As educators, we spend a lot of time with other people. That time can be ongoing, longer relationships or brief, specific encounters. You can categorize mosts of your interactions, at school as well as in the rest of your life, into two columns: transactional encounters and transformational relationships. When we have transactional encounters, they don’t necessarily have to be bad. They are defined as a limited interaction for a short period of time and may or not be repeated. When you’re out to eat and get a chicken sandwich, you are having a transactional encounter with the person who takes … Continue reading Five Strategies To Use to Connect With Parents

Stephen Peters and I have known each other for years. We both grew up in South Carolina and now reside in Georgia. In between, we have both been blessed in careers of service through education. We’ve been teachers, coaches, and principals. We’ve helped others be better teachers, better coaches, better principals. Now we find ourselves together with decades of experience and a joint mission… help schools and school systems to meet their potential in success for every one and for everyone. We’re proud to announce the launch of our initiative, One. So, what is it? One. is a process for … Continue reading One. A Process for Success for Every One and Everyone

After being a school administrator for fifteen years and beginning my tenth year in full-time support of school leaders next year, I’ve learned a lot about leadership development. Principals and APs are already short on time. Yes, you want to … Continue reading What Would Help You In Your Professional Growth? Time.

“Decades of social science research have demonstrated that differences in quality of schools can explain about one-third of the variation in student achievement. But the other two-thirds is attributable to non-school factors.” Richard Rothstein, 2010, How To Fix Our Schools … Continue reading How To Partner With Parents For Success

One of the most common leadership mistakes is thinking you’ll get maximum performance from others without first building relationships with them. As school leaders, our success is measured not only by our own actions but even more so by the … Continue reading Influencing Others Through Relationships

Nearly everyone talks about the importance of relationships at a school. So many conversations work around into the comment, “it’s all about relationships.” For the principal or assistant principal to work well with the faculty and staff? It’s all about relationships. The teacher and her students? Also, all about relationships. Partnership between the school and parents? Again, relationships. So, you know that they matter, but how do you promote their importance to your people? Even better, how do you help someone develop great relationships when they don’t come so easy for them? ” I can do things you cannot, you … Continue reading Positive Relationships: Path to Success in Your School

Science has proven what you probably suspected. The number one influence in schools related to student achievement is what your teachers collectively believe about your students.  John Hattie and his team, using a meta meta-analysis have studied effect size of what … Continue reading Successful Schools Begin When The Adults Believe They Can Lead Success

Becoming a Principal can be a curious thing. You get the job before you know the job, and then a big part of your job is to figure out what your job really is. Are you with me?  Please let … Continue reading Your Job? Helping Teachers Grow.

As the new school year begins, it’s important for the principal and the administrative team to focus on the mindset of the teachers as they prepare to welcome the students for another year of exploration and learning. Here is an … Continue reading Before You Get to “Who Are We?”, Spend Time on “Who Am I?”