News: Professional Development

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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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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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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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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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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