Principal Matters: The School Leader's Podcast with William D. Parker

Updates for Principal Matters Listeners New Website Hi, Friends. Will Parker here. I want to share a few updates before today’s show. First of all, Principal Matters has a new website. For 10 years, I have been using the same website, and this week we are excited to launch a new place where you can find all the previous podcasts and blog posts, links to my books, as well as offerings and services...

Hi, Friends. Will Parker here. I am sharing this bonus episode to inform Principal Matters listeners about some new updates. First of all, we have a new website. For 10 years, I have been using the same website, and this week we are excited to launch a new place where you can find all the previous podcasts and blog posts, links to my books, as well as offerings and services like the Principal Matt...

Timothy Alexander, a faith-driven leader from Birmingham, Alabama, has become a symbol of resilience and inspiration. Ranked the #8 high school football player in the state during his time at Erwin High School, his life was dramatically altered by a car accident in 2006 that left him paralyzed from the neck down. Despite the incident, Timothy pursued his education at Wallace State Community Colleg...

A few thoughts from Will before this week’s show: Hi, Friends. Will Parker here. A few remarks before we jump into today’s episode. First, many of you know Principal Matters is now my full-time venture. Beyond my collaborations with districts across the U.S., I’m thrilled to introduce the Principal Matters Grow Academy, tailor-made for dedicated listeners who want to develop capacity as decision-m...

Frederick Buskey lives in Cullowhee, North Carolina, and helps assistant principals live and lead better by teaching them how to escape the black hole of urgency. Building on 32 years of K-12 and higher education leadership experience, Dr. Buskey provides simple frameworks and tools to help school leaders spend less time putting out fires and invest more time in growing teachers. Dr. Buskey hosts...

In this episode, host Will Parker prompts guest Jen Schwanke with seven thought-provoking questions derived from the book, The Coaching Habit: Say Less, Ask More & Change the Way You Lead Forever by Michael Bungay Stanier. This reflective dialogue aims to explore leadership challenges and ways to overcome them. Buy the book here . Question Overview: The Kickstart Question: What’s on your...

On this week’s episode, we tackle listener queries about leadership and resource allocation. Jen Schwanke shares an enlightening conversation with a principal from a small, rural school in Iowa about how best to utilize allocated funding for a new staff position. Biggest Time Usage and Strengths: Jen discusses the principal’s most significant time usage and strengths, and his decision...

In this episode, Jen Schwanke shares insights from a new Quick Reference Guide she authored for ASCD on Teacher Observation and Feedback. You can find the resource here . As the author of this new guide, Jen explains why she chose to focus on growth, positivity and relationship building as motivations for better observation feedback. As she says, “Our goal should be helping teachers see where they...

When Brent Kline, Principal of Palo Alto High School, led me into the doorway of the original campus two-story tower building, erected in 1918, I was wearing a hard hat. We stepped carefully through as a construction engineer explained the work being done. For the past year, the offices and services housed in the two-story, 23,000 square feet building had been moved to portals and other locations...

This week Jen Schwanke joins me as we talk about research on trends among students. As always, Jen’s feedback on this discussion adds so much value to how you apply practical responses to the real-life scenarios educators encounter when serving students – especially those struggling with anxiety or other emotional challenges connected to emerging technologies. Listen-in to the entire convers...

Bryan Miltenberg is the proud principal of Aquebogue Elementary School in Riverhead, New York. He’s been a teacher, dean, and middle school assistant principal, and has presented and published on topics including school climate and culture, instructional technology, self-aware leadership, inclusivity, time management, and co-teaching partnerships. Against all logic, he remains a suffering li...

Jarrod J. Johnson is currently the Superintendent of Drummond Public Schools, as well as an adjunct professor at Northwestern Oklahoma State University.  With his experience as a classroom teacher, principal, athletic director, transportation director and now superintendent, he has a unique perspective that allows him to look at any school issue from multiple viewpoints. Although he pours his...

