I was a junior at Valley View High School in Moreno Valley, CA when COVID-19 hit. After classes moved online, I missed talking to my friends in person, and I was really bored. I was also curious about what life during the pandemic was like in different parts of the world. As a member of […]
Category: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
A Pen Pal Program Expands Students’ Horizons
Applying the Lessons of Online Learning to the Pandemic School World
When the whole education world turned virtual, we were already halfway there. At Rio Rancho Cyber Academy (RRCA) outside Albuquerque, we’ve been providing a blended model of in-person and virtual learning since long before anyone had even heard of COVID-19. I like to think we are a hidden gem in the Rio Rancho schools that […]
Why Diversity and Equity in Content Matters for Reading Growth
A recent survey asked middle level and high school principals to choose the greatest challenge they face with their students’ literacy development. An overwhelming 63% of respondents cited students who were reading below grade level1. This response is not surprising. In 2019, only 34% of eighth grade students performed at or above the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) proficient level2.
DiversityEquity
Announcing the 2021 National Assistant Principal of the Year
Congratulations to Chelsea Jennings from Lakeside Junior High School! Arkansas has the highest rate of adverse childhood experiences in the nation at 60%. Trauma and stress often manifest as behavior problems, and if educators can learn to see these as calls for help and opportunities to teach missing skills, they have the ability to lessen […]
assistant principal of the yearpovertysocial and emotional learning (SEL)
These Principals Are Getting Into Good Trouble
Mauri Friestleben and Yusuf Abdullah have been getting into trouble. Good Trouble, to be specific. During 2020, while leading their schools through distance learning, COVID-19, and racial injustice, they took it upon themselves to inspire and empower others to join together to challenge inequity in schools. Their movement has inspired many other principals, now bound together […]
racial equityracial justicesocial justice
Together, We Can: Six Steps to Prepare to Lead This Fall
Brian McCann found guidance for leading during the upcoming school year in, of all places, a young adult novel he picked up in his school library. “It began with this preface that says nothing goes back to exactly how it was—which was what I was trying to do,” McCann, a 2018 Digital Principal of the […]
EquityRelationshipsvirtual learningWellness
An Open Letter to School Leaders
Dear School Leaders, None of us is doing ok right now, especially our black students. Each horrific incident of state-sanctioned violence against black Americans intensifies the trauma for black students, already suffering disproportionate isolation and fear from the COVID-19 pandemic. And you, leaders of the learning organizations that are central to so many of their […]
2020 Digital Principals of the Year Announced
In the wake of the education community’s shift to remote and virtual learning solutions, the importance of leveraging technology in education cannot be overstated. Through the Digital Principals of the Year (DPOY) program, NASSP honors principals who exhibit bold, creative leadership in their drive to harness the potential of new technologies to further learning goals. […]
virtual learning
Moving Counseling Online During COVID-19
If we revisit Harry Wong’s The First Days of School: How to Be an Effective Teacher, we know that we can’t access Bloom’s taxonomy until we address Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. During this time of considerable uncertainty, it is increasingly important to consider mental health and wellness as a need we must address before we […]
Building CultureCollaborative LeadershipLeading LearningStrategic ManagementWellness
Planning the Way Forward: Focus on Students and Staff
COVID-19 has thrown many schools and educational leaders for a loop. One thing that has become apparent in school districts around the country is the importance of sound and thoughtful leaders, who have surrounded themselves with great people. I know at Mason City Schools, led by Superintendent Jonathan Cooper and our district executive team, we […]