Guest post by Kasey Teske In secondary schools, the greatest untapped resource is our students. Most of our students care deeply about school and have numerous ideas about how to improve their campus community. But how often do we, as principals, involve students in our school improvement efforts? Do the students in our school even […]
Category: Collaborative Leadership
Giving Students a Voice in School Improvement
iCARE, Part Three: Helping Troubled Students Care
Guest post by Thomas Kachadurian Two weeks ago, I introduced you to iCARE, and last week, I shared how this initiative has helped to unite our school community. In this final post, I will explore how iCARE has changed the way we work with our most difficult students. In 2014, I inherited a unique sophomore […]
iCARE, Part Two: Uniting Our Community
Guest post by Thomas Kachadurian In last week’s post, I discussed the beginnings of the iCARE program at Colonie Central High School and how it has given students an opportunity to make a difference in our school. This week, I will share how iCARE has grown and united our entire community around a variety of […]
iCARE, Part One: Students Making a Difference
Guest post by Thomas Kachadurian In 2011, I attended a character education summit at Sage College with my fellow associate principal Chris Robilotti. After attending a seminar on cultivating stakeholder ownership, we walked away with a new mission to take our successful middle school bullying prevention program and build it in the high school setting. […]
Change Starts With Us
Guest post by Jamie Richardson A few years ago, I found myself trying to convince my son that he needed to “play the game” of school and figure out how to rack up as many “points” as possible in order to succeed. As these “encouraging” words came from my mouth, I stopped and asked myself, […]
Solutions for Singletons: Building a Professional Learning Network
Guest post by Abbey Duggins and Amber Schroering If you’ve spent any amount of time building a high school master schedule, you are familiar with the dreaded “singleton.” A singleton happens when just enough students sign up to create one section of a course—usually an AP or obscure world language—and it throws a major wrench […]
Raising Test Scores: One School’s Story
Guest post by Amy Mims When I became an assistant principal of Independence High School in Charlotte, NC, our school’s test scores were low. As I started observing classrooms, I saw talented teachers hard at work designing and delivering interesting lessons that utilized a number of instructional best practices. I also saw motivated students who […]
Tips for Building Meaningful Connections With Students
Guest post by Kelly Parker South Meadow School (SMS) in Peterborough, NH is guided by our vision: “A caring, cooperative, and respectful community of learners.” We are a family and work hard to instill values that will help students realize this vision by providing the support they need to be successful. One of the most […]
What’s in Your School Leadership Playbook?
Guest post by Burke Davis As an avid sports fan and longtime coach, I have learned a lot of lessons from the world of sports, such as the importance of commitment, hard work, and culture. Coaches like Urban Meyer, Jay Wright, Tony Dungy, and Vince Lombardi inspire me to do my best and show me […]
Student Voice: The Most Important Sound in the School
Guest post by Bobby Bennett In 2012, I became principal of my alma mater—only the second alumnus since the 1890s to have such an opportunity. No pressure! Eager to begin the work of serving my community and school improvement, I held a series of meetings with staff and the school community over the course of […]