi...
Read Full ArticleWill Your School “Win the Gold” for Your Students This Year? Why the U.S. Women’s Gold Medal Olympic Gymnastics Team is a Model for All Schools (Part III)
Blog discusses the courage, characteristics, and conditioning that educators need to consider so that their schools are successful for all students—especially as a new school year approaches. This Blo...
Read Full ArticleAre Schools Really Prepared to Address Educators’ Biggest Behavioral Student Concerns Right Now? “We’ve Got Serious Problems and We Need Serious People” (Part II)
Blog discusses the significant classroom and school social, emotional, and behavioral challenges demonstrated by students this past year as identified in a recent national survey by K-12 school leader...
Read Full ArticleThe Seven Sure Solutions for Continuous Student and School Success: “If You Don’t Know Where You’re Going, Any Road Will Get You There” (Part I)
Blog discusses the Seven Sure Solutions to school improvement and students success as significant numbers of students continue to academically under-perform and demonstrate social, emotional, and beha...
Read Full ArticleDoes Your School’s SEL Program Teach Social Skill Behaviors, or Just Talk About What Students “Should Do”? If We Taught Reading the Way We Teach SEL, None of Our Students Would Learn How to Read
Blog discusses the building blocks needed when teaching students—from preschool through high school—the social skills they need to be successful. Described are the specific skills, teaching steps, and...
Read Full ArticleRevisiting Title IX’s Sexual Harassment Requirements While Avoiding Secondary Victimization: A Procedural Primer. Why Do Too Many Districts Not Know (or Abdicate) their Responsibilities?
Blog provides a detailed overview of the federal Title IX Sexual Harassment law—describing definitions, required procedures, and sample district policies in specific areas relative to responding to an...
Read Full ArticleIncreasing Student Engagement: The New School Year Begins Before this “Old” Year Ends. How to Prepare and What Needs to be Done
Blog discusses the importance, need, and how to identify, analyze, and plan interventions for disengaged students before the end of the current school year so that the re-engagement interventions sele...
Read Full ArticleWhen a School’s Multi-Tiered System of Supports Needs Support: How Do You Motivate Educators and Avoid Educational Malpractice?
Blog discusses the multi-tiered systems of support process, how to best prepare for MTSS Case Study meetings using six “First Things First” activities, the implications—through a Case Study—when these...
Read Full ArticleSocial Media and the “Double-Edged” Sword of Damocles: Survival Rests on Humility, Self-Control, and the Principles of Public Relations
This Blog discusses Social Media as a “Sword of Damocles” that hangs above us with the power to enhance or destroy those who use it. We can control the power by (teaching) self-control, humility, com...
Read Full ArticleLaundromats, Lawyers, Learning Loss, and Life: An Autobiographical Day in Education
This Blog described an autobiographical day in the educational life of a school psychologist who works nationwide as a consultant. He reflects on the harsh and sometimes fixed realities he observed in...
Read Full ArticleHow Cognitive Biases Affect Student Perceptions and Educator Decisions: Making the Unconscious, Conscious and the Implicit, Explicit
This Blog defines Cognitive Bias, discusses how eight specific biases affect educators’ positive and negative perceptions of students, staff, and systems, and then address how they similarly impact ju...
Read Full ArticleHelping Schools Pick and Implement the Best Evidence-Based Programs: Avoiding Mistakes, Best Practices, and Pilot Projects (Part II)
Continuing this two-part Series, this Blog Part II discusses the evaluative criteria used by the What Works Clearinghouse and Evidence-Based Practices Resource Center to rate the validity of curricula...
Read Full ArticleWhat Super Bowl Commercials Teach Education About Media and Product Literacy: The Language and Process that Helps Schools Vet New Products and Interventions (Part I)
Metaphorically using the commercials at the Super Bowl as a guide, this Blog emphasized and outlined (applying the goals and questions within a sound middle school Media Literacy program) why educator...
Read Full ArticleMichigan Mother Found Guilty of Manslaughter in Her Son’s School Shooting: Should Schools Lean-In to Hold Parents More Accountable for their Children’s Behavior?
On February 6, 2024, Jennifer Crumbley was found guilty of four counts of involuntary manslaughter for allowing her son to bring a gun to school where he killed four and injured seven others. This Blo...
Read Full ArticleStrategies for Safe, Productive Classroom Conversations on Race, Religion, and National/ World Events: It’s Not If, It Should Be When
Many challenging, controversial, and emotional social issues have impacted the climate and interactions across students, staff, and schools. To ensure that discussions around these issues are safe and...
Read Full ArticleWhile Grades May Be Meaningful, It’s Still About the Skills: “Resolving” to Recognize that Report Cards are Less Meaningful than Student Mastery
This Blog reviews a major study demonstrating that high school grades across the country have been inflated from 2010 through 2022. At the same time, it emphasizes that grades are less important than...
Read Full ArticleA 2023 Review of Education’s Most (De)Pressing Issues: Productive Practices to Address the Pressure Points in Your District or School
Blog presents a year-end review of the most-pressing issues in education during 2023. It then addresses these issues and their solutions by reviewing our twenty-three 2023 Blogs as organized in five t...
Read Full ArticleThe Over-Simplification of Education: When Evidence-based Practices are Diluted, They No Longer are Evidence-Based
Blog discussing how districts or schools try to over-simplify complex school and schooling processes into short descriptions or diagrams to guide implementation. When this occurs, staff often implemen...
Read Full ArticleToo Many Schools are Teaching Students to Control their Emotions. . . the Wrong Way! Because They Don’t Understand the Science, They Won’t Succeed in the Practice
Most schools teach students emotional self-control or self-regulation in ways that ignore the neurobehavioral and psychological research-to-practice. This Blog details the correct science-to-practice...
Read Full ArticleSolving Schools Most Persistent Problems: Safety and Mental Health Services, Discipline and Disproportionality, Special Education Litigation, and Staffing Shortages
Four recent Education Talk Radio interviews are integrated into this Blog discussing solutions for four persistent problems in our schools today: (a) School Safety and their Connection with Needed Men...
Read Full ArticleBringing Justness to Terrorism, Murder, History, and Heartbreak: It’s Not Alright (Part II—A Eulogy of Resolve)
On Saturday, October 7th—a Jewish holiday—Hamas terrorists entered Israel from the Gaza Strip and tortured and slaughtered over 1,400 innocent Israelis, injured over 2,200 more, and kidnapped over 200...
Read Full ArticleWhat Boston’s Battle for Integration, Anne Frank, and the Little Rock Nine Can Teach a Divided Country: Why Black Lives, History, and Education Matter
Through an autobiographical and historical journey, this Blog describes how the author's awareness and understanding of Black history and “being Black in America” has evolved over the years. With comp...
Read Full ArticleTwelve Critical Components for (Continuous) School, Staff, and Student Improvement: Motivation Cannot Compensate for a System with Systemic Deficits
New Blog describes the school improvement experiences of three school districts at different points in the improvement process. It then describes the twelve evidence-based components of effective scho...
Read Full ArticleSeven Suggestions to Help Districts Avoid Special Education Hearings: A Short-Term Win May Be a Long-Term Loss
New Blog discusses seven suggestions not just to help districts avoid special education litigation, but to help them to (a) truly educate all students with disabilities; and (b) collaborate with their...
Read Full ArticleResearch Does Not Support Growth Mindset Strategies in the Classroom
New Blog summarizes new meta-analytic research showing that growth mindset interventions’ effects on students’ academic achievement are likely due to inadequate study designs, reporting flaws, and inte...
Read Full ArticleWhen High School Students Have Significant Academic Gaps: More Concerns and Common Sense Solutions (Letters to the Editor)
New Blog revisits the instructional dilemma of having to choose between (a) providing critical intervention opportunities to high school students with significant prerequisite skills gaps in literacy,...
Read Full ArticleWhen State Policy Undermines Effective Practice: Too Much of Anything Often Results in Nothing (or Worse)
New Blog resolves the instructional dilemma of having to choose between (a) providing critical intervention opportunities to high school students with significant prerequisite skills gaps in literacy,...
