Blog

Speed 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...

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Breaking 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...

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Research 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...

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How 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...

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Students' 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...

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Will 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...

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Are 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...

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The 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...

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Does 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...

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Revisiting 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...

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Increasing 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...

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When 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...

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Social 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...

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Laundromats, 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...

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How 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...

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Helping 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...

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What 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...

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Michigan 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...

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Strategies 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...

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While 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...

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A 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...

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The 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...

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Too 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...

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Solving 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...

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Bringing 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...

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What 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...

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Twelve 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...

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Seven 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...

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Research 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...

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When 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,...

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When 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,...

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Is 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...

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New 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...

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Using “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...

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Ensuring 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...

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Maintaining 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...

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New 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...

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Improving 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...

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How 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...

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Judy 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...

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Solutions 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...

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Was 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...

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Why “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...

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Ebony 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...

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Reviewing 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...

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How 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...

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Teaching 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...

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The 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...

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Emotionally 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...

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Reflecting 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...

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The 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...

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Generation 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...

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Closing 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...

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Should 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...

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Reviewing 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...

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In 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...

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Why 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...

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How 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...

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Reconceptualizing 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,...

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Using 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...

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Schools 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...

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Students 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...

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Fitting 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...

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The 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...

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Why 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...

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(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...

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Educators 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...

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The 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...

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Will 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...

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What 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...

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The 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...

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Addressing 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...

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A 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...

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How 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...

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A 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...

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Disproportionate 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...

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The 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...

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The 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...

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Reconsidering 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...

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Reconsidering 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...

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Maximizing 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...

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Sustaining 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...

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Addressing 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...

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Reconciling “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...

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Why 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...

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A 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...

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A 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...

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The 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...

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Implementing 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...

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An 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...

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Analyzing, 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...

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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...

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Training 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...

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Curbing 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...

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It’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...

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Classroom 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...

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The 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...

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The 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...

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Celebrating 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...

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How 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...

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Why 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...

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Identifying 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...

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Do 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...

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Teaching 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...

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Using 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...

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Preparing 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...

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Why 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...

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How 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...

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The 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,...

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Rethinking 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.   ...

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Underachieving, 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...

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Literacy 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...

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Did 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...

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Mindfulness & 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...

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Trauma-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...

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The 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...

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The 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...

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Maybe 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...

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Closing 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...

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The 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...

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Closing 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...

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Inequities 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...

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As 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...

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Aren’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...

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An 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...

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Revisiting 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...

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Analyzing 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...

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Analyzing 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...

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Analyzing 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...

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The 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...

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Solving 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...

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How 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...

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The 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...

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States 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...

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Congress 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...

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Redesigning 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...

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New 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...

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The 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...

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The 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...

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Reconsidering 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...

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It’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...

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The 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...

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Looking 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...

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Social-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...

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The 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...

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Preventing 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...

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Students’ 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...

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School 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...

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Hattie 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...

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Elementary 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...

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Learning 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...

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Making 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...

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Solving 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...

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Decreasing 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...

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New 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...

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School 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...

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School 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...

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School 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 (...

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The 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...

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How 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...

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Why 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...

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The 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...

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Teaching 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...

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Teaching 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...

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New 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...

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Improving 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...

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Improving 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...

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Hattie’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...

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“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...

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The 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...

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Back 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...

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School 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...

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Students’ 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...

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The 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...

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School 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...

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Effective 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”...

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A 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...

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The 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...

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Special 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...

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What 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...

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The 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...

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Federal 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...

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ESEA/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...

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ESEA/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...

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Education 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...

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What 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...

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When 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...

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Beating 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...

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Braiding 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...

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National 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...

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U.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...

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Political 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...

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From 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...

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Effective 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...

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Rethinking 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:...

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Why 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...

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ADHD 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...

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How 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...

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The 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...

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Student 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...

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School 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...

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Grade 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...

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The 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...

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Reviewing 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...

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Reviewing 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...

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Building 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...

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May 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...

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Rich 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...

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New 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...

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How 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...

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Is 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...

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When 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...

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The 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...

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New 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...

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Donald 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...

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The 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...

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The 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...

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School 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...

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School 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. ....

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Parents 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...

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Extending 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...

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The 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...

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March 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...

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Restorative 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...

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Be 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...

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Your 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...

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Correcting 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...

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Academically 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...

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A 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...

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School 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...

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Another 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...

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Minneapolis 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...

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New 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...

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Don'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...

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Beginning 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...

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Implementing 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...

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Student 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....

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The 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'...

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New 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...

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Preschoolers 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...

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Approaches 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...

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Implementing 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...

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Congress 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...

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New 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...

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US 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...

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The 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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