Leaders Coaching Leaders

Delve into the enriching world of authentic leadership with Kim Fry, a seasoned educational leader who journeyed from a student to the superintendent of Rochester School District. In a role where the average duration is 5 years, Kim has been there for 12 and shares how to be agile and empower others to lead while staying true to herself. She emphasizes the need for listening and constant learning...

How do we unlearn frames of mind that no longer work for us so that we can embrace new learnings that will help us build communities where all can thrive? Join Peter DeWitt, Mike Nelson, Nicole Law and Sonja Hollins-Alexander as they offer deeply thought-provoking reflections on unlearning, learning, soul-searching self-assessment, and what it takes to build a culture where all scholars feel a sen...

When the world stops and education needs to pivot on a dime, educators have to ask themselves, “What is the purpose of education? How can I take what I know to be sound pedagogy and how do I make technology fit that understanding? How do I make technology work for me and not me work for it?" And ultimately, "How do I make technology work for my students?” The technology that educators ar...

Prepare yourself for an engaging conversation in this podcast episode. Host Peter DeWitt and co-host Mike Nelson will be taking you through the inspiring journey of an educational trailblazer, known for her characteristic white sneakers, Dr. Tiffany Anderson. A dynamic figure in her school community, Dr. Anderson is not just confined to the corridors of academia. She's out there greeting stud...

In this episode,  Peter DeWitt, co-host Mike Nelson and guest Elisa MacDonald tackle the challenging, yet rewarding task of discussing the importance of vulnerability within the educational community. Not only does MacDonald urge educators to be open about their struggles with their students, but she also emphasizes the need for this transparency amongst professional peers. She believes that by al...

In this episode, we delve deep into the complex challenges often faced by students in urban areas - obstacles compounded by factors such as race, gender, social class, and more. Our guest is none other than Tyrone Howard, the President of AERA and a national authority in urban education.  Howard brings his extensive knowledge and experience to the table, providing valuable insights and guidance fo...

With her emphasis on relationship building as the backdrop for linguistically and culturally sustainable assessment, the bestselling author Margo Gottlieb tells educators that we can do better when it comes to how we assess multilingual learners. In this episode she discusses her latest edition of Assessing Multilingual Learners, and she offers educators welcoming and encouraging ways to support m...

Politics, learning loss and a tsunami of initiatives can get in the way of what matters most in education: strategies aligned to key goals, systems for high quality professional learning and, most of all, creating a culture where all are seen and heard. Lionel Allen, hand picked by Arnie Duncan to lead the nation’s first turnaround school, is committed to helping leaders and teachers remember thei...

 A perfect storm is upon us and educators are in the middle of it. Identity issues often incite and divide us, but they are actually our way out of the storm. This is what this episode’s guests, Andrew Hargreaves and Dennis Shirley, posit. In their latest book, The Age of Identity, they seek to shed light on this topic to help educators make meaning of this highly complicated issue. They demonstra...

Too many schools still rely on deeply ingrained, segregated practices that fail to serve all students. Author of the book Leading for All and district leader Jennifer Spencer-iiams would like to change this. In this episode she shares lessons learned from spending nearly a decade building a school district where all students are served in their neighborhood school and in classrooms with their gene...

One does not often pair unreasonable and irrational with care and hospitality, but superstar superintendent Mike Nelson does. As he sees it, to get at the kind of collaboration most school leaders crave requires them go far deeper into human relations than usual. In this episode, he defines what he calls human interconnectedness and provides specific examples of what it looks like and how to get t...

When there’s a nuclear meltdown happening with a student in your school, you don’t have a second to think. Author and consultant Ben Springer, shares the framework from his bestselling book Happy Kids Don’t Punch You in the Face, to discuss what to do in the heat of the moment, and how you can decrease the chances of incidents happening in the first place. His approach is a field-tested, integrati...