Read Full ArticleIs the Restorative Discipline Bandwagon Rolling Back? Five Reasons Why Its Roll-Out Wasn’t Warranted in the First Place
New Blog analyzes current research, concluding that Restorative Discipline (a) has largely been a media-fed bandwagon that (b) has never been validated through methodologically-sound research, (c) inc...
Read Full ArticleNew Paths to Address Disproportionate Discipline with Black Students: New Directives, Research, Solutions, and Another Example of Racial Hate
Blog discusses solutions for disproportionate disciplinary referrals of students of color and with disabilities in our schools today. Two new research studies and their implications to school practice...
Read Full ArticleUsing “Flipped Learning” in a School’s Professional Development Initiative: Engaging Teachers and Support Staff in Outcome-Based PD—Even in a Virtual World
Blog describes an 18-month virtual PD initiative to enhance the multi-tiered (MTSS) services in the largest virtual school network in a mid-Atlantic state. A unique Flipped Learning approach with scho...
Read Full ArticleEnsuring that Post-Tenure Teachers Remain Actively Engaged as Collaborative Contributors in their Schools (Part IV)
Blog discusses the four Pillars of Teacher Proficiency. This last of a four-part series focuses on Pillar IV: how schools align their continuous school improvement processes with activities that put p...
Read Full ArticleMaintaining Teacher Motivation and Effectiveness After Tenure: Accountability, Growth, Coaching, and Continuous Improvement (Part III)
Blog discusses the four Pillars of Teacher Proficiency. This Part III focuses on Pillar III: how schools help teachers continue to grow and contribute to instructional processes in their classrooms, m...
Read Full ArticleNew Teacher Induction and “Tenure with Teeth”: Improving Hiring and Staffing in a Nation Where Teaching is At Risk (Part II)
Blog discusses the four Pillars needed to address continuing gaps in teachers’ effectiveness in the classroom. This Part II focuses on how schools train and support three types of newly-hired teachers...
Read Full ArticleImproving Hiring and Staffing in a Nation Where Teaching is At Risk: If Student Success Depends on Teachers, Why is the Selection Process so Simplistic? (Part I)
Blog discusses the four Pillars needed to address continuing gaps in teachers’ effectiveness in the classroom. This Part I focuses on how schools prepare to recruit and interview new candidates, and w...
Read Full ArticleHow the “System” Forces Schools into Decisions that Harm Struggling Students: The “Groundhog Day” Impact of Fear on Staff Mental Health and Job Retention
The movie Groundhog Day is metaphorically used to describe recurring experiences with MTSS Teams across the country who continue to use “mystifying” procedures, practices, and strategies—typically wit...
Read Full ArticleJudy Heumann, Special Education’s History of Litigation, and the Continuing Fight: Complacency and Defensiveness Still Stand in the Way of Students with Disabilities’ Rights
The passing of Judy Heumann, a special education advocate and legend, prompts this Blog’s review of the history of special education. The author reflects on his interactions with the advocates and lit...
Read Full ArticleSolutions for Selectively Mute Students and Educators: The Long-Term Adverse Educational Effects When Inappropriate Behavior is Ignored
Two variations of being “selectively mute” in education are discussed in this Blog. The first involves a case study of a student who is selectively mute, and the assessment to intervention approaches...
Read Full ArticleWas a First Grade Virginia Teacher Shot Because Her Student was Denied Special Education Services?
Blog describes how some districts do not have access to a continuum of special education services for students with behavioral challenges—including self-contained special education, day treatment, or...
Read Full ArticleWhy “Do” SEL If It Doesn’t Improve Student Behavior in the Classroom and Across the School?
Blog describes the components, social skills, instructional approach, and implementation characteristics to help schools teach students behaviorally-observable interpersonal, social problem-solving, c...
Read Full ArticleEbony and Ivory: Education’s “Racial Divide” Cannot be Crossed Until We Can “Talk Like Friends”
Blog describes and links to effective ways to help Black and White educators bridge the “racial divide” that exists in many schools—on behalf of increased collaboration and instructional effectiveness...
Read Full ArticleReviewing the Educational Challenges of 2022: The Need for Improvement in the Midst of Academic Gaps, Discipline and SEL Problems, School Shootings, and Continued Disproportionality
Blog summarizes and provides links to Blogs published during 2022. Twenty-two Blogs are organized in four themes: School Improvement and Staff Effectiveness; Social Skills Instruction and Social-Emoti...
Read Full ArticleHow to Create High-Performing, Collaborative Teams of Staff in Schools: No Woman/Man is an Island
Blog focuses on the importance and characteristics of high-performing, collaborative school teams and staff—emphasizing that many school leaders receive little training and coaching in this area. It s...
Read Full ArticleTeaching Students Needed Academic and Social-Emotional Skills: We Need to Sweat the Small Stuff
Blog describes five vignettes that reinforce the importance that educators and related services professionals “sweat the small stuff.” We demonstrate that, to make big and meaningful academic and soci...
Read Full ArticleThe Three Keys to Closing Students’ Academic and Social-Emotional Gaps
Blog discusses the predominant academic and social, emotional, and behavioral challenges for students in our schools today, and describes (with links to a recent national radio interview and past Blog...
Read Full ArticleEmotionally Responding to a (Hurricane) Disaster: Short-Term, Long-Term, Adults, and Children
Blog shares personal experiences and professional reflections prompted by Hurricane Ian’s devastation in Fort Myers, Florida. Analysis focuses on student and adult emotional reactions, the response ph...
Read Full ArticleReflecting on My 50th High School Reunion and What I’ve Learned about Life and Life in Education
Through a original poem based on the 1972 hit song “American Pie,” this Blog provides some personal and historical reflections on the occasion of the author’s 50th High School class reunion, and his e...
Read Full ArticleThe Academic and Social-Emotional Impact of Multiple Moves on Students in Poverty
This Blog discusses the research and real academic, social, emotional, and other impacts of the multiple moves often experienced by students who live in poverty. Educators are encouraged to “seek firs...
Read Full ArticleGeneration C (COVID) is Entering School with Significant Language, Academic, and Social Delays
This Blog reports the results of a number of recent studies and their descriptions of some of the delays exhibited by infants, toddlers, and preschoolers who have grown up during the pandemic. It then...
Read Full ArticleClosing the (Pandemic?) Reading Gap in Our Schools: We Need to Link Sound Assessment with Strategic Intervention
Blog critiques August 4, 2022 National Center for Education Statistics report identifying how many students ended the past school year with literacy skill gaps. Also critiquing three follow-up popular...
Read Full ArticleShould the U.S. Supreme Court Limit the Powers of the U.S. Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP)?
Should the U.S. Supreme Court strike down specific regulations and legal interpretations made by the U.S. Office of Special Education Programs? New Blog reviews (a) a recent Supreme Court decision lim...
Read Full ArticleReviewing Three New Studies on Student Discipline, Disproportionate Office Referrals, and Racial Inequity
New Blog discusses three new studies on student safety and classroom discipline, disproportionate office referrals and school suspensions, and racial equity and students’ need for social-emotional sup...
Read Full ArticleIn Order to Improve. . . Schools Need to Understand HOW to Improve
New Blog discusses ten principles needed to guide school improvement and change—both internally from the Leaders within, and externally for those working as consultants from the outside. These princip...
Read Full ArticleWhy School Shootings are Extreme SEL Events at the Far End of the Social-Emotional Learning Continuum
This Blog emphasizes that school shootings are extreme events at the far end of the social-emotional learning continuum that often occur due to a combination of incomplete preventative practices and i...
Read Full ArticleHow Many More Children Need to be Gunned Down in our Schools and on our Streets?
Blog discusses the recent school shooting in Uvalde, TX, and why both gun control and mental health services are needed to decrease the possibility of similar, future events. An emotional plea is made...
Read Full ArticleReconceptualizing Professional Development for the Coming School Year
Many school improvement initiatives fail because of their approach to professional development. This Blog describes the three interdependent goals and components of effective professional development,...
Read Full ArticleUsing Effective Practices to Screen and Validate Students’ Social, Emotional, and Behavioral Status (Part II)
New article (Part II of a two-part Series) discusses five primary ways to collect information within a school’s screening-to-services process when students have SEL challenges: Reviewing, Interviewing...
