In this episode, Jethro Jones welcomes Patrick Mongrain, a middle school teacher, instructional coach, and restorative justice specialist, to discuss building sustainable systems in education. Patrick shares his “Moneyball” approach—leveraging data and analytics to improve classroom instruction and teacher support. He emphasizes the importance of moving beyond quick fixes and initiative fatigue by focusing on eight key practices that create hope and clarity for educators.

• Moneyball - Billy Bean developed a system of analytics to make a better system. 
• Judging people based on unimportant data and perceptions. 
• Applying a similar approach to how we teach. 
• Spending time in different areas that see what great things are happening all over the place. 
• Stop throwing shiny objects at the problem. 
• The Key Performance Indicators: 
  • Class Routine
  • Community Data
  • Corrective Feedback
  • Informed Supervision
  • Opportunities To Respond
  • Positive Feedback
  • Positive Feedback Range
  • Student To Teacher Time
  • Teaching Expectation
• Systems = hope
• Knowing what to do next gives people hope. That’s how systems create hope. 
• 2% of teachers need to be evaluated, 98% of teachers need to be coached. 
• Evaluation as a hoop to jump through. 
• Teachers are so incredible, having an evaluation system that is so complex makes it difficult. 
• Repeating is not the same as creating. 
• Two injustices against teachers - evaluations 
• Evaluation systems seem intentionally overwhelming.
• Initiative Fatigue
• Trust Based Observations 
• Edchanger Pro app - Make observations like a 
• How to be a transformative principal? Relationships - taking the time to connect with them. Self-care is working in a system that you feel confident in. 

About Patrick Mongrain

Patrick Mongrain is a certified teacher currently serving in a TOSA role. He taught middle school history and leadership for 10 years and has spent another 10 years as a district-level instructional coach and restorative justice specialist. In his current position within the professional learning department, he divides his time evenly between teaching in classrooms, supporting school leaders in building systems, and working on district wide improvement. Patrick believes teachers are incredible, and to truly support them, we must move beyond quick fixes and do the hard work of building and sustaining systems. In this spirit, he has created a coherent instructional framework that applies a “Moneyball” approach, leveraging data and analytics on key performance indicators. He’s written a book Theory Can Only Take You So Far and developed a data collection app called Edchanger Pro that brings this system to life.

Contact: 

E-mail: [email protected]

Webpage: https://www.youtube.com/@EdChanger and www.EdChanger.com

App: EdChanger Pro: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/edchanger-pro/id6741165826 

LinkedIn: Patrick Mongrain

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