Educational Leadership Archives

July 1, 2017

Teacher Leaders In the 21st Century

As we find ourselves standing on the fault lines of shifting paradigms in education question about how we lead and will be lead seem to surface with between each mini quake and aftershock. The reoccurring rumbles to develop a mindset and culture that embraces failing, thinking outside the box, and risk taking, feel shaky when they originate from a group specifically selected because of their lack of failure, ability to maneuver within the box, and their skill to mitigate risk. New pedagogies require that we follow differently as much as that we be led differently. In a building …

Continue reading “Teacher Leaders In the 21st Century”

May 15, 2017

Edtech’s Ideal User Interface Requires More Than Simplicity

Most discussions regarding the development of educational technology boil down to one key factor: How easy is it to use? Simplicity is often the name of the game when it comes to creating new technologies — any application or tool that doesn’t offer an optimal experience in terms of usability is usually rejected in favor of one that has a better user experience. While simplicity and usability are undoubtedly important considerations when developing educational technology, educators have other priorities as well. The most well-designed, elegant solution is meaningless in the face of other deficiencies, which means that edtech developers need …

Continue reading “Edtech’s Ideal User Interface Requires More Than Simplicity”

May 1, 2017

Understanding Academic Language and its Connection to School Success

Carlyn Friedberg, MS, CCC-SLP, Assessment Specialist, Lexia Learning Alison Mitchell, Ph.D., NCSP, Director of Assessment, Lexia Learning Elizabeth Brooke, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, Chief Education Officer, Lexia Learning As students progress through school, they are expected to demonstrate increasing levels of sophistication in their language and reading skills across all content areas. In order to gain knowledge through independent reading and participate in meaningful discussions in the classroom, students must master the complex words and phrases that characterize the language of school. Proficiency in these skills, otherwise known as academic language, is critical for reading comprehension and overall academic success. Across the …

Continue reading “Understanding Academic Language and its Connection to School Success”

April 25, 2017

Maintaining a Connection with Students: 7 Tips for Administrators

Most principals were once classroom teachers. They loved education and making a direct impact on students and learning. But something drew them out of the classroom and into administration. People who become principals understand that their impact will be further reaching than it was in the classroom. They give up the day-to-day, close relationship building with students in order to create and implement systems that will ensure success for all students and teachers. But principals and administrators are still teachers at heart. The best ones make time to stay involved with student learning. They know their personal relationships with students …

Continue reading “Maintaining a Connection with Students: 7 Tips for Administrators”

January 21, 2017

There’s more than practice to becoming a world-class expert

D. Zachary Hambrick, Michigan State University and Fredrik Ullén, Karolinska Institute Some people are dramatically better at activities like sports, music and chess than other people. Take the basketball great Stephen Curry. This past season, breaking the record he set last year by over 40 percent, Curry made an astonishing 402 three-point shots – 126 more than his closest challenger. What explains this sort of exceptional performance? Are experts “born,“ endowed with a genetic advantage? Are they entirely “made” through training? Or is there some of both? What earlier studies show This question is the subject of a long-running debate …

Continue reading “There’s more than practice to becoming a world-class expert”

October 15, 2016

The Power of Parents: A Primer on Parental Involvement

Parents play a powerful role in the success of each generation of K-12 students. But these days there are many factors that prevent parents from getting involved. Here, we’ll take a deeper look at these issues—and what we as a society can do about them. What Happens When Parents Don’t Show Up? As educators, we talk a lot about the role of teachers in the lives of students and debate the best ways to strengthen the classroom experience for students from all backgrounds. There is only so much a teacher can do, though, particularly with large class sizes and limited …

Continue reading “The Power of Parents: A Primer on Parental Involvement”

September 18, 2016

5 Keys to an Effective School Mission

Instructional leadership offers administrators the opportunity to create a shared vision of learning for the entire school environment – allowing both educators and support staff to get behind a common goal. That common goal is most often articulated in the form of a school mission statement, which must be built effectively in order to be compelling. What are the characteristics of a good school mission statement? 1. Academically Focused A school’s mission must be academically focused, as after all that is the primary function of the school environment. While there are other functions that a school serves, other roles that …

Continue reading “5 Keys to an Effective School Mission”

August 7, 2016

4 Major Types of Educational Leadership

There are four major styles of leadership which apply well in the educational setting. While each of these styles has its good points, there is a wide berth of variation, and in fact, transformational leadership is truly an amalgamation of the best attributes of the other three. Let’s explore how servant leadership, transactional leadership, and emotional leadership compare to transformational leadership. 1. Servant Leadership Servant Leadership takes the focus from the end goal to the people who are being led. There is no sense of self-interest on the part of the leader, who steps back and supports only the interests …

Continue reading “4 Major Types of Educational Leadership”

February 20, 2016

Leadership Practices That Directly Influence Teachers’ Emotions

The emotions of teachers are an often ignored, but very important part of a school’s learning climate. With each decision or policy they put in place, school leaders have an effect on the emotions of their teachers. Leadership practices that have emotional consequences reflect four sets of “core practices” for effective leadership. These practices form a major part of what most successful school leaders do, in many different organizational and cultural contexts. Due to their transformational bias to leadership, these core practices involve: 1. Direction-setting – The practices of school leaders geared at building an inclusive sense of purpose in …

Continue reading “Leadership Practices That Directly Influence Teachers’ Emotions”