Read Full ArticleSchools Must Use Effective Practices to Screen and then Validate Students’ Mental Health Status (Part I)
In the face of schools training teachers to screen and recognize the "early warning" indicators of students' social-emotional and mental health problems, this Blog discusses the ten necessary screenin...
Read Full ArticleStudents Understand Social “Reality” Only When They Can Socially Analyze Multiple Realities
Using a recent episode of Survivor where a transgender cast member “came out,” this Blog discusses the importance to teaching students media and social media skills to differentiate between fact, fict...
Read Full ArticleFitting Social Skills Instruction into the School Day: Necessity, Priority, Fidelity, and the Secondary School Advisory Period
To address students' current social skills gaps, this Blog described the characteristics of effective social skills programs; when and how classroom teachers can schedule and teach the social skills c...
Read Full ArticleThe SEL Secret to Success: You Need to “Stop & Think” and “Make Good Choices”
After describing Counselors' perspectives on the most pressing social, emotional, or behavioral student, staff, and school needs, this Blog describes the SEL outcomes when students are taught emotiona...
Read Full ArticleWhy Do They Keep Trying to “Validate” Restorative Practices with Lousy (or Worse) Data?
New Blog critically analyzes (a) a new “research” report that inaccurately attempts to use a large-scale student survey to show that restorative practices “effectively” decrease disproportionate disci...
Read Full Article(Pandemic-Related?) Behavioral Challenges and Student Violence in Our Schools Today
Given the increasing number of social, emotional, and behavioral challenges exhibited by students in schools across the country this school year, this Blog encourages schools to avoid “crisis-oriented...
Read Full ArticleEducators Need to Deal with Reality by Facing, Analyzing, and then Changing Reality
With all of the polarized political, Pandemic, and pressurized issues and challenges facing education right now, this Blog encourages districts and schools to analyze, prioritize, strategize, and reco...
Read Full ArticleThe Blog-Year in Review: Politics and the Pandemic, SEL and MTSS, Race and Disproportionality
The 23 Project ACHIEVE Blogs written in 2021 are organized into four themes that summarize the issues and needs for education come 2022. The themes are: (a) Politics, the Common Good, and How the Past...
Read Full ArticleWill the Controversy Over Critical Race Theory Damage Students’ Pursuit to Better Understand Cultural, Racial, and Individual Differences?
Blog analyzes students’ desires to learn and discuss the history and issues around race, racism, and educational inequity in contrast to recent legislation and policy changes, in the name of Critical...
Read Full ArticleWhat Do Race, Reading, Billy Joel, and Jeopardy Have in Common with our Nation’s Students?
Blog reports the results of a focus group of high school students and how their school is not addressing their social, emotional, and mental health needs. The resulting themes addressed issues of race...
Read Full ArticleThe Current State of SEL in our Schools: The Frenzy, Flaws, and Fads (Part II)
Blog discusses the lack of knowledge and poor SEL implementation choices made by educators across the country even as students’ social-emotional (Pandemic-related) needs are at high levels. A recent n...
Read Full ArticleAddressing Students’ SEL Pandemic Needs by Addressing their SEL Universal Needs (Part I)
Blog addresses the specific social, emotional, attributional, and behavioral skills that all SEL programs and initiatives should target and teach. Too many SEL programs do not change students’ interpe...
Read Full ArticleA Setting is NOT an Intervention: It’s Where the Real Intervention Has the Highest Probability of Success
The Pandemic has altered how different settings in a school are organized, and this Blog emphasizes that where students and staff are placed is not as important as what happens once there. The Blog ap...
Read Full ArticleHow Have Districts Tried and Failed to Eliminate Disproportionate Discipline Rates for Students of Color and With Disabilities? It’s Not About the Plan, It’s About What’s IN the Plan
Blog reviews comparative study analyzing interventions in 41 districts to decrease disproportionate discipline referrals for students of color and with disabilities with 41 matched districts with low...
Read Full ArticleA Review of the BEST Resource to Guide Your School’s Instruction of the Whole Child: Connecting the Pandemic Needs of Your Students with Strategic Actions Supported by American Rescue Plan Funding
This Blog identifies and summarizes the single best science-to-practice national report to guide districts and schools on how to best serve the short and long-term academic and social, emotional, and...
Read Full ArticleDisproportionate School Discipline, and How Long-Term Suspensions Don’t Work and Don’t Improve Classroom Conditions When Students are Gone (An Unexpected Part III)
This Blog reviews a recent study analyzing the academic and behavioral impact of different lengths of school suspensions across 1.24 million disciplinary incidents over 10 years in the NYC schools. It...
Read Full ArticleThe Components Needed to Eliminate Disproportionate School Discipline Referrals and Suspensions for Students of Color Do Not Require Anti-Bias Training (Part II)
This Blog discusses the five evidence-based interdependent psycho-educational components and embedded practices that help schools eliminate disproportionate discipline referrals and administrative act...
Read Full ArticleThe Critical Common Sense Components Needed to Eliminate Disproportionate School Discipline Referrals and Suspensions for Students of Color (Part I)
This is the first Blog in a two-part series on how districts and schools can successfully eliminate disproportionate discipline referrals and actions for students of color. We first review Critical...
Read Full ArticleReconsidering or Rejecting SEL/Character Education, Meditation/Mindfulness/Trauma-Informed, and Restorative Justice Programs (Part II)
In Part II of this two-part Series focusing on some of the most “popular” educational bandwagons in the field, we turn to the social, emotional, and behavioral side of the school and schooling cont...
Read Full ArticleReconsidering or Rejecting Collective Teacher Efficacy and the Acceleration of Students Who are Academically Behind (Part I)
In Part I of this Blog Series, we analyze a well-researched but still murky area of education—Collective Teacher Efficacy. We then discuss an emerging, but still unproven approach recommended to teach...
Read Full ArticleMaximizing Meeting Participation and Productivity: Is Everyone “Bringing It” to Your (Virtual or In-Person) Meeting?
Given the number of meetings we attend in a typical week, and their importance to the effectiveness and outcomes of most organizations, it is important to analyze and periodically re-calibrate them...
Read Full ArticleSustaining Student Outcomes Beyond the Pandemic: Where Districts Need to Allocate Their American Rescue Plan (2021) Funds
Sustaining Student Outcomes Beyond the Pandemic: Where Districts Need to Allocate Their American Rescue Plan (2021) Funds Lessons Learned from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (2009)[Origina...
Read Full ArticleAddressing Students’ Social, Emotional, and Behavioral Needs: All is Not What it Appears to Be. Remembering Bob Slavin and Applying his Legacy
Addressing Students’ Social, Emotional, and Behavioral Needs: All is Not What it Appears to BeRemembering Bob Slavin and Applying his LegacyDear Colleagues,Introduction I had a totally dif...
Read Full ArticleReconciling “Civil Liberty” Claims that Compromise Public Health and Student Welfare
Reconciling “Civil Liberty” Claims that Compromise Public Health and Student Welfare:When a “Me-First” Perspective Undermines Our “We-First” NeedsDear Colleagues,Introduction No one promis...
Read Full ArticleWhy Schools Need to Evaluate and Validate Before They Select and Direct (Their New Federal Funds to Services and Interventions)
Why Schools Need to Evaluate and Validate Before They Select and Direct (Their New Federal Funds to Services and Interventions)Be Cautious—What We Don’t Know about Student Mental Health and the Pandem...
Read Full ArticleA Consumer Alert: Student Awareness Does Not Usually Change Student Behavior
With billions of dollars coming to schools through the American Rescue Plan to address a plethora of Pandemic-related issues, this Blog guides educators on how to make purchasing decisions so that...
Read Full ArticleA Pandemic Playbook to Organize Your School’s Academic and Social-Emotional Strategies Now and for the 2020-2021 School Year
This new Blog describes some of the psycho-educational "lessons learned" since the Pandemic began in March 2020, providing specific strategies to help schools strategically plan for the remainder of t...
Read Full ArticleThe Pandemic, Students’ Academic Performance, and Preparing for the Rest of the School Year
This Blog addresses the importance of discussing with teachers and students how the pandemic has impacted and is impacting the school and schooling process cannot be understated. Rather than assume th...
