jack_mckay@csd49.org

Eight Must-Have Items for Every School Homepage

by RichBagin on the NSPRA Principals Newletter.

The increasing role of technology in today’s communications efforts can enhance public engagement. Students and their families rely on the accessibility of school websites. The homepage of that website offers principals an opportunity to post pertinent information in a way that meets the needs of students and their families.

Here are eight must-have items that every principal should include on their school homepage:
1. A short introduction on how to get the most out of the homepage, including shortcut commands to help get to the webpage with the specific
information that they need.
2. School calendar that includes holidays, days off, PTA meetings, fundraising events and menus with school meals.
3. Directory of phone numbers and email addresses of school staff, including the principal, teachers, counselors, secretaries and
administrative personnel.
4. Policies and procedures on issues related to attendance and discipline.
5. Emergency bulletins at the top of the page that will supersede any other information. This is where the winter weather advisories would go. It can also include situations such as the heating boiler breaking down, a notice about a Code Red or Code Blue, if there’s a suspicious person on the school campus, etc.
6. Academic content for parents and students. For students, it’s the area where they can find their grades and homework assignments. For parents, this content would include assistance to find tutors, seeing their children’s grades and course material, finding resources and seeing the contact information of their children’s teachers.
7. Student-Focused information on such as the link to the school new.spaper. _
profiles of the student of the week or month at each grade level and the list of honor roll students.
8. Principal’s Corner, where the principal can post his or her blog or
newsletter. It can also be a space to report on controversial news coverage surrounding the school and community when the principal and other district leadership would want to tell their side of the story.

