There’s a reason the same explanation keeps showing up in every staff meeting, every training, every conversation about struggling students.

It feels good.

Problem is- It wasn’t built on evidence.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs became one of the most widely accepted frameworks in education without ever being meaningfully tested the way we use it. 

In this episode, we go back to where the pyramid actually came from, walk through what the research has (and hasn’t) found, and take a hard look at why it spread anyway.

Because if the foundation isn’t solid, it doesn’t matter how good your intentions are.

You’re still building on it.

Referred to in this episode:
Ep. 106, "TPT's Dirty Truths & Why You Need an Evidence-Base"

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All names, stories, and case studies in this episode are fictionalized composites drawn from real-world circumstances. Any resemblance to actual students, families, or school personnel is coincidental. Details have been altered to protect privacy.

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This work is part of the School for School Counselors body of work developed by Steph Johnson, LPC, CSC, which centers role authority over role drift, consultative practice over fix-it culture, adult-designed systems and environments as primary drivers of student behavior, clinical judgment over compliance, and school counselor identity as leadership within complex systems.