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“The test of good teaching is not how much students know, but how much they want to know.” ~Dr. Catherine V. Addor This idea reframes what we look for when we walk into a classroom. It is easy to measure what students know. We can check for correct answers, completed tasks, and performance on assessments. Those indicators feel concrete, visible, and immediate. What is harder to see, and far more important, is what students want to know. Curiosity does not always show up on a

We spend time speaking about the Portrait of a Graduate. We name the attributes, we celebrate the language, we point to the vision. We do not always examine the studio that makes that portrait possible. A Portrait of a Graduate does not develop in abstraction. It is shaped by the conditions we design: the resources we fund, the adults we prepare, the spaces we curate, and the expectations we normalize. The studio is not just a room. It is the ecosystem that tells students whe

“Children learn best when assessment feels like an opportunity, not a judgment.” ~Dr. Catherine V. Addor This idea challenges more than assessment practices. It challenges how students experience school. When assessment feels like judgment, students begin to protect themselves. They play it safe, avoid risks, and measure their worth against outcomes. Learning becomes something to manage rather than something to engage in. When assessment feels like opportunity, everything shi

Testing season changes the rhythm of a school. The pace tightens. Schedules shift. Classrooms move from exploration to endurance. It becomes easy to believe that faster is better, that quiet compliance equals readiness, that covering more will somehow prepare students for what is ahead. Pacing during this time is not just about time. It is about attention, energy, and emotional capacity. Students carry more than content into a testing environment. They bring stress, expectati

I had the privilege of working with Grant Wiggins during my graduate school years. Those conversations, those design sessions, those moments where he would pause and ask, “What is this really for?” have stayed with me far beyond that time. Grant pushed thinking in a way that was both grounding and disruptive. He challenged the idea that assessment lives at the end of learning. He reframed it as something far more powerful, far more human. “Assessment should be more than a tes

Curriculum is not a document. It is not a pacing guide, a binder, or a digital platform neatly organized by units and standards. Curriculum is what students become because of what we design. That shift matters more than we often admit. It moves us from coverage to transformation, from delivery to intentional design, from asking “Did I teach it?” to asking “Who are my students becoming as a result of this experience?” Every task we design is shaping something. Every question w

The Quiet Harm of Othering in the Classroom She sat at the edge of the group, close enough to hear, but not close enough to belong. No one said she couldn’t join. No one had to. Othering in the classroom rarely announces itself. It does not always come in the form of exclusionary language or overt bias. It lives in the subtle patterns. Who gets called on. Whose stories are reflected in the curriculum? Who is described as “those kids”? Who is constantly “supported” but rarely

One word. That is all it takes to shift an entire leadership mindset. Education has operated within a culture of feedback for decades. Feedback looks back. It analyzes what happened. It often carries judgment, even when unintended. It can feel evaluative, final, and, at times, limiting. Consider a single shift in language and thinking: feed forward. Feed forward does not erase reflection. It reframes purpose. It asks not, “What went wrong?” but “What is possible next?” That o

Who Benefits From This Decision? Before you finalize the plan. Before you send the email. Before you approve the policy. Pause and ask one simple question: Who benefits from this decision? Does it serve students or adult convenience? Does it create clarity or control? Does it widen access or protect comfort? Does it move the mission forward or preserve the status quo? Every leadership choice redistributes something. Time. Energy. Opportunity. Voice. Mindfulness in leadership

Fundamental Friday: "Explain It to Me Like I’m in Kindergarten" Isn’t a Step Back, It’s the First Step Forward The first time a student...

When the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the foundations of schooling, many of us found ourselves looking up and seeing no clear direction....