A sweet spot is a place where a combination of factors comes together to produce the best results with greatest efficiency. As school systems around the world are increasing expectations for what students learn and what educators do to support their learning, they must aim for the sweet spot to achieve maximum results for their efforts. When…

Monte Vista Elementary School is one of 24 K-5 elementary schools in Las Cruces Public Schools, an urban district in southern New Mexico. The school's 450 students reflect the diversity of its Southwestern community: 75% Hispanic, 17% English language learners, and 68% free or reduced lunch, thus qualifying Monte Vista as a Title I school. Monte…

Formed in 2007, the Riverpoint Partnership for Math and Science is a group of Spokane K-12 and college administrators who came together to use their combined resources and knowledge to focus on improving student learning. With a grant from the U.S. Department of Education, the group launched the Riverpoint Advanced Mathematics Partnership project…

Through learning communities, schools can change to strengthen educator practice and improve student learning outcomes. So can districts. For 20 years, the authors have helped states, districts, and schools in the United States and Canada implement Whole-Faculty Study Groups, a design for learning communities. During the 2010-11 school year, they…

In 2006, the Weld County School District Re-8 in Fort Lupton, Colorado, was eager to find a way to increase teacher effectiveness and, as a result, improve student achievement. This small, semirural district about 35 miles northeast of Denver grappled with high teacher turnover (34% in 2005) and low scores on state assessments (three out of four…

As facilitator, the author noted some trepidation in the room as the eight secondary principals from Eugene (Oregon.) School District 4J quietly discussed questions that surfaced through their hopes and fears exercise. Could the practice of visiting classrooms together help them to better lead instruction in their buildings? Would this process…

In a private room at the back of a busy restaurant just outside of Tampa, Florida, drinks and appetizers went unnoticed as 12 diners sat around one large table and engaged in multiple rapid-fire conversations about professional learning. On one side of each conversation were representatives of Memphis (Tennessee) City Schools. The district was in…

Teacher beliefs have a profound impact on instructional practice. According to Pajares (1992), beliefs determine how much effort a teacher puts forth and how long he or she will persist in the face of adversity. Many beliefs can be traced back to experiences teachers had when they were in school. Those early recollections of school events tend to…

More than a decade of school leadership research from The Wallace Foundation highlights not only the critical role of the principal but also the practices that effective school leaders undertake. A recent brief (The Wallace Foundation, 2011) distills these practices into five key functions: (1) Shape a vision of academic success for all students;…

Every district wants its schools to shine, and more are recognizing that, in order to raise performance, they need well-trained principals who can shake up the status quo and create an environment where all students flourish. Indeed, in a six-year study analyzing data from 180 schools in nine states, researchers from the Universities of Minnesota…

Rural schools face challenges that are very different from their urban or suburban counterparts. Fewer resources supporting rural schools mean smaller staffs and larger responsibilities for everyone. At the same time, rural schools and districts must meet the same standards as their larger, better-funded counterparts. One key to making the most of…

The idea of teacher leadership holds an immense and intuitive appeal. Most educators agree that teacher leaders are essential to fostering a climate of authentic and robust leadership and learning across a school. Teacher leadership is peer leading at its most authentic, demanding, and empowering. While the value of teacher leadership may be…

Administrative demands, crisis management, and political challenges often strand superintendents miles away from the day-to-day work of teachers and students in the classroom. Even when superintendents strive to focus their work on the instructional core--the interactions among student, teacher, and content--those same commitments and crises…

Finding out what instructional leadership looks like is at the center of a new trend in leadership development: videos of practice. These range from minimally edited videos of a leader's own practice to highly edited clips that focus on successful leadership actions in authentic school settings. While videos of practice are widely used in teacher…

An advocate for professional learning believes deeply that it is essential for educators to not only learn throughout their careers but to use their learning to become increasingly proficient over time. The advocate buttresses this belief with knowledge of specific processes and practices that constitute effective professional learning. Some…