Read Full ArticleImplementing Effective Multi-Tiered Systems of Supports during a Pandemic: Upgrading Your Academic and Social-Emotional Prevention, Assessment, and Interventions
Implementing Effective Multi-Tiered Systems of Supports during a Pandemic: Upgrading Your Academic and Social-Emotional Prevention, Assessment, and Interventions. It’s Not Your Fault. . . .[CLICK HER...
Read Full ArticleAn Inaugural Poem for the Ages Challenges All Educators as the Torch is Passed: A Lesson Plan to Help School Staff Become Part of the Solution
Blog discusses the national events of the past month’s inauguration and insurrection, the Presidential election now past, and the past four years of anxiety and stress on educators and students. It en...
Read Full ArticleAnalyzing, Understanding, and Changing Extreme Behavior: In the Capitol and In the Classroom
Given the insurrection at the Capitol on January 6, 2021, this piece describes some of the psychological dynamics and possible root causes of the extreme behavior. This information is applied to stude...
Read Full ArticlePutting 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 ArticleThe Year in Review (Part II): Schools’ Pursuit of Effective School Discipline, Classroom Management, and Student Self-Management Strategies
Prevention, Disproportionality, Trauma, and Seclusions & RestraintsDear Colleagues,Introduction With the whole New Years thing going on, and our transition into a new decade, I was in the mood to st...
Read Full ArticleThe Year in Review (Part I): Schools’ Pursuit of Academic Achievement and Student Proficiency
Curriculum, Instruction, Intervention, and EquityDear Colleagues,Introduction It seems that every day this month, I’ve received yet another e-mail or Blog from a national educational organization, n...
Read Full ArticleMaybe It’s the (Lack of) Money that Explains the Relationship Between Black-White Achievement Gaps and Disproportionate Disciplinary Suspensions?
Analyzing the Results of a New National Study: Why Some “Two-Dimensional Problems” Need “Three-Dimensional Thinking”Dear Colleagues,Introduction Every day, I get e-mail briefings discussing or analy...
Read Full ArticleClosing Secondary Students’ Significant Academic Skill Gaps: Teach at Their Grade Level or Their Skill Level? (Part II)
Reviewing Two Recent Studies of Math Deficient StudentsDear Colleagues,Introduction Two Blog messages ago (on September 28th), I began a two-part discussion on:Closing Academic Gaps in Mid...
Read Full ArticleThe Traps and Troubles with “Trauma Sensitive” Schools: Most Approaches Are Not Scientifically-Based, Field-Tested, Validated, or Multi-Tiered
A National Education Talk Radio Interview (Free Link Included) Puts it All into PerspectiveDear Colleagues,Introduction Given the wide range of family, community, school, peer, virtual, an...
Read Full ArticleClosing Academic Gaps in Middle and High Schools: When Students Enroll without Mastering Elementary Prerequisites (Part I)
The MTSS Dilemma—Differentiate at the Grade Level or Remediate at the Student Skill Level?Dear Colleagues,Introduction I do a great deal of consulting in middle schools and high schools ac...
Read Full ArticleInequities in the Distribution of School Funds to Individual Students Revisited: Required Transparency, ESEA/IDEA Funding Flexibility, and Multi-Tiered Efficacy
Reminding Schools of their Responsibilities and PossibilitiesDear Colleagues,Introduction Earlier this Spring, near the 65th anniversary of the landmark Brown v. Board of Education case, I wrote two...
Read Full ArticleAs Cyberbullying Increases, Positive School Climate Decreases
Student Involvement Must Be Part of the Solution. . . How to Do ItDear Colleagues,Introduction I receive about fifteen or twenty e-mails a day from different national organizations, education news f...
Read Full ArticleAren’t Schools with Positive, Safe Climates Already “Trauma Sensitive”?
Unmasking the ACEs, and Helping Students Manage their Emotions in SchoolDear Colleagues,Introduction The new school year started this week in many districts across the country. And m...
Read Full ArticleAn Open Letter to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights Regarding Its Report, "Beyond Suspensions: Examining School Discipline Policies"
Begin with the End in Mind: It’s about Root Causes and Intervention—Not About Policies or PositionsDear Colleagues,Introduction Over the past year (at least), I have been writing som...
Read Full ArticleRevisiting the School Seclusion and Restraint Epidemic: The Federal Government Says It's Worse than Thought
While the Numbers are Important, We Need to Focus on the Reasons and SolutionsDear Colleagues,Introduction Back in March, we wrote a two-part Blog Series on the issues related to the number of seclu...
Read Full ArticleAnalyzing Your School Discipline Data Now . . . to Prepare for the New School Year (Part III)
Conducting “Special Situation Analyses” for Your Hallways, Bathrooms, Buses, Playgrounds, and CafeteriaDear Colleagues,Reviewing Parts I and II of this Blog Series, and Introducing Part III This thr...
Read Full ArticleAnalyzing Your School Discipline Data Now . . . to Prepare for the New School Year (Part II)
Conducting “Special Situation Analyses” for Common School Areas and Peer-Related Anti-Social BehaviorDear Colleagues,Prologue Later this week, I will be attending a small, interdisciplinary working...
Read Full ArticleAnalyzing Your School Discipline Data and Your SEL (PBIS or School Discipline) Program (Part I)
Students’ Discipline Problems are Increasing Nationally Despite Widespread SEL UseDear Colleagues,Introduction Happy June !!! With everyone consumed with testing, end-of-year a...
Read Full ArticleThe Journey toward Real School Equity: Students’ Needs Should Drive Student Services … and Funding (Part II)
The Beginning of the Next School Year Starts Now: The “Get-Go Process”Dear Colleagues,Introduction Last week, on May 17th, the 65th anniversary of the landmark Brown v. Board of Education...
Read Full ArticleSolving Student Crises in the Context of School Inequity: The Case for “Core-Plus District Funding” (Part I)
When Schools Struggle with Struggling Students: “We Didn’t Start the Fire”Dear Colleagues,Introduction The last two weeks have been a blur. Just over two weeks ago, I landed in Singapore to keynot...
Read Full ArticleHow Hattie’s Research Helps (and Doesn’t Help) Improve Student Achievement
Hattie Discusses What to Consider, Not How to Implement It . . . More Criticisms, Critiques, and ContextsDear Colleagues,Introduction By the time you read this Blog, I will have just lande...
Read Full ArticleThe Art of Doubling Down: How the U.S. Department of Education Creates Grant Programs to Fund and Validate its own Frameworks
Call Congress: The Tainting of RtI, PBIS, MTSS, and SELDear Colleagues,Introduction In Poker, a player “doubles down” when they have a losing hand, but they want the other players to...
Read Full ArticleStates Take Note: How to Really Address the School Seclusion and Restraint Epidemic (Part II)
What State Departments of Education Need to Learn If Using PBIS to “Solve” This ProblemDear Colleagues,Introduction The number of seclusions and restraints in our nation’s schools—whether involving...
Read Full ArticleCongress Take Note: How to Really Address the School Seclusion and Restraint Epidemic (Part I)
The U.S. Department of Education Keeps Pushing PBIS, but PBIS Ain’t Got Nothing to GiveDear Colleagues,Introduction Seclusions (including isolation) and physical restraints (including mech...
Read Full ArticleRedesigning Multi-Tiered Services in Schools
Redefining the Tiers and the Difference between Services and InterventionsDear Colleagues,Introduction During the past month or so, I have been updating my electronic monograph, A Multi-Ti...
Read Full ArticleNew Rand Corporation Study Finds Restorative Practices Produce Mixed and Underwhelming Results
New Rand Corporation Study Finds Restorative Practices Produce Mixed and Underwhelming Results: But Some Publications are “Spinning” the Outcomes and Twisting these ResultsDear Colleagues,I...
Read Full ArticleThe Year in Review: Successful School Safety and Equity in School Discipline (Part II)
Putting Politics Aside to Protect our Kids—A Review of the Federal Commission’s School Safety ReportDear Colleagues,Introduction Happy New Year !!! I hope that everyone had a great H...