HML Post Index for 2019

Date	Topic
26-Mar	Getting Real About Rural America
Standards, instructional objectives, and curriculum design: A complex relationship
How to Speak Up When It Matters
Billionaires v teachers: the Koch brothers’ plan to starve public education
The legal balancing act over public school curriculum
Rediscovering the middle school mission
Leadership for The All of It: Formalizing Teacher-Leader Networks
This 1 Interview Test Reveals a Candidate’s True Character and It Only Takes Seconds
Design and Implementation of High School Reform: Perspectives from Research and Practice
Time to Play: More State Laws Require Recess
Certain symbols no longer allowed on clothing in schools
Understanding and Addressing Principal Turnover: A Review of the Research
Post	https://conta.cc/2JNyeqF
19-Mar	It’s time to Change How We Do Business
What Linda Darling-Hammond’s Appointment Means for Education
4 Things to Do Before a Tough Conversation
A New Framework for Effective School Leaders: How Can School Boards Benefit?
Shocked by the college admissions scandal? School counselors aren’t
Self-assessment: Are your schools the epicenter of your community?
Superintendents Under Fire: The Tricky Calculus of When to Quit
The political economy of public education
Playing to Learn: How a pedagogy of play can enliven the classroom, for students of all ages
The Ripple Effects of Parents Not Using Their Vacation
The growth mindset problem
Post	https://conta.cc/2Fpp8ML
12-Mar	The Focused Leader
Strategic Planning: Is Your Board Ready?
Opening the Schoolhouse Door for Patrons: The Tour
Teenagers Say Depression and Anxiety Are Major Issues Among Their Peers
5 tips for communicating about school lockdowns
The Instructional Leader’s Most Difficult Job
The Science and Practice of Persuasion
Education Reform’s Deep Blue Hue: Are school reformers right-wingers or centrists – or neither?
When Managers Break Down Under Pressure, So Do Their Teams
The Chart: What Makes a NesSource good?
Post	https://conta.cc/2EXrbWR
5-Mar	Poor Implementation of Learner-Centered Practices: A Cautionary Tale
Measuring Teacher Effectiveness Using Value-Added Models of High School Achievement
When Am I Ever Going to Use This?
The superintendent’s 5 Priorities for the Week
Why Schools Aren’t Like a Businesses
New Survey Reveals Alaskans Rank K-12 Public School Investment as Top Priority
What They (Donald Trump, Mike Pence, and Betsy DeVos) Won’t Tell You About ‘School Choice’
The Problem With Literacy Programs
Why Our Education Funding Systems Are Derailing the American Dream
2018-19 AASA SUPERINTENDENT SALARY & BENEFITS STUDY
The Instructional Leader’s Most Difficult Job
Rebuilding public education is essential to saving America
How to Encourage Girls to Lift Each Other Up, Instead of Tearing Each Other Down
Post	https://conta.cc/2FrjgCI
26-Feb	The Other Factors That Make a Difference: Influening Test Scores
Charter Schools: Rending or Mending the Nation
How to Teach Kids abut Taboo Topics
Teachers experience more stress than other workers, study shows
Americans with higher education and income are more likely to be involved in community groups
The science and poetry in learning (and teaching) to read
When evidence-based literacy programs fail
70 Percent Jump in K-12 Homelessness Over Past Decade, With Big Implications for Academic Performance
In Thinking About America’s Education System, the Most Important Question Must Be, And How Are the Children?
To improve the curriculum, engage the whole system
Using Neuroscience to Launch a Research-Informed School ScheduleB
Post	https://conta.cc/2Fr6eVM
19-Feb	The Other Factors That Make a Difference: Influening Test Scores
Privatizing Educational Choice Consequences for Parents, Schools, and Public Policy
Time in Pursuit of Equity: Reform that Crosses Ideological Divides
Making Time for Mindfulness
Reducing Absences, Capturing Days
The Science of Learning and Development
Decoding the Teenage Brain
A New Study Reveals That This Surprising Drink Will Improve Your Judgment and Decision Making
Reducing Weapons in Schools
Connect, Then Lead
Post	https://conta.cc/2SQkX4H
12-Feb	Failing Charter Schools and a School Board’s Choice
Leveraging Digital Content to Differentiate Learning
How do schools train for a workplace that doesn’t exist yet?
Five Tricks to Maximizing Meetings
Communications E-Kit for Superintendents
The Trouble with Test-Obsessed Principals
Post	https://conta.cc/2FpoDCk
5-Feb	Worldwide, School Choice Hasn’t Improved Performance
Why It’s Time to Focus on Equity in Rural Schools
A Communications Audit
What Confidence Should Boards Give No-Confidence Votes?
The Interplay of Transformation and Strategic Planning
It’s absolutely terrible: When a charter school closes, what happens to the kids?
What’s Next for Public Education in 2019
When Overconfidence Is an Asset, and When It’s a Liability
When Competition Between Coworkers Leads to Unethical Behavior
5 Tips for Reaching Your Goals in 2019
Post	https://conta.cc/2JqkJgl
29-Jan	Leadership lessons from the boxing
Public Scholarship Is About More Than Edu-Celebrity
Personalized – Learning is Research-Based?
School Reform and Classroom Practice: Donors Reform Schooling: A Lawsuit Aimed at Civic Education
Educators as Ed-Tech Company Brand Ambassadors Raises Ethical, Policy Questions
Where Have All the Phonics Gone?
Bringing the Science of Learning Into Classrooms
5 Habits That Keep Your Brain Young
Leadership: Myths and Realities b
Dr. David Berliner, Professor Emeritus, Arizona State University
Post	https://conta.cc/2G8TjZh
22-Jan	4 Reasons Educators Use Research and 4 Reasons They Don’t
Leading Virtual Team Meetings Is About Creating Connections
Teaching: Respect but dwindling appeal
What’s Next for Public Education in 2019
How Teacher Strikes Are Exposing the Corrupt Charter School Agenda
The Cure for the PowerPoint Blues
Critical parents causing referee shortage in high school sports
School-related activities influence student equity
Teacher professionalism from the superintendent’s perspective
The Simple Power of Showing up: How small things repeated consistently turn into big things
Linda Darling Hammond, Commission of Education for the State of California
Post	https://conta.cc/2FsVTst
15-Jan	Don’t Teach Your Kid to Code. Teach Them to Communicate
Detracking: The Social Construction of Ability, Cultural Politics, and Resistance to Reform
Worldwide, School Choice Hasn’t Improved Performance
The Grand Scam: The Economy’s Turned Around But Where Is the Praise for Schools?
The Two Powerful Forces Changing College Admissions
Is This a Political Turning Point for the Teaching Profession?
4 ways to improve urban school attendance
Showing Up and Doing Well in School Should Lead to Better Opportunity But It’s Not Always True
A Personalized Learning Backlash
The Importance of Self-Care for Administrators
Tips for Welcoming Parent Volunteers Into Your Classroom
Dr. James Harvey, Executive Director of the National Superintendents Roundtable
Post	https://conta.cc/2Jqix8x
8-Jan	Education Statistics: Facts About American Schools
Why we need a new approach to teaching digital literacy
School uniforms, dress codes, and free expression: What’s the balance?
Five ways leaders can help their teachers progress
Nineteen For 2019: Choose This, NOT That, to Save Public Education in the New Year!
If you are Planning on Using PowrPoint – Some suggestions
Community Conversations for Your Board
The Liberal Arts May Not Survive the 21st Century
What worked (and didn’t) this year: 10 lessons from education research to take into 2019
Post	https://conta.cc/2Fsl8uV
1-Jan	5 Tips for Reaching Your Goals in 2019
Is the Teaching Profession Dominated by Bad Teachers?
The Science Behind Making Your Child Smarter
What Happens Next? Research into the Aftermath of the Columbine Shootings
When School Choice Means Schools choose
Teenagers’ minds improve if they stop using pot
Juuling Skyrocketed This Year. What Does It Mean for Schools?
Teaching kids an old card game helps bridge a generation gap and much more
Why Women Leaders Should Welcome the Challenge of a Difficult Employee
Juuling and Teenagers: 3 Things Principals and Teachers Need to Know
America Is Losing Its Teachers at a Record Rate
9 Things That Will Kill Your Career
Leadership: Myths and Realities b
Small-Town America Is Dying. How Can We Save It?
Post	https://conta.cc/2JtV7za

