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As a child, I rarely took things at face value. I asked questions. I looked for the exception. I tried to examine an idea from several sides before accepting it. My sentences often began with some version of, “What about this?” or “What if that happened?” or “Okay, but then what happens when...?” The response was not always enthusiastic. I was told more than once that I would be “great on the debate team.” Other times, the question was more pointed: Why did I always have to b

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

“I know who I am, I know what I can and can’t do, and I know what I will and won’t do.” ~Dolly Parton There is a lot of confidence packed into this one sentence. Not the kind of confidence that says, I can do everything. The kind that comes from knowing yourself well enough to understand your strengths, your limits, your values, and your boundaries. That matters in education. It matters for teachers who are constantly being asked to take on one more thing. It matters for lead

You Do Not Have to Match the Pace Around You September has a way of making everything feel urgent. Schools are reopening. Calendars are filling. Practices, meetings, deadlines, activities, appointments, and responsibilities all seem to restart at once. Everyone appears to be moving quickly, which can quietly create the feeling that we should be moving just as quickly. We start measuring our pace against everyone else's. They already finished it. They already responded. They a

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

My daughter is a newly minted high school freshman, which means we are entering that season of welcome emails, syllabi, expectations, routines, and introductions to the people who will help shape the next four years. This week, I received a welcome email from her Global History teacher that made me stop for a moment. It was honest. It was refreshing. It sounded like a real educator talking to families about what students were actually going to experience in the classroom, not

“There are years that ask questions and years that answer.” ~ Zora Neale Hurston At the start of a new school year, we tend to think about what the year will bring. What if the more important question is what kind of year we will help create? Will this be a year that asks students to stretch, wonder, struggle productively, and discover what they are capable of? Will it be a year that gives them answers, not simply in the form of content, but in the form of confidence, belongi

The Work Behind the Work Labor Day gives us a reason to step away from the usual pace and recognize the work that keeps our communities, families, schools, businesses, and lives moving forward. It is also a good reminder that not all work is visible. Some work comes with a title, a paycheck, or a finished product. Other work looks like caring for someone, encouraging a child, managing a household, building something slowly, starting over, learning something new, or simply con

For years, we have pushed skills further and further down into the earliest grades. At the same time, we have stuffed the curriculum with more content, more standards, more assessments, and more “must-knows.” We told ourselves that earlier meant better, more meant stronger, and faster meant prepared. When children could not clear the hurdle we built, we labeled them. Behind. Struggling. Below benchmark. At risk. Not proficient. In need of intervention. Sometimes children do n

In retirement, my “start of the school year” looks different than it did for most of my career. I am not reviewing opening-day schedules, preparing for faculty meetings, checking staffing lists, worrying about transportation, troubleshooting technology, or wondering what completely unexpected issue might appear before the first bell. My mission and purpose have not changed. I still believe deeply in the work of schools. I still believe in children, in educators, in the power

“There is courage in rising without knowing exactly where the wind will take you.” ~ Dr. Catherine V. Addor We spend a lot of time wanting certainty. A clear plan. A guaranteed outcome. A map that tells us exactly where we are going and how we will get there. Some of the most important moments in our lives begin before we have all of that. Sometimes courage is simply choosing to rise anyway. To try the new thing. To say yes. To let go of what is familiar. To trust that even i

Helping Families Understand the Portrait of a Graduate and Outcomes-Based Education For generations, families have understood school through a familiar set of structures. Students attend school for a certain number of days, complete a prescribed collection of courses, earn credits, take required examinations, and, if they meet those requirements, receive a diploma. That system is familiar. Familiar does not always mean sufficient. A diploma indicates that a student has comple

Turn Toward the Light Sunflowers do not spend their days searching for perfect conditions. They root themselves where they are, grow through whatever weather arrives, and keep turning toward the light. This week, remember that you can acknowledge what is difficult without allowing it to become your only focus. Notice what is good. Make room for hope. Turn toward the people, possibilities, and small moments that help you grow. You do not need to have everything figured out. Yo

“Men of genius are thrown together thick as bees, and the honey of intellectual accomplishment is produced.” - March by Geraldine Brooks Most of us know the March family through Little Women. We know the sisters, their ambitions, their conflicts, and the small joys and disappointments that shape their lives. In March, Geraldine Brooks takes a story we believe we know and allows us to experience it through someone else’s eyes. The familiar becomes unfamiliar. The background mo

Today is my birthday, which makes it a natural time to think about what birthdays represent. They are moments to celebrate, but they also offer an opportunity to pause, reflect, take stock, and consider how we want to use the year ahead. In schools, we often measure time by calendars that are not our own. We count marking periods, semesters, school years, testing windows, and graduation dates. Birthdays remind us that growth also happens on a deeply personal timeline. A birth

“Strong women stand up for themselves, and stronger women stand up for others.” ~Leslie Higgins, Ted Lasso (Season 4, Episode 2) Strength is not only measured by how firmly we advocate for ourselves. It is also revealed in how willingly we use our voices, influence, experience, and access to support someone else. Standing up for others can look like speaking their name in a room they have not yet entered, opening a door that once felt closed, challenging an unfair assumption,

“Find out who you are and do it on purpose.” ~ Dolly Parton There are celebrity deaths that make you sad because you loved the music, the movies, or the memories attached to them. Then there are people whose passing feels like we lost something bigger. Dolly Parton feels bigger. Maybe because she was one of those increasingly rare people who seemed to belong to everybody without ever changing herself to belong to anybody. Years ago, I listened to the podcast Dolly Parton’s Am

’Twas the night before the county fair, and all through the house, no one was resting. Record books were being checked. Show clothes were being located. Projects needed one final touch. Water bottles, folding chairs, extension cords, snacks, grooming supplies, and countless items that someone was certain had already been packed were spread across every available surface. In the barn, hutches, garage, and driveway, animals were being fed, watered, groomed, and checked one more

Agricultural education is sometimes treated as a specialized opportunity reserved for rural schools, career and technical education programs, or communities surrounded by farmland. In reality, every community is connected to agriculture through its food systems, land use, environmental conditions, local businesses, cultural traditions, workforce needs, and patterns of access. For school and district leaders, fostering agricultural education does not necessarily require buildi

When we hear “agricultural education,” we may picture high school electives, large school gardens, barns, or students preparing for careers in farming. But agriculture is already woven into nearly every part of the traditional Pre-K–12 curriculum, from the food students eat and the clothes they wear to science, economics, technology, history, environmental responsibility, and community life. Including agricultural education does not require classroom teachers to abandon exist