Leadership matters in school improvement

The November/December 2011 Leadership magazine article “Focus on Success” emphasizes many of the finding from my own research upon high performing schools. For example, a collaborative culture (distributed leadership) is important for schools. Working together in a collaborative manner keeps groups from believing that school improvement is the work of “someone else” . School improvement is everyone’s work. The ability to work together for a common goal is vital to increasing student achievement.

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The Life of a Literacy Coach

The Life of a Literacy Coach

Coaches have been around since time immemorial. Today we think of coaches typically in the athletics. Recently coaching has been implemented in schools throughout the nation (and world) in school setting to work with teachers. The need to reflect and receive feedback is critical for professional growth. Coaching is focused upon improving the participant to maximize their abilities. Coaching is different from an evaluation that may be conducted by a job supervisor. While evaluation and support are not mutually exclusive the role of the coach is not punitive in nature when supporting teachers.

One of the great ideas from Liz Hanson, a literacy coach, is a Literacy Team Meeting. During these Team Meetings, teachers work together with a coach to discuss data and practices to develop more effective practices. This can be a very powerful exercise while being low stress because teachers are working with other teachers. GO TEAM!