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A graphic on assessing conceptual understanding caught my attention this week because it asks a question that is bigger than assessment design. What are we really trying to know about what students have learned? For a long time, schools have been very good at measuring what is easy to measure. Did the student remember the vocabulary? Did they complete the assignment? Did they get the correct answer? Did they meet the deadline? Did they earn enough points? Those things can tel

Schools are surrounded by people. Families come through the doors. Community organizations attend events. Businesses sponsor programs. Students sit in classrooms every day. Teachers work side by side. Leaders meet with teams, committees, councils, and stakeholder groups. There is a lot of proximity. Proximity, though, is not the same thing as partnership. I first heard Dr. Amanda Crowell use this idea in the context of business networking, but it immediately landed differentl

Years ago, I was standing in line at the "happiest place on Earth" with my kids. We were away. We were together. We were supposed to be in one of those rare pockets of time where the outside world fades and your full attention belongs to the people right in front of you. My phone rang. It was the middle school principal calling about grant applications. Not a crisis. Not an emergency. Not something that needed to interrupt a family trip. I still do not know why I picked up th