HML Post Index for 2018

Date	Topic
2-Oct

Fix Contentious Parent-Teacher Conferences in These 6 Steps
Speaking Skills Top Employer Wish Lists. But Schools Don’t Teach Them
Isn’t It Time to Improve Teacher Observations?
Is podcasting the future of education?
How Does Charter Expansion Affect School District Finances and Student Achievement?
Reimagining the School DayInnovative Schedules for Teaching and Learning
E-cigarettes becoming an epidemic in many Midstate schools
Democracy in Chains
Dr.Laurie Barron, Supterintendent of the Evergreen School District, Kalispell, MT
9-Oct	Tips to Make the Most Out of Your Next Meeting
Detailed New National Maps Show How Neighborhoods Shape Children for Life
Never, ever wing it. This is how to prepare to sound spontaneous
21 Things Every Teacher Has Heard Like 2,000,000 Times
4 important lessons our school learned about competency-based learning
No Presenter Speaks for Longer Than 10 Minutes, and the Reason Is Backed by Neuroscience
A $1 billion Gates Foundation-backed education initiative failed to help students
Science says parents of successful kids have these 11 things in common
How to Spend Less Time in Meetings (Because it’s Ruining Your Culture)
Radical Candor
When Communities Lose Their Public Schools For Good, What Happens To The Students?
State Superintendent Goes ALEC
Which kind of bold leadership?
Five Secrets to Getting Stuff Done
Dr. Eric King, Former Supterintendent of the Munice Schools, IN
16-Oct	4 Essential Things to Do Right After an Important Meeting
More school security measures: Is it a good strategy for school safety?
Can Community Organizing Improve Schools?
The future of many school libraries is anchored to makerspaces
Whatever Happened To Service Learning?
Holding middle-schoolers back causes drop-out rates to spike, studies say
How People Learn II Learners, Contexts, and Cultures
10 Mistakes to Avoid When Developing a Strategic Plan
Problems with Evidence-based Education: Side Effects in Education
Lead with transparency and integrity
Dr. Martha Bruckner, Executive Director, MOEC’s