The Best of Us

In this episode of The Best of Us , building principals Christy Whatley and Paul Offill discuss school leadership strategy for professional learning and teacher support. They give us the nitty-gritty on implementing a CHAMPS program district-wide, plus tips for consistent follow-through and using data to demonstrate the program's effectiveness. Christy and Paul also address the challenges of t...

In this episode of The Best of Us, we talk with Dr. Magdalena Ganias of Worcester Public Schools about concrete strategies to set up PD efforts for success. As Worcester’s Manager of Curriculum & Professional Learning, Magdalena is no stranger to the challenge of balancing multiple support structures like PLCs, coaching, and workshops without overwhelming teachers. She takes us through Worcest...

In this episode of The Best of Us , we’re joined by Dr. Dan Goldhaber, director of University of Washington’s Center for Education Data & Research and AIR’s Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research. Dan takes us through the hard data on predicting teacher and school success, patterns of educator improvement, and the difference that pre-service and in-service experience ca...

In this episode of The Best of Us, we sit down with Dr. Kevin McGowan, Superintendent of Brighton Central School District and longest-tenured school leader in the country. Our conversation covers the length and breadth of Kevin’s leadership, from addressing graduation rate disparities to tailored teacher PD and beyond. We also dig into the ins and outs of establishing collaborative teacher culture...

In this episode of The Best of Us ,we sit down with Dr. Alyson Lavigne and Dr. Tim Ford to cover the wide world of teacher evaluation. These two instructional leadership researchers share a wealth of knowledge about evaluation’s past, present and future, from questions of teacher motivation to the impact of Race to the Top and beyond. Research shows that much of the past decade’s carrot-and-stick...

In this episode of The Best of Us, we talk with Dr. Tequilla Brownie, CEO of The New Teacher Project, about ways to understand and address the teacher shortage as a workforce issue. Public school systems are usually among the top employers of any given town or city, yet it’s often expected for K-12 to solve its own workforce issues. Tequilla points out that teacher shortages have been an ongoing p...

In this episode of The Best of Us, we talk with education researcher and author Dr. Peter DeWitt about research-backed concepts and strategies to make professional learning better. We cover: Metacognition: teaching learners to think about their own thinking De-implementation: abandoning low-value practices to make room for impactful work Reciprocal transfer of learning: Collaborative PD that produ...

In this episode of The Best of Us, we talk with Kaya Henderson, former Chancellor of DC Public Schools, about the philosophy and tactics behind the district’s long-term plan for recruiting and retaining exceptional educators. Kaya highlights the all-too-frequent administrative disconnect between teachers' needs and the professional development they receive, and explains how replacing tradition...

In this episode of The Best of Us , Center for Black Educator Development (CBED) founder Sharif El-Mekki talks us through rebuilding the Black teacher pipeline by focusing on the teachers of tomorrow: today’s middle and high school students. The CBED focuses on advocating for policies that promote diversity, providing professional learning opportunities, and creating pathways for aspiring Black te...

In this episode of The Best of Us, Surge Institute founder Carmita Semaan takes us through the ins and outs of investing in Black, brown, and Asian talent across the education ecosystem. Carmita draws a clear line between leadership investments and exponential growth in access and opportunities for young people. She also discusses the key differences between professional development and leadership...

It’s inarguable that teachers are experts on what their students need. So how can school administrators leverage that expertise to make professional learning collaborative rather than top-down? In this episode of The Best of Us, we speak with Matt Griesinger, Assistant Principal of Northwest Education Services Career Tech and author of the recent article “How Administrators Can Make Professional L...

86% of teachers (and 80% of parents) believe that climate science needs to be taught in schools, yet fewer than 50% of teachers do — and less than one-quarter have received any professional training on climate change or how to teach it. Stephanie Sisk-Hilton, Elementary Education professor at San Francisco State University, hopes to change that. How do we teach students about climate change throug...

Heading into fall 2022, nearly 7% of teaching positions in North Dakota were unfilled. Between attracting young talent and retaining career professionals, a teacher shortage crisis in a rural state can be particularly challenging — but North Dakota's Department of Public Instruction (NDDPI) found a way. In this episode of the Best of Us, we speak with Laurie Matzke, Assistant State Superintend...

Internationally renowed education consultant Katie Novak works across the world to help education systems incorporate Universal Design for Learning (UDL) so that students are better supported and teachers have more balance. In this episode of The Best of Us , Katie shares ways in which educators can apply UDL to professional learning, and how instructional coaches can look for UDL in classrooms. W...

In 2021, Chancellor of DC Public Schools Lewis Ferebee identified sustainable leadership pipelines as a critical challenge to the district’s operations. DCPS’s teacher-leaders, assistant principals, and principals were working hard, but needed significant extra coaching to execute that work and stay in the profession. That’s when Ferrebee decided to create an office of leadership development which...

In this episode of The Best Of Us , we sat down with Dr. Karen Demoss, Executive Director of Prepared To Teach.  We started out discussing the barriers to high quality teacher preparation, the misconceptions in understanding student work, and the importance of seeing students struggle via local teacher preparation programs rather than just thinking about it in the classroom.  Karen then went on to...

How can school leaders demonstrate their belief in their teachers? What support do educators need to feel good in the day-to-day, and stay in the profession? What assumptions must change for leaders to provide effective professional learning? How can educators use their time more effectively to drive towards better performance and equity for all students? We discuss these questions and more with L...

How do you align strategy, activities and reporting for over 100 coaches across 89 schools? Where do principals fit into the success of a district-wide coaching program? How do you evaluate coaching’s impact year over year? What does a strong pipeline of instructional coach candidates look like? What are the pros and cons of instructional coaching as a pathway to district level leadership position...

What is the impact of early-career support on overall teacher retention? What considerations go into pairing veteran mentors with new-to-the-classroom mentees? How do great teacher-mentors bring out the best in their colleagues? Which supports do new teachers value most? What are the indicators that an induction program is working? We explore these topics and more with Tonya Dixon, professional le...

How has the role of the instructional coach changed in the last couple of years? What can we learn from thinking about the concept of task conflict vs. personal conflict? What can instructional coaches in the United States learn from coaches in other countries? How do we create an environment that promotes learning and not control? How do we change the dominant model of professional development fr...

Why is it important to engage school-based educators in solving the problems they face? How do we honor the expertise of our teachers, and shift the mindset from professional learning as something done to people to a shared responsibility? What are the obstacles we need to overcome to elevate school-based professional learning? We discuss these questions and more with the author of “Elevate School...