Leader Chat: Leading with Your School Board and Keeping Focus on What’s Most Important with Pamela Swanson

cognia accreditation

This is the first part of a two-part series. Everyone who pays any attention to schools or politics knows, the dynamics of a school board can have positive or negative effects on the schools and communities they serve. We have had other Leader Chats on this topic, but Pamela Swanson, superintendent of Westminster Schools in Colorado, ‘schooled us’ in this Leader Chat. Her humility and compassion are obvious. Clearly, she understands quality governance, but she also describes the art of working with her board as a united front. This Leader Chat is awesome!…

Leader Chat: Talking People – Hiring, Development, and Coaching with Frank Cespedes

private school rules and regulations

Why would a K-12 educational leader listen to a Harvard Business School Professor who specializes in sales and marketing? Well, as Jeff often points out, smart leaders learn from others who are in different lanes and industries. When you listen to Frank Cespedes, you will see the leadership correlation between business and sales with education. Frank’s latest book identifies several trends and solutions that translate to leading in fast-changing environments. You will love it!…

Leader Chat: Highly Effective School Leaders with Tim Nolan

teacher staff development

Educators need to hear from leaders who have spent time in education, and in the private sector. Tim Nolan is one of these people. We are thankful we had the opportunity to pick Tim’s brain. His perspective is clear and extremely pragmatic. Leaders, take note and consider how Tim’s perspective can impact your day-to-day work life….

Leader Chat: Surrendering to Your Passion for Education and Service With Diane Starkovich

Catholic Schools

If you were to close your eyes and imagine an educational leader 100% committed to serving students, educators, and her community. . . . this leader also possesses a peaceful passion for student success amidst even the most challenging times in education . . . You may not have known it, but you are thinking of Diane Starkovich. Her leadership story is pretty awesome, but hearing her talk with Jeff about leadership and love for her work is inspirational….

Leader Chat: Teacher-Powered Schools with Amy Junge and Wendy Salcedo-Fierro

leadership in education

It makes sense that when new challenges in schools arise, so would innovative models and solutions. In an earlier Leader Chat with Richard Ingersoll regarding teacher shortages, he mentioned Teacher-Powered Schools. After some research, we invited Amy Junge and Wendy Salcedo-Fierro to talk with us. While we all think of the traditional principal leading and managing the school, there are new ways emerging. We hope you enjoy learning about this model as much as we did….

Leader Chat: Real-Time Leadership When The Stakes Are High with David Noble and Carol Kauffman

professional learning communities

Our goal with our leader chats is to provide our educational leaders with pragmatic input, advice, and direction that adds to their skillset and perspective. It’s fair to say that we nailed it with this episode due to the work of David Noble and Carol Kauffman. Their book, Real Time Leadership is one we highly suggest you look into right away. When you listen to their wise advice, likely you will understand why. One thing that is great about this discussion, is that their leadership expertise in fact does not only pertain to education….

Leader Chat: Leading School Change with Todd Whitaker

private school curriculum

This discussion with Todd Whitaker is DENSE. Clearly, School Change is a topic unto itself, but the art and strategy of LEADING it is different. Jeff and Todd were like peas in a pod and could have gone on forever. Blame me or thank me, but we finally had to push them to end the discussion otherwise, they may have talked all day. You are going to love this….

Leader Chat: Helping Leaders Understand Teacher, Supply, Demand, Shortages, and Turnover with Richard Ingersoll

school improvement plan process

If you have not experienced or heard of our current challenges related to our teacher force, you are either lucky or not paying attention. It’s a significant challenge now and promises to be only more so in the future. In this Leader Chat Jeff engages Dr. Richard Ingersoll who is a leading expert on America’s elementary and secondary teaching force, and a professor in education and sociology at the University of Pennsylvania. Likely, we could not have found a better leader to talk with on this subject. The good news is that leaders can make a difference in dealing with this challenge as Ingersoll points out….

Leader Chat: Organizing the System for Student Success with MaryEllen Elia

As the past superintendent of Hillsborough County Public Schools and New York State Education Commissioner, MaryEllen Elia knows what she is talking about. Jeff recruited her to this Leader Chat to discuss strategies on setting up district systems aligned to the needs of students, something MaryEllen is passionate about. This conversation is relevant to education leaders regardless of the size, location, or demographics of their system, a relevant topic indeed….

Leader Chat: Common Sense Evidence with Nora Gordon

The original plan was for Jeff to talk with Nora Gordon and Carrie Conaway, authors of Common Sense Evidence: The Education Leader’s Guide to Using Data and Research. However, Carrie had a health-related issue, so it was just Nora and Jeff. Nonetheless, they had a super interesting discussion. Jeff loved the way these two professors have created a pragmatic guide for busy educational leaders to analyze data to make wise decisions and create a legitimate narrative….