On this episode, Pamela Snow, renowned speech-language pathologist and psychologist, gives an incisive analysis of how good people all over the world came to eschew the science of what works for reading instruction.  She makes a compelling case for viewing school as a public health intervention, making it of the utmost importance that we get our teaching practices right. The bottom line is that wh...

Have you ever started your school year as a principal feeling overwhelmed and pulled in a million directions? It’s a common experience and one not addressed explicitly in a many training programs. This episode’s guest, Daniel Bauer, is on to talk about a practical solution: creating the perfect principal entry plan. You will hear him discuss his framework that promises big payoffs for just a few h...

Planning for equitable accelerated learning is analogous to preparing a meal. Similar to a chef selecting the menu, gathering ingredients, and planning the occasion, educators choose aligned curricula to prioritize learning to help students internalize instruction. Straight from their new book Serving Educational Equity, Sonya Murray and Gwendolyn Turner  share with listeners how to distinguish ac...

Research repeatedly shows that educators spend a lot of time doing activities that do not connect to student outcomes. Not on purpose, but in a world with so many distractions it becomes easy to lose the North Star. In this podcast, author and consultant Lyle Kirtman implores us to shed any projects or behaviors that do not align with our goals for student outcomes. In fact, he stresses that this...

Schools need leaders, but fewer and fewer are entering into the position. And far too few are thriving once they are in the role. Two reasons: a mismatch of expectations and a lack of clarity about what the job entails. These signal that it is time to take a hard look at how we prepare aspiring leaders. Tim Cusack and Bustamante have surveyed the landscape, and share their findings in their latest...

New teaching staff, whether novice or veteran, are a central part of a successful school year. So why is it that they are often greeted at the door of our school community with the autopilot vibe of a ticket taker at the movies? In their latest book Onboarding Teachers, Fisher, Frey, Shin and Biscocho change the rules of engagement, offering activities and practical strategies that focus leaders a...

The one and only John Hattie joins LCL to share the sequel of his seminal book, Visible Learning.  It is not merely an update on previous content, but a concerted effort to focus on what we don’t already know about, along with data that has changed. He also discusses the importance of paying attention to what teachers believe about learning, the need to highlight the many schools doing the work we...

Scheduling common planning times is not just about moving some pieces around on a chart. It is also about the educators who enter these spaces and the beliefs they carry with them. In this episode Donahoo and Katz help listeners see that many decisions have both a technical and adaptive aspect to them. They ask listeners to reflect on unhelpful stories, bogus barriers, overconfidence, and other be...

Going deep into education research can feel daunting, but not when you’re listening to Tom Guskey. Sharing the highlights from his latest book, Implementing Mastery Learning, third edition, Guskey begins with a short history of mastery learning and ends with its continued relevance today.  You will hear about formative assessment, effective correctives, high-quality enrichment, how to change minds...

How much training did you get on classroom management before you became a leader or teacher? The answer is probably: not much—and we are seeing the catastrophic results.  Larry Thompson is on a mission to elevate this work, so it stands shoulder to shoulder with all we know about curriculum and instruction. He views poor behavior as a skill deficit that can be improved with strategic coaching.  Th...

Do you know how to identify the white space in your organization? No? Well not knowing could explain why some of your great ideas fail to gain traction. In this podcast, James Marshall discusses how school leaders can master successful implementation. Based on his new book Right From the Start, Marshall sets forth a pathway to get predictable results from your programming. From needs assessment st...

Joseph Johnson, an expert in urban education reform, shares what leaders in high performing urban schools do differently. He skillfully articulates that great achievement with these students is not an anomaly and, in fact, reliably occurs when certain pieces are in place. This includes making students and families feel valuable, focusing on mastery, ensuring culturally responsive teaching, progres...

If we look at the data, we can safely say women are doing the work of classroom teaching while disproportionately, men are making administrative and leadership decisions. On this episode, three school leaders discuss how to start breaking down barriers and leading the way for future generations of women leaders. This includes finding the right mentors, identifying the differences in the superinten...