Many of your fellow leaders have expressed the desire to recruit and retain more educators of color, and Principal Project has partnered with leader Sharif El-Mekki to share his insights on what it means to build a school environment that is inclusive and empowering for all educators. 

Over the past several years, Baltimore City Public Schools has been working to transform schools and communities by fully implementing restorative practices (RP).  As leader Karen Webber puts it, RP has been a primary tool in working to end the school-to-prison pipeline, advocating for students in crisis and reducing arrests and suspensions across the city […]

As my district’s director of equity and inclusion, I know how much school leaders care about promoting success for every student, beginning on the very first day of school. This year is off to a complicated start, and I also know that it can be easy to feel like we’re already behind on planning anti-racist […]

My journey with restorative practices is similar to that of a lot of folks who believe in the power of student relationships.  After years as a teacher, assistant principal and then as a principal in Baltimore, I’d seen the impact that investing in relationships can have on school culture and on students’ futures, and I […]

As you lean into planning for a new year, I know you are thinking through how best to support students in what will hopefully be a more normal year. I’ve worked in several schools as a leader, and what I’ve learned is we have to teach to the heart before we can teach to the […]

Leading anti-racist instruction means shining a light on unconscious bias with our teams

As you build your master schedule, take a tip or two from your fellow leaders.

This is part of a series on recruiting and retaining teachers of color, presented in collaboration with leader Sharif El-Mekki. The first post, on focusing on the prerequisites for recruitment, can be found here. The second post, on six steps for more inclusive hiring, can be found here.  When I first became a principal, I […]

This is part of a series on recruiting and retaining teachers of color, presented in collaboration with leader Sharif El-Mekki. The first post, on focusing on the prerequisites for recruitment, can be found here.  By now, most school leaders are familiar with the research that all students benefit when they learn from Black educators and […]

In Principal Matt Hornbeck’s school community, implementing restorative practices reduced detentions, suspensions and office referrals and increased teacher retention.