Leaders Coaching Leaders

In this episode, host Peter DeWitt sits in the hot seat to talk about his new book, Collective Leader Efficacy . Much has been written about the power of teachers' collective efficacy to impact student learning - but Peter has found that collective efficacy can enhance the role of instructional leadership teams as well. In this episode, Peter shares the 8 drivers that instructional leadership...

Daniel Bauer, self-proclaimed Ruckus Maker and host of the Better Leaders Better Schools podcast, is all about improving leadership development through masterminds: small groups of school leaders coming together to support each other and "level up" their leadership. Danny quotes Jim Rohn in saying that you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with, and argues that t...

To prioritize all students' dignity as humans sometimes requires us to step outside of our comfort zones. In order to achieve racial equity, we have to interrogate and dismantle the structures that currently maintain the inequitable status quo. This is messy, uncomfortable work - and yet it's entirely necessary to accomplishing our goals. In this episode, the six authors of Humanity Over...

Author, speaker, and expert mentor Carol Radford shares her expertise on why mentoring continues to be an important element of any teacher's success - but especially for new teachers after COVID-19.  Mentoring is key to raising teachers' self-efficacy, helping them improve, and building their confidence to lead to competence. Carol's work also centers the student as the focus of any...

Power house speaker and author Debbie Silver joins Peter DeWitt to talk about the importance of reaching students with authenticity and empowering them with high expectations. Debbie is a well known speaker on resilience and cultivating intrinsic motivation - and never has there been a time when those are needed more! She shares how leaders can help to recognize the genius in all of their teachers...

In our first episode of Season 2, John Hattie joins Peter DeWitt to talk about the benefits of de-implementation, or deciding what NOT to do in the 2021-2022 school year. After COVID-19 forced many school districts to simplify, the temptation is to pick up again with lots of new programs to combat "learning loss" and other initiatives. John argues that leaders and teachers must take a di...

COVID-19 was the disruption none of us wanted or expected - but it happened. Now school leaders have a choice: Will you contribute to the negative narratives surrounding it, or rebound better than before? In this informative and practical episode, Peter talks with Doug Fisher and Nancy Frey about shifting the narrative from "learning loss" to "learning leaps." There are several...

Grading in the U.S. is typically a hodge podge amalgamation of many measurements: homework, quizzes, tests, projects, participation, and many other factors. Grading often becomes a game for many students, and some students simply refuse to play. But author Tom Guskey is hoping we can change our grading practices so that we (and students) no longer see grading as an end in itself, but instead as ju...

Memorization is not enough; applying what you know to new and novel situations is a necessary skill for all students today. This skill is called learning transfer, and it's the topic of today's episode with author Julie Stern. Julie talks about the importance of how teaching conceptual understanding can be a powerful way to engage students not only in learning, but in processing their ow...

Collective efficacy has become a buzzword in recent years - with accompanying misunderstandings, misapplications, and criticisms. In this de-mystifying and debunking episode, Peter DeWitt talks with collective efficacy experts Megan Tschannen-Moran (author of Evocative Coaching ) and Jenni Donohoo (author of Leading Collective Efficacy ). The authors clarify that collective efficacy  is about our...

John & Jessica Hannigan, authors of SEL From a Distance, speak from their own experience about how important social-emotional learning (SEL) is for students, teachers, and school leaders. SEL is not something that comes to any of us naturally; the skills to take care of ourselves must be taught explicitly. The authors share how to do that from a distance (i.e. online in virtual teaching), as w...

After publishing a 2011 paper on the four wrong drivers of school system reform, Michael Fullan sits down with Peter DeWitt to talk about the new right drivers that bring whole system success: wellbeing, social intelligence, equality investments, and systemness. School and system leaders can use these four drivers to focus on the right priorities as schools recover from COVID-19 and seek to accele...

After distance learning in 2020, schools have an opportunity to engage multilingual learners and their families in a whole new way - or maybe even for the first time. In this episode, Peter DeWitt talks with Debbie Zacarian, Margarita Calderon, and Margo Gottlieb, the authors of Beyond Crises , about how school leaders can reach this population of students and families. The authors share practical...

We live in an age of hyperchange - with disruptions piling on top of each other. In our first episode of Leaders Coaching Leaders, award-winning principal Dwight Carter shares how school leaders can maintain positivity in the midst of accelerating changes - and even learn to embrace them. Not all disruptions are negative - some are actually necessary for growth. In his new book, co-authored with M...

We live in an age of hyperchange - with disruptions piling on top of each other. In our first episode of Leaders Coaching Leaders, award-winning principal Dwight Carter shares how school leaders can maintain positivity in the midst of accelerating changes - and even learn to embrace them. Not all disruptions are negative - some are actually necessary for growth. In his new book, co-authored with M...

In this episode, Peter talks with Candace Raskin and Melissa Krull, authors of Principal Leadership for Racial Equity: A Field Guide for Developing Racial Consciousness . They discuss why there is resistance to "doing what's right for students," and how school leaders can start to break down or go around that resistance. They stress the importance of developing our racial consciousn...

School leaders often make decisions to help their students and staff - but when it comes to investing in themselves, they are notoriously negligent. This is a big mistake, as James Bailey and Randy Weiner, authors of The Daily SEL Leader , point out. Social-emotional learning is personal work, and school leaders have to be willing to engage in the work themselves before they can lead others in doi...