Greetings — Leslie and I are back at it!

In today’s podcast, we take a look at a pressing beginning-of-the-school-year issue: getting intervention supports up and running.

Perhaps this sounds familiar: at your school, you assessed students at the end of the year and have access to multiple data points that tell you how students are doing and who might need additional support. But that was May/June! Now it’s 4 months later and the data from last spring no longer feels relevant or timely. So do you wait until you go through a lengthy beginning-of-year assessment cycle to inform your approach to intervention? Or do you act on the data you have now?

Leslie and I have a strong perspective on this: don't wait!

Give us a listen as we think through:

* How to best use existing data to make beginning-of-year intervention decisions

* How to launch intervention groups in a way that reinforces flexible, need-based grouping

* How to keep assessment systems simple and manageable

Happy listening, and let us know what you think!

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Hello again!

Today’s podcast is the fourth and final in our spring planning series. In this latest installment, we discuss what it looks like for leaders of teaching and learning to engage their broader community in what we call a “State of the Schools” presentation.

In a “State of the Schools” presentation, a system or school leader has the opportunity to share with their constituents their diagnosis of what is leading to current learning outcomes and the strategy that will enable their system to move from current state to future aspiration.

In this episode, we discuss the “what” and “how” of planning for and leading a presentation like this in a way that facilitates instructional change.

Give us a listen and let us know what you think!

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Greetings!

This week we’re discussing what it takes to make professional development (PD) matter.

The starting point for our conversation is a recent ASCD article by Elena Aguilar titled “Why Most PD Doesn’t Work — And What Actually Does.” Aguilar argues that for PD to make an impact, it must be anchored in the needs of the educators it’s meant to serve, with clear outcomes that can be applied to practice in real time.

We largely agree — and think there’s more to the story (especially in terms of how to maximize the power of PD as a lever for instructional improvement).

Give us a listen as we grapple with:

* Common pitfalls that limit the impact of PD

* How to move from a focus on inputs to a focus on outcomes

* How to bridge the gap between increasing content knowledge and changing instructional practice

We hope you’ll walk away with key insights around how to build a professional learning system within your context that results in meaningful change for both adults and students.

Let us know your thoughts in the comments!

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Welcome back to The Learning Agenda!

This week we’re excited to dig into a topic near and dear to the hearts and minds of leaders of teaching and learning: the adoption and implementation of high-quality instructional materials (HQIM) as a vehicle to improve literacy instruction and student outcomes.

We kick off our conversation with a discussion of a recent Kappan article titled Beyond ‘Adopt and Hope’ in which author Sara Pixley digs into the barriers to successful HQIM implementation.

Without giving away too many spoilers, Leslie shares some strong feelings on the efficacy of fidelity checklists, and Michele questions whether the H and Q in many so-called high-quality instructional materials live up to their name. Both of us share thoughts on how to move forward so that the reality of HQIM implementation has a chance of living up to its promise.

Let us know what you think — and what’s on your mind as you plan for the year ahead!

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Greetings!

We’re trying something new here on Reading to Lead.

We (Michele Caracappa and Leslie Kim) have launched a podcast for education leaders who are thinking about their system-wide strategy to improve instruction and accelerate learning for their students in the year ahead.

Both of us have served as teachers, school leaders, and chief academic officers within K-12 school systems, and now we support leaders in those seats. We hope to bring a practical lens to this work, considering the real challenges that leaders of teaching and learning face and offering concrete guidance that leaders can use as they craft a strategy that works for their context.

In episode 1, we dive deep into the world of reading intervention. Building off of Michele’s recent post, “What if Our Approach to Intervention is Just Making Things Worse?”, we discuss common pitfalls that schools face when addressing students’ needs through intervention, share solutions for how school systems might respond when they’re not seeing results, and discuss principles that can guide decision-making around a school or school system’s literacy intervention strategy.

Give us a listen and let us know what you think! And let us know what’s on your mind as you craft your plans for the school year ahead.

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