With the start of National School Counseling Week, I want to express my appreciation for the vital role counselors play in our schools. As a principal and former school counselor, I can say without question that if you don’t have counselors in your building who develop lasting relationships with students, it’s hard to be a successful school.
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Appreciating the Role of School Counselors
An Outstanding Award for an Outstanding Student
Each year, National Junior Honor Society (NJHS) awards Outstanding Achievement Awards to 500 outstanding middle level students. This prestigious award comes with $500 to be placed in a college savings account. Below, we hear from AnnMarie Wolfley, a freshman at Snake River High School in Blackfoot, ID, about her experience winning the award.
(more…)Wieczorek’s 50-State Tour Continues in Four More States
NASSP President Gregg Wieczorek braved frigid weather in mid-January to resume Leading Forward: The Listening and Learning Tour in four more states: Nebraska, Iowa, and North and South Dakota. Below are brief highlights from the latest stops.
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Expanding AP with Impact
It’s that time of year when school leaders reflect on the past several months and plan for what lies ahead. They evaluate master schedules and make decisions about what’s best for their schools. The choices that school leaders make are critical to student outcomes, but such choices are not the only ones that school leaders are managing.
(more…)An Opportunity for Congress to Strengthen the Educator Workforce
In December 2021, NASSP released results from a nationally representative survey of principals that found job satisfaction is at an ultimate low with almost 4 out of 10 principals (38%) expecting to leave the profession in the next three years. The pandemic, political tensions, and limited guidance and resources were cited as major factors.
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How National Honor Society Prepared Me for West Point
Just two weeks after I graduated from Central High School in Philadelphia, PA, I began basic training at West Point. After six weeks of push-ups, pull-ups, battle drills, and walking uphill with weights for what seemed like hundreds of miles, I successfully completed cadet training known as “BEAST.” I returned from the woods and immediately started my first semester of college.
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CMU CS Academy provides free computer science curriculum
Is your school looking to expand its high school computer science offerings? Carnegie Mellon’s CMU CS Academy might be the right fit for top-notch resources. An online, graphics-based computer science curriculum taught in Python and provided by Carnegie Mellon University, CMU CS Academy offers novel, world-class computer science education for the secondary classroom. And it’s entirely free.
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Why Principals Need a Say in Funding Decisions
When I read the results of NASSP’s recent survey and heard what principals around the country had to say, I was surprised so many of them reported that their districts haven’t consulted them enough about how state and federal COVID-19 relief funds are spent.
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Why Self-Care for School Leaders Is More Important Than Ever
If I didn’t engage in the self-care practices that I’ve been following for the last 15 years I’ve been a school administrator, I wouldn’t still be in the profession. To do the job and not completely stress out, I simply can’t do without them.
(more…)Top Five Blog Posts of 2021
For a snapshot of what resonated with School of Thought readers in 2021, check out the five most popular posts. Because the year was incredibly stressful and far from normal, it’s no surprise that topics such as well-being and collaboration top the list. Our four-legged friends are honored here, too. Happy reading!
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For New NEHS Advisers, Breakfast Chats Offer Ideas and Support
It’s not easy taking over as adviser of a National Elementary Honor Society (NEHS) chapter, especially if you’re already teaching full time. To help some of the new advisers where I teach in Hillsborough County, FL, I started hosting breakfast chats last year to share ideas and offer support.
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Pausing to Reflect on a Stressful School Year
At the end of 2021, Beth Houf wrote about the extremely challenging school year she and her school leader colleagues faced across the country. Her reflections were posted on the blog of the Albert Shanker Institute, and we are sharing them here. Besides reminding principals and assistant principals that they are not alone in this work, Houf offers concrete ideas to act on in the new year.
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