Blog
21 blog posts in 2016
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...
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...
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