Read Full ArticleThe School Year in Review: Choosing High-Success Academic and Behavioral Strategies (Part I)
Committing to Educational Excellence by Learning from Hattie’s and SEL’s LimitationsDear Colleagues,Introduction The holidays. . . the New Year. . . a time of reflection. . . a time of hope and joy...
Read Full ArticleReconsidering What Effective High Schools Do, and What Failing High Schools Miss
Credit Recovery Programs Should be Strategic, Selective, Student-Focused, and Not the Only Game in TownDear Colleagues,Introduction: What Really is an “Effective” High School? I cons...
Read Full ArticleIt’s Not Too Late to Change: The School Year’s Not Even Half Over
Why Schools Fail to Act When their Students Fail to LearnDear Colleagues,Introduction In the past few weeks (or months), a number of professional and college coaches (especially...
Read Full ArticleThe SEL-ing of Social-Emotional Learning: Education’s Newest Bandwagon. . . Science-to-Practice Goals, Flaws, and Cautions (Part II)
Why Schools Need to Re-Think, Re-Evaluate, Re-Load, and Re-BootDear Colleagues,Introduction All students need to learn and demonstrate—at an appropriate developmental le...
Read Full ArticleLooking for District/School Partners: Collaborating on a U.S. Department of Education "School Climate Transformation Grant" Proposal
How this Five-Year Grant Can Support Your School's Climate & Student Discipline NeedsDear Colleagues,Introduction According to my sources in Washington, D.C., a new Request for Proposals (RFP) will s...
Read Full ArticleSocial-Emotional Learning: Education’s Newest Bandwagon. . . and the History of How We Got There (Part I)
Why Most Schools are not Implementing Scientifically-Sound SEL Practices—Wasting Time and ResourcesDear Colleagues,Introduction It seems that educators can’t go anywhere on their on-line news feeds...
Read Full ArticleThe U.S. Department of Education Wants to “Rethink Special Education,” But Is It Willing to Look at Itself First?
The Department Needs to Change the Office of Special Education Programs at the “Top” in Order to Successfully Impact our Classrooms at the “Bottom”Dear Colleagues,Introduction La...
Read Full ArticlePreventing School Shootings and Violence
States (Wisely) Not Waiting for the Federal Commission on School Safety Report: The Guidance You Need is Here and AvailableDear Colleagues, As we begin the 2018-2019 school year...
Read Full ArticleStudents’ Mental Health Status, and School Safety, Discipline, and Disproportionality: An Anthology of Previous Blogs
Integrating Successful Research-to-Practice Strategies into the New School Year (Part II of II)Dear Colleagues,Introduction: Change is Hard As I continue to collaborate with educators across the co...
Read Full ArticleSchool Improvement, Strategic Planning, ESEA, and Multi-Tiered Services: An Anthology of Previous Blogs
Integrating Successful Research-to-Practice Strategies into the New School Year (Part I of II)Dear Colleagues,Introduction While some of you are starting to “trickle” back to your schools, districts...
Read Full ArticleHattie Haters and Lovers: Both are Still Missing the Effective Implementation Steps that Practitioners Need
Critical Questions to Ask your “Hattie Consultant” Before You Sign the ContractDear Colleagues, Over the past five years especially, John Hattie has become internationally-known for his meta-analyti...
Read Full ArticleElementary School Principals’ Biggest Concern: Addressing Students’ Behavior and Emotional Problems
The Solution? Project ACHIEVE’s Multi-Tiered, Evidence-Based Roadmap to SuccessDear Colleagues,Introduction While most students and staff are off on vacation and not thinking about homework and tea...
Read Full ArticleLearning from Another Gates Failure: It’s Not Just the Money—It’s What You Accomplish With It
How to Spend ESEA’s Title IV Money WiselyDear Colleagues,Introduction During the past few weeks, I have had the privilege of working on-site with new clients outside of Seattle, in Philadelphia, out...
Read Full ArticleMaking Mountains Out of Molehills: Mindfulness and Growth Mindsets
Critical Research Questions the Impact of Both Dear Colleagues, One of my biggest professional frustrations is when districts and schools say that they do not have time for professional developmen...
Read Full ArticleSolving the Disproportionate School Discipline Referral Dilemma: When will Districts and Schools Commit to the Long-term Solutions? (Part III)
There are No Silver Bullets— Only Science to Preparation to Implementation to Evaluation to CelebrationDear Colleagues,Introduction: Another Study on Disproportionality—Integrating the Four Studies P...
Read Full ArticleDecreasing Disproportionate School Discipline Actions with Black, Male, and Special Education Students: A Roadmap to Success (Part II)
Taking a Hard Look at Our Practices, Our Interactions, and OurselvesDear Colleagues,Introduction: Back to the Future Almost immediately after writing Part I of this Blog series a few...
Read Full ArticleNew Federal Government Report Finds that Disproportionate School Discipline Actions Persist with Black, Male, and Special Education Students (Part I)
Manipulating Policy, Buying Programs, and Following Federally-Funded Technical Assistance Centers Do Not WorkWhy be Surprised. . . about Why We Aren’t Succeeding?Dear Colleagues,Introduction On Apri...
Read Full ArticleSchool Climate, Student Voice, On-Campus Shootings, and now Corporal Punishment??? (Part III)
Listening to Students—When They Make Sense; and Not Listening to Students—When They’re Ready to KillDear Colleagues,IntroductionI honestly was not planning a Part III to this Series—a Series that was...
Read Full ArticleSchool Shootings, Comprehensive Prevention, Mandatory (Mental Health) Reporting, and Standardized Threat Assessments (Part II)
What Schools, Staff, and Students Need to Do, and The Help that They Need to Do ItDear Colleagues,IntroductionToo many times during my career, I have heard school staff members across the country stat...
Read Full ArticleSchool Shootings: History Keeps Repeating Itself (Part I)
What We Already Know, and What Schools, Staff, and Students Need to DoDear Colleagues,IntroductionJanuary 3: St. John’s, MI (East Olive Elementary School)January 4: Seattle, WA (...
Read Full ArticleThe Folly and Frustration of Evaluating Schools and Staff Based on the Progress of Students with Significant Social, Emotional, and Behavioral Challenges
Understanding the Student, Home, and Community Factors that Impact Challenging StudentsDear Colleagues,“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but...
Read Full ArticleHow Strategic Planning and Organizational Development is Done by Every School . . . Every Year [Part II of II]
An Introduction to Successful School-based Strategic Planning Science-to-PracticeDear Colleagues,IntroductionThe Elementary and Secondary Education/Every Student Succeeds Act(ESEA/ESSA) requires every...
Read Full ArticleWhy Strategic Planning and Organizational Development Must be done by Every School . . . Every Year [Part I of II]
Preparing for ESEA/ESSA:What Effective Schools Do to Continuously Improve....and What Ineffective Schools Need to do to Significantly ImproveDear Colleagues,IntroductionHAPPY NEW YEAR !!!!As I fly ove...
Read Full ArticleThe Year in Review: What We’ve Learned about Effective Educational Practices to Increase Student, Staff, and School Success
Reflections on Policies, Practices, Pronouncements, and ProgressDear Colleagues,IntroductionAs I begin to write this message—at 35,000 feet. . . finally heading home after four weeks of uninterrupted...
Read Full ArticleTeaching Social, Emotional, and Behavioral Self-Management Skills to All Students: The Cognitive-Behavioral Science Underlying the Success of The Stop & Think Social Skills Program
Don’t We Really Just Want Students to “Stop & Think”? [Part III of III]Dear Colleagues,Introduction We have known for decades that students’ social, emotional, and behavioral competency and self...
Read Full ArticleTeaching Social, Emotional, and Behavioral Self-Management Skills to All Students: The Cognitive-Behavioral Science Underlying the Success of "The Stop & Think Social Skills Program"
Don’t We Really Just Want Students to “Stop & Think”? [Part II of III]Dear Colleagues,Introduction: Mindfulness (and Part I of this Series) Revisited In Part I of this three-part series, we dis...
Read Full ArticleNew Articles Again Debunk “Mindfulness” in Schools
Teaching Emotional and Behavioral Self-Management through Cognitive-Behavioral Science and The Stop & Think Social Skills ProgramDon’t We Really Just Want Students to “Stop & Think”? [Part I o...
