As a math coach and education administrator at the county level, I collaborate with leaders and teachers to support mathematics instruction across 23 districts. Every school has its own unique culture, students and staff, and when the collaboration with a school leader begins, I build their instructional leadership priorities into our plans (such as supporting […]

As a math curriculum specialist working with teachers and school leaders, I find that principals are sometimes a bit apprehensive when it comes to math. Feeling hesitant in a subject that you are not comfortable with is natural. It is what we do with that uneasiness that makes all the difference. School leaders like you […]

Just like my students, my teachers are approaching the teaching of mathematics from so many backgrounds, different levels of experience and awareness.

As a middle school principal, I’ve seen that sustaining behavioral expectations for my students is harder this year, and I’ve heard the same thing from fellow leaders. When my school started experiencing multiple behavioral conflicts every day, that was new territory, and I have to admit, I didn’t see the path forward right away. I […]

When I reflect on my first 10 years of teaching, I know it would have been a completely different classroom if I’d known what we know now about student learning. I came into teaching well versed in my content area, having taken literature classes and secondary English and writing classes, but I didn’t step into […]

As many of you know, the American Academy of Pediatrics has declared a mental health emergency for children. And as heartbreaking as this is, between the societal challenges and mental health issues already present in our prior “normal” conditions, as well as everything the pandemic has exacerbated, it’s hard to say that it’s surprising. Increasingly, […]

The school I help lead was designed for students who have experienced some interruption in their high school education, either because of academic issues, life disruptions or both. Our program helps support them along the path to graduation and connects them with resources. Because of this, social emotional learning (SEL) has long been our priority. […]

When we reached the point in the pandemic when students could return to in-person learning, we wanted to make them feel like they could come back to the safest, most welcome space possible. We did away with rules about hats and headphones. We did away with all kinds of things in order to extend grace […]

By hosting monthly “Coffee With the Principal” sessions, I bring families SEL skills, staff expertise & support.

When I joined my K-8 school community a few years ago, our students were, on average, in the 18th percentile in math achievement. These days, despite all the disruptions and traumas they’ve experienced during pandemic learning, our students are demonstrating mastery at and beyond the 40th percentile, with more and more students in the 90th […]