This week Jen Schwanke joins me as we explore what happens when we lose focus on the important goals and outcomes involved in serving others.  Listen in for more context and takeaways as Jen and both reflect on what happens when leaders lose focus on the mission and vision of their service. Below I’m also including a companion post with the story and lessons I shared with Jen about recently g...

Robyn Hamasaki is the Managing Director of Leadership Development with the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP). Previously, she served as School Leadership Development Specialist for the Colorado Department of Education, where she developed the state’s first Principal’s Leadership Institute. She is a former principal at the elementary and PK-8 levels, and was a teacher for...

Last week, we met Carlene Thomas. This week, she returns to answer more questions from school leaders searching for solutions for Multilingual Learners. Carlene Thomas is the CEO and founder of an educational consulting company that advocates for equity for multilingual learners (MLs) and specializes in support for bilingual education and English as a second language (ESL) programs. Carlene also c...

Carlene Thomas is the CEO and founder of an educational consulting company that advocates for equity for multilingual learners (MLs) and specializes in support for bilingual education and English as a second language (ESL) programs. Carlene also currently serves on the executive board for the National Association for English Learner Program Administrators (NAELPA), coordinating with other states a...

This week we answer a question from a listener who says: “I’m an assistant principal with four years of experience. This has truly been a rough year and tough four years at my school. I know God is using this experience to prepare me for what’s coming, but I am exhausted mentally, physically, and emotionally. I am being pulled in so many directions trying to help and support everyone, and it...

Brooke McQuerrey Tuttle serves as the Director of the Center for Family Resilience at Oklahoma State University. The mission of the Center for Family Resilience is to strengthen university and community capacity to prevent risk and promote resilience for individuals and families across Oklahoma by connecting research and practice. In her role at the Center, Brooke leads community-based research an...

Dr. Nick Davies, Ph. D., is an elementary associate principal for Vancouver Public Schools and an adjunct Faculty Member at Pacific University. He has a Ph. D. in Education and Leadership and wrote his dissertation on Curriculum Implementation. Nick has previously held roles as a high school associate principal/athletic director and was a high school math teacher and head track and field coach. He...

Cissy Goodridge is passionate about the Middle Years and the Performing Arts. She has taught instrumental (band) and vocal music for 30 years in both single-sex and co-ed independent schools in Toronto, Oakville, and in Melbourne, Australia. Cissy holds a Bachelor of Musical Arts in Music Ed from Western University and a Masters in Education from the University of Victoria. She has worked with stu...

Dr. Scott Beck is an educator with 24 years of experience as a teacher, coach, assistant principal, head high school principal, central office administrator, and adjunct professor at the University of Oklahoma. He became a proud National Board certified social studies teacher in 2008 and was selected as the 2019 Oklahoma Secondary Principal of the Year. Scott currently serves in the capacity of Em...

This week Jen Schwanke and Will Parker share updates from their work, travels and lives. They talk about Will’s dad who passed away recently, and they share updates (including changes from last week’s announcements) on the professional development each of them is participating in over the summer. In addition, they share lessons related to the three R’s from Dr. Bill Daggett, the founder of the Int...

This week’s discussion topic came to us in a question from a listener: As a prospective administrator (and someone who is coming from an elementary music background) what should I know about the RTI process and more specifically what should an assistant principal know about the RTI process? How would an AP go about overseeing this process/leveraging teachers/staff/teacher leaders etc. t...

Helen Kelly is an author, speaker, consultant, coach and researcher in the field of school wellbeing and culture. She was a principal in international schools in Asia and Europe for 15 years and has been conducting research in the field of principal and teacher wellbeing for almost a decade. Prior to becoming a teacher, she spent ten years as a lawyer in the field of workplace health and safety. F...

Pete Dunlap lives in beautiful Dayton, Ohio. His 15 years in education includes being a junior high teacher, Principal and CEO of Catholic Central School, in Springfield, Ohio, and High School Assistant Principal at Lehman Catholic School in Sydney, Ohio.  It was as an assistant principal that Pete began developing his ideas for better ways to publish learning materials. He retired from schoo...