Read Full ArticleImproving Student Outcomes When Your State Department of Education Has Adopted the Failed National MTSS and PBIS Frameworks (Part II of II)
Effective Research-to-Practice Multi-Tiered Approaches that Facilitate All Students’ SuccessDear Colleagues,A (Re)Introduction [CLICK HERE to read or re-read Part I of this two-part Blog discus...
Read Full ArticleImproving Student Outcomes When Your State Department of Education Has Adopted the Failed National MTSS and PBIS Frameworks (Part I of II)
Effective and Defensible Multi-Tiered and Positive Behavioral Support Approaches that State Departments of Education Will Approve and FundDear Colleagues,Introduction Over the past six weeks, as I c...
Read Full ArticleHattie’s Meta-Analysis Madness: The Method is Missing!!! (Part III of III)
Why Hattie’s Research is a Starting-Point, but NOT the End-Game for Effective SchoolsDear Colleagues,IntroductionThis three-part series is focusing on how states, districts, schools, and educational l...
Read Full Article“Scientifically based” versus “Evidence-based” versus “Research-based”—Oh, my!!! (Part II of III)
Making Effective Programmatic Decisions: Why You Need to Know the History and Questions Behind these TermsDear Colleagues,IntroductionThis (now) three-part series is focusing on how states, districts...
Read Full ArticleThe Top Ten Ways that Educators Make Bad, Large-Scale Programmatic Decisions (Part I of II)
The Hazards of ESEA/ESSA’s Freedom and Flexibility at the State and Local LevelsDear Colleagues,IntroductionAs we plan in earnest for the full implementation of the Elementary and Secondary Education...
Read Full ArticleBack to the Future: What My High School Reunion Reminded Me about High School Reform
The Non-Academic Essentials for High School Students’ SuccessDear Colleagues,Introduction I hope that all of you had a great summer. . . but for some of you, the summer is over, and the new school y...
Read Full ArticleSchool Climate and Safety, and School Discipline and Classroom Management
Building Strong Schools to Strengthen Student Outcomes—A Summer Review of Previous Blogs (IV of IV)Dear Colleagues,IntroductionI hope you are doing well, and that your summer has been both peaceful an...
Read Full ArticleStudents’ Mental Health Status and Wellness, and School Discipline and Disproportionality
Building Strong Schools to Strengthen Student Outcomes—A Summer Review of Previous Blogs (III of IV)Dear Colleagues,IntroductionAs our long, hot summer continues, I hope you are doing well.If you keep...
Read Full ArticleThe New Every Student Succeeds Act (ESEA/ESSA), and Multi-Tiered and Special Education Services
Building Strong Schools to Strengthen Student Outcomes—A Summer Review of Previous Blogs (II of IV)Dear Colleagues,IntroductionHappy (early) Fourth of July !!!Knowing that we are sometimes not able to...
Read Full ArticleSchool Improvement, Strategic Planning, and Effective School and Schooling Policies and Practices
Building Strong Schools to Strengthen Student Outcomes—A Summer Review of Previous Blogs (I of IV)Dear Colleagues,IntroductionWhile some of you are still working, most educators are off “for summer va...
Read Full ArticleEffective School-wide Discipline Approaches: Avoiding Educational Bandwagons that Promise the Moon, Frustrate Staff, and Potentially Harm Students
Implementation Science and Systematic Practice versus Pseudoscience, Menu-Driven Frameworks, and “Convenience Store” ImplementationDear Colleagues,IntroductionFor 30 years or more, “School Discipline”...
Read Full ArticleA Multi-Tiered School Discipline, Classroom Management, and Student Self-Management Model to Guide Your FAPE (and even Disproportionality) Decisions
The Endrew F. Decision Re-Defines a “Free Appropriate Public Education" (FAPE) for Students with Disabilities (Part III of III)Dear Colleagues,ForewordOn March 22nd, the Supreme Court made history by...
Read Full ArticleThe Endrew F. Decision Re-Defines a “Free Appropriate Public Education" (FAPE) for Students with Disabilities
A Multi-Tiered Academic Instruction-to- Intervention Model to Guide Your FAPE Decisions (Part II of III)Dear Colleagues,IntroductionOn March 22nd, the Supreme Court made history by considering the dep...
Read Full ArticleSpecial Education Services Just Got Easier. . . and Harder (The Endrew F. Supreme Court Decision in the Court's Own Words)
The Endrew F. Decision Re-Defines a “Free Appropriate Public Education" (FAPE) for Students with Disabilities (Part I of III)Dear Colleague,IntroductionOn March 22nd, the Supreme Court made history by...
Read Full ArticleWhat Happens When School Leaders Make Decisions Not for the Greater Good, but for the Greater Peace
“You Can Please Some of the People Some of the Time. . . But You Can’t Please All of the People All of the Time”Dear Colleague,IntroductionAs many of you know, I consult with school districts all over...
Read Full ArticleThe Revolving Door of the Superintendency: A Case Study on Resetting the Course of a School District
When Mission, Vision, and Values Count More than Resources, Requirements, and ResultsDear Colleague,"A leader's role is to raise people's aspirations for what they can become and to release their ener...
Read Full ArticleFederal and State Policies ARE NOT Eliminating Teasing and Bullying in Our Schools
Teasing and Bullying is Harming our Students Psychologically and Academically: Here's How to Change this Epidemic through Behavioral Science and Evidence-based PracticesDear Colleague,Introduction...
Read Full ArticleESEA/ESSA, School Improvement, Race/Ethnic Status, and Students with Disabilities
We Need to Differentiate Disability Just as We Differentiate Race and EthnicityDear Colleague,IntroductionHistorically, the 2001 No Child Left Behind version of the Elementary and Secondary Education...
Read Full ArticleESEA/ESSA Tells Schools and Districts: Build Your Own Multi-Tier System of Supports for Your Students’ Needs
Focus on Your Principles, Students, and Staff. . . and Verify the ESEA/ESSA “Guidance” Advocated by Some National GroupsIntroductionLast week, I was testifying as an expert witness in a Due Process He...
Read Full ArticleEducation Week Series on RtI Highlights Kentucky/ Appalachian Mountain Grant Site’s Successful (Project ACHIEVE) School Discipline Program
An Overview of the Scientific Components Behind this Success, and a Free Implementation Guide for Those Who Want to FollowDear Colleague,Happy New Year !!! I hope that your holiday season was filled w...
Read Full ArticleWhat the Next Director of the U.S. Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) Needs to Do to "Right the Ship"
My “First 100 Days” if I was Appointed the New OSEP DirectorDear Colleagues,This is clearly a pivotal time for our country—politically, on all social and economic fronts, relative to our national and...
Read Full ArticleWhen Character Education Programs Do Not Work: The Difference between “Being Aware” and “Behaving”
TEACHING Social, Emotional, and Behavioral Skills Requires Behavioral InstructionDear Colleagues,The marketing of “Character Education” curricula, programs, and materials is a big business in this cou...
Read Full ArticleBeating Kids in Schools: How Corporal Punishment Reinforces Bias, Violence, Trauma, Poor Social Problem-Solving, and the Fallacy of Intervention
The Alternative? Eliminate Corporal Punishment by Preventing its Need, and Implementing Interventions that Actually Change Student BehaviorDear Colleagues,Early in my career—well over 30 years ago—I s...
Read Full ArticleBraiding Five Critical Concerns for Children: Reading Instruction, Grade Retention, Skill Remediation, Response-to-Intervention, and Chronic Absences
Why Effective Practice Needs to Dictate Good Policy (Rather than the Other Way Around)Dear Colleague,There are times in education where we get so focused on the individual trees in our forest, that we...
Read Full ArticleNational Policies, State Procedures, and Local Practices: Avoiding Untested Traps and Unhelpful Trends
Links to My “Most-Liked” Blogs: Effective Practice, Questionable Policies, and Unproven BandwagonsDear Colleague,Since 2003, I have been writing this Blog. . . analyzing essential policies and critica...
