Topic: Leadership

Get More Out of Professional Learning
Convenient, high-quality professional learning is hard to come by and needed now more than ever. But the needs of learners and the demands of teaching and learning are evolving in ways not well served in traditional professional development delivery models. Sure, online access is more available but is anyone really... Read the full article >

It’s Time to Lean In—How Leaders Should Leverage Community
As a former classroom teacher, principal, assistant superintendent, and a superintendent in three very different districts on both sides of the country, I have a solid handle on typical professional development strategies we tend to employ for educators. My knowledge and experience have been my motivation to change the model... Read the full article >

Don't Lead Alone
Much has been written about the challenges teachers endured due to the disruption from COVID-19 in 2020 and 2021. Teachers deserve our praise and sympathy as they continue to navigate the impact of the dramatic instructional shift when all students were sent home in early 2020. Now teachers are confronting... Read the full article >

The Meaning of Standards
Around the turn of the twenty-first century, the focus and process of accreditation shifted from a ten-year evaluation of the accomplishments of an institution’s past decade to a forward-looking process examining what an institution is striving to accomplish in the following five years. Modern accreditation examines the current and future... Read the full article >

A Courageous Approach to School Improvement: Teacher Agency and Voice
How many school improvement initiatives have you implemented … and how strong were your results? Now is the time for leaders to look at school improvement from a new perspective of supporting teachers and invest their focus and energy into a different approach to continuous school improvement—using the power of... Read the full article >

Helping School Boards Lead
Boards of education and superintendents that operate in a cohesive manner with respect, trust, transparency, and clear communication lead as a unified team that focuses on specific goals to reach their vision, mission, and beliefs of the system. Effective school boards: Have a clear vision for the district Communicate their... Read the full article >

Cognia’s New Teacher Observation Tool Helps Teachers, Schools, and Districts Measure Learner-Centric Classrooms
But classroom observations can be challenging to implement at the school, district, and state levels. Some research on the effectiveness of classroom observation raises concern about potential bias in ratings and questions the tools’ alignment with what they purport to measure or what matters to improve learning. Equally significant, many... Read the full article >

Empowering Teachers for Online Instruction
Biggest Challenges Teachers Face Based on our experience working with schools, school districts or networks, and states, we see every day the biggest challenges teachers face. Specifically, educators find it most difficult to: Figure out how to teach students remotely in class and simultaneously support their learning at home. Many... Read the full article >

Celebrating 125 Years as a Force for School Improvement
South’s oldest continuously accredited school continues to reinvent itself through the Cognia Accreditation process Battle Ground Academy is an independent K–12 day school in Franklin, TN, the county seat of prosperous Williamson County. The co-ed, college-prep school draws students from a 30-minute radius in the Middle Tennessee region, which extends... Read the full article >

Students Speak Up! Part I: Students Reflect on Remote Learning
With an unprecedented nine out of ten students worldwide out of school due to COVID-19 [i] it is more important than ever to focus on the learners. As a mission-driven organization, Cognia™ focuses on improving educational opportunities for all students and advocates for student-centered learning. We hosted a virtual panel to gives... Read the full article >