Read Full ArticleU.S. Department of Education Reminds Educators about Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports for Students with Disabilities
But… Watch Out for Their References and RecommendationsDear Colleagues,In this day and age where we are inundated by literally millions of news-related, job-specific, and social-media “feeds” each day...
Read Full ArticlePolitical Doublespeak, Students with Disabilities, and Common Sense: A Legal Case Study on Students’ Rights and Standards-based IEPs
How Departments of Education Use Language, Fear, and Ignorance to Get their WayDear Colleagues,I now do a lot of Expert Witness work around the country- - usually helping parents and legal advocacy fi...
Read Full ArticleFrom One Extreme to the Other: Changing School Policy from “Zero Tolerance” to “Total Tolerance” Will Not Work
Decreasing Disproportionate Discipline Referrals and Suspensions Requires Changing Student and Staff BehaviorDear Colleagues,As we begin the new school year, many districts and schools are appropriate...
Read Full ArticleEffective School Discipline, Classroom Management, and Student Self-Management: The Five Components that Every School Needs
Reflections on a National Survey of Administrators and TeachersDear Colleagues,I hope you had a great summer. . . but (believe it or not), for some of you the summer is already over- - and school has...
Read Full ArticleRethinking School Improvement and Success, Staff Development and Accountability, and Students' Academic and Behavioral Proficiency
Using ESEA/ESSA’s New Flexibility to Replace the U.S. Department of Education’s Ineffective NCLB InitiativesDear Colleagues,In my last Blog post (July 9, 2016), I discussed:Why Students Don't Behave:...
Read Full ArticleWhy Students Don't Behave? Because We are not Teaching Them the Social, Emotional, and Behavioral Skills They Need
The Unfulfilled Promise of Education: Students’ Social, Emotional, and Behavioral SkillsWhy the “Soft Skills” are the Hard Skills, and Why they are Essential for Students’ Academic SuccessDear Colleag...
Read Full ArticleADHD Students in School: Helping Them to be Successful in the Classroom
New CDC Report: Why Behavioral Interventions at Home and School are Needed to “Add Value” Even When the Medication “is Working”Dear Colleague,According to the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagno...
Read Full ArticleHow to Improve your Chronically Absent Students’ Attendance… During the Summer Break
Why Now is the Best Time to Analyze, Understand, Plan, and Implement Strategic Interventions for your Most-Absent StudentsDear Colleagues,Earlier this year, on March 20th, I asserted that (grade) Rete...
Read Full ArticleThe Difference between Social Stories and Social Skills Training? A BIG Difference!
If You Don’t Know, Get a Consult. . . Before You End Up in CourtDear Colleague, As most of you concluded or have near-concluded your school year, I spent most of this past week in Court. Not to wo...
Read Full ArticleStudent Engagement (Down), Teacher Job Satisfaction (Down), School Safety and Academic Expectations (Down)
Helping to Raise our Students and Schools UpDear Colleague,In today’s message, I am actually going to start with the “punch lines” and work backwards.In working backwards, I am going to weave together...
Read Full ArticleSchool Resource Officers: Helping or Hurting Students and School Discipline?
Integrating Hiring, Training, and Deployment Criteria for School Resource Officers, School-based Police, and Security Guards into States’ ESEA-Required Bullying, Restraint, and Suspension PlansDear Co...
Read Full ArticleGrade Retention is NOT an Intervention: How WE Fail Students when THEY are Failing in School
Improving Grade Retention Policy, Practice, and ResultsDear Colleagues,Last week, I was sitting in on a series of meetings between the multidisciplinary Student Assistance Team (involving the Principa...
Read Full ArticleThe New ESEA/ESSA: Discontinuing the U.S. Department of Education’s School Turn-Around, and Multi-tiered Academic (RtI) and Behavioral (PBIS) System of Support (MTSS) Frameworks
Using ESEA/ESSA’s New Flexibility to Purge the U.S. Department of Education’s Ineffective NCLB InitiativesDear Colleagues,Let’s start here:We DO need tohelp failingschools to turn-around and improve.W...
Read Full ArticleReviewing Mindfulness and Other Mind-Related Programs: More Bandwagons that Need to be Derailed? (Part II)
Why are Schools Wasting their Time and Resources on Fads with Poor Research and Unrealistic Results?Dear Colleagues,Over the past year or more, the educational community has become obsessed with a num...
Read Full ArticleReviewing Mindfulness and Other Mind-Related Programs: Have We Just Lost our Minds? (Part I)
Why Schools Sometimes Waste their Time and (Staff) Resources on Fads with Poor Research and Unrealistic ResultsDear Colleagues,It is amazing to me that some schools and districts claim that they do no...
Read Full ArticleBuilding Strong Staff Relationships and Effective, Productive Teams- - The Ultimate Staff Strategies for School Success (Part II)
The 7 C’s of Staff Success: Building Strong RelationshipsDear Colleagues,Happy Belated New Year !!!! With the holiday season and our transition into a new year now passed. . . and at least two weeks b...
Read Full ArticleMay the Force be with You- - The Ultimate Organizational Strategies for School Success (Part I)
Dear Colleagues,After months of build-up, the new Star Wars movie was released a few days ago. . . not surprisingly, to record audiences.On the one hand, it is amazing that this film series- - which b...
Read Full ArticleRich District, Poor District: Common Sense Practices to Maximize Resources and Improve Student Outcomes
It’s Not Always about the Money, HoneyDear Colleagues,I hope that your December has gone well so far. . . and that you are looking forward to a wonderful holiday season.The sun is now rising in the Ea...
Read Full ArticleNew U.S. Department of Education Report: Students in RtI Tier II Interventions are Losing Ground
What the Report Says. . . Why RtI is Not Working. . . Recommendations for Improving the RtI ProcessDear Colleagues,This past week, a new federal report, Evaluation of Response to Intervention Practice...
Read Full ArticleHow do Teachers Influence Students’ Classroom Self-Management? Research to Practice Recommendations
New Research Report: Positive Classroom Climates and Relationships Most Influence Student MotivationDear Colleagues,As a parent and a presenter, there are times that I joke (??!!) about adolescence be...
Read Full ArticleIs Your Strategic Plan Focused on Outcomes… or Just a Direction?
There are “Many Roads to Rome”—but You Need an Address and a GPS to Get ThereDear Colleagues,As the saying goes, “There are many roads to Rome.” And that is true.But after traveling in Italy this summ...
Read Full ArticleWhen Kids Can’t Read: Policy and Practice Mistakes that Make it Worse
Reading Proficiency, Unprepared Students, Untrained Teachers, and Ill-Advised Responses: A National Dilemma and New National ReportDear Colleagues,Since the early 1990s (and even before), our schools...
Read Full ArticleThe Beginning of the New School Year Starts in April
[This Blog was originally published by SmartBlog on Education on April 30, 2015]Cherry blossoms. . . . baseball season. . . . high stakes assessments. As schools complete our nation’s annual rite of t...
Read Full ArticleNew NEA Policy Brief on School Discipline Highlights Project ACHIEVE as Effective Model
NEA Brief Describes Project ACHIEVE’s Successful School Discipline, Classroom Management, and Student Self-Management ApproachesDear Colleague,As the new school year begins for many of us, the importa...
Read Full ArticleDonald Trump, Negative Campaigns, and Social Skills: Modeling Intolerance for our Students?
Why the Education Community Needs to Seize this Teachable MomentThe campaign season that will elect our next President has clearly begun, and we have been hurled- - like it or not- - into a teachable...
Read Full ArticleThe Seven Sure Solutions to School Success: How Many Do You Need?
Looking to the Future by Reviewing the PastDear Colleagues,There are times when all of us need to pause, consider, reconsider, and regroup. This especially important given the speed of our personal an...
Read Full ArticleThe Unfulfilled Promise of Education: Students’ Social, Emotional, and Behavioral Skills
Why the “Soft Skills” are the Hard Skills, and Why they are Essential for Students’ Academic Success- - What Outcomes should be Targeted?Dear Colleagues,For all of the rhetoric about ensuring that stu...
Read Full ArticleSchool Disproportionality and the Charleston Murders: Systemic Change vs. State Statutes
Why New State Discipline Statutes will NOT Solve the Minority/Special Education Disproportionality Problem in Our Schools. . . Connections with Ferguson, Baltimore, and now Charleston, SCDear Colleagu...
Read Full ArticleSchool Improvement? The Questions your Department of Education Needs to Know
A New Federal Report Confirms that State Departments of Education are Trying, but Not Succeeding. . .Twelve Essential School Improvement Questions Needed to Jump-Start the ProcessDear Colleague,OK. ....
Read Full ArticleParents and Students in Jail: How are Schools Helping?
How do Schools Support Students with Parents in Jail and Students who, Themselves, are Incarcerated?Dear Colleague,Prison. . .Jail. . .Juvenile Correction. . . Detention Facilities. . . Schools.There...
Read Full ArticleExtending the School Day? Is it Due to Ineffectiveness, Disengagement, or Enrichment?
Are Schools Extending the School Day (and Year) to Compensate for Ineffective Teaching and Student Disengagement, or to Enhance Elective, Enrichment, or Extracurricular Opportunities?Dear Colleague,As...
Read Full ArticleThe NEW ESEA Draft: Tell Congress that Capital Letters Make a Difference-- An Open Letter to Congress
How the U.S. Department of Education has Consciously Confused its Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) Framework with ESEA’s “positive behavioral supports” LanguageDear Colleagues,Pro...
Read Full ArticleMarch Madness: How Effective Schools are Like Successful Basketball Teams
How to apply the Characteristics of a Successful Basketball Program to the Design and Process of an Effective SchoolWith many sports enthusiasts spending this and next week continuing their participat...
Read Full ArticleRestorative Practices and Reducing Suspensions: The Numbers Just Don’t Add Up
A New Center for Civil Rights Remedies Report Concludes (again) that Schools are NOT Closing the Minority and Exceptional Student Discipline GapReports say that the Chicago Public Schools’ Restorative...
Read Full ArticleBe a Hero to Your District’s Administrators: How to Stop Your Best Teachers from Leaving your School, District, and their Profession
Breaking the Vicious Cycle of Recruiting, Training, and then Losing Your Best TeachersDear Colleagues,Having spent another week consulting in a very rural area of the country (and driving to work in 1...
Read Full ArticleYour State's Guide to RTI Just Doesn't Make Sense
What your Department of Education isn't Sharing about its Multi-tiered/Response-to-Intervention ProceduresDear Colleagues,When you work as a national consultant, it is expected that your districts or...
Read Full ArticleCorrecting the Flaws: The Feds’ Thinking on Academic Proficiency and Results Driven Accountability
Connecting and Correcting the Flaws in (ESEA's) High Stakes Proficiency Assessments of Students' Academic Achievement and (OSEP's) the New Special Education Results Driven Accountability SystemDear Co...
Read Full ArticleAcademically Struggling and Behaviorally Challenging Students: Your Doctor Wouldn’t Practice this Way
Why We Need to Validate the “Experts’” RecommendationsDear Colleagues,As I work with schools and districts nationwide— helping them to address the needs of academically struggling or behaviorally chal...
Read Full ArticleA New Federal Report Documents What Low-Performing are NOT Doing to Succeed
The Problem? The U.S. Department of Education's School Improvement Practices do not Guide Real SuccessMoving Toward Solutions: 12 Questions that WILL Guide School Improvement SuccessOver the past week...
Read Full ArticleSchool Improvement Succeeds only with Shared Leadership: A Field-Tested Blueprint
Matching the Essential Components of School Improvement with a School-level Committee Structure that Facilitates Shared Leadership and Staff/Student SuccessAll schools need to improve. . . to look at...
Read Full ArticleAnother Federal Push… What’s the Deal with Trauma Sensitive Schools?
Why Schools Can't Become Trauma-Sensitive Unless They Simultaneously Address Bullying, Exposure to Violence, Persistent Academic Failure, and Other Student Mental Health IssuesI hope you are doing wel...
Read Full ArticleMinneapolis Superintendent Bans Most Suspensions for their Youngest Students
What Districts Need to do Instead of Suspending (Young) Students: Effective Student, Staff, and Student ApproachesToday, I am writing this E-Blast at 30,000 feet as I return from presenting a workshop...
Read Full ArticleNew Superintendents’ Survey: Suspensions Do NOT Change Behavior—What does?
School Discipline Policies and Practices, the Impact of Out-of-School Suspensions, and How to Rethink our Approaches for Greater Student SuccessThe DilemmaWhile the school year typically begins in man...
Read Full ArticleDon't Reinvent the Wheel: Transitioning THIS Year's Successes to NEXT Year
The Beginning of the New School Year Starts in April: Student, Staff, and School Transition Activities to Help Prepare for a Successful New School YearDear Colleagues,While many schools across the cou...
Read Full ArticleBeginning the New School Year on the Right Foot: Why Classroom Routines, Behaviorally Disordered Students, and the Brain Matter
Why Behaviorally and Emotionally Challenged Students, Teaching Classroom and Building Routines, and the Hippocampus (in the Brain) Should Matter to YouDear Colleagues,With the school year about to beg...
Read Full ArticleImplementing the U.S. Department of Education's School Safety Report... Beginning THIS Year
Resources to Prepare your School at the Policy, Procedure, and Practice Levels: Completing Safety Audits, Teaching School Area Routines, Passing Teasing/Bullying Policies, and Creating RelationshipsDe...
Read Full ArticleStudent Mental Health and Wellness: What the New RWJ Foundation Report Means for You
Building School and Community Linkages to Facilitate Students' Mental Health and WellnessWashington, D.C.Dear Colleagues,Today, I am writing you from Washington, DC where I am attending a three-day U....
Read Full ArticleThe 2013 U.S. School Crime Report Just Released by the US Departments of Education and Justice
And Another School Shooting Death to End the School YearNo School in America is Immune from School Violence-- Making Schools Safer during the Summer, so They are Safe in the FallDear Colleagues,Today'...
Read Full ArticleNew National School Discipline Consensus Report Just Released
New Report Discusses Ways to Improve School Learning Conditions for Students and Staff. . . and How to Break the "School to Prison" Link for Behaviorally Challenging StudentsDear Colleagues,I hope you...
Read Full ArticlePreschoolers Most Suspended Age Group: New Report and What It Means for You
New U.S. Department of Education Report Just Released: New Office for Civil Rights Report Reveals that African American and Male Preschool Students are Disproportionately Suspended from PreschoolDear...
Read Full ArticleApproaches to Eliminate Disproportionality: New Study Reinforces State-wide Student Discipline Inequities
Just Released U.S. Department of Education Study:Minority and Special Education Students are Disproportionately Suspended and Expelled across ALL Maryland Counties from 2009-2012 …There ARE Solutions...
Read Full ArticleImplementing the U.S. Department of Education's New School Discipline Policies
A Three-Year Positive Behavioral Support Implementation Blueprint, and Two Upcoming Federal Grants to Pay for ItDear Colleagues,With Spring Training starting this week in Florida and Arizona, the weat...
Read Full ArticleCongress Passes New Improvement Option for Struggling Schools
Congress Recognizes that the Department of Education's Turn-Around Options and More (SIG) Money are NOT Improving Schools or Student OutcomesDear Colleagues,I hope you are warm and safe after all of t...
Read Full ArticleNew Brown University Study: 90,000 Students per Year Suffer "Intentional" Injuries at School between 2001 and 2008
Resources to Help Schools and Districts Prevent Student Violence, Assaults, and AggressionDear Colleagues,I'm writing to you from Hobbs, New Mexico--where I will be training administrators and Student...
Read Full ArticleUS Department of Education Report: "Guiding Principles: A Resource Guide for Improving School Climate and Discipline"
Resources to Help Schools and Districts Put "Principles into Practice"Dear Colleagues,Happy New Year ! ! !This week, the Secretaries of the U.S. Departments of Education and Justice, respectively, joi...
Read Full ArticleThe National Council on Teacher Quality and The New York Times:
Teacher Training Programs NOT Preparing New Teachers in Classroom Management, and Zero Tolerance Procedures for School Discipline Do not WorkDear Colleagues,As we remember the children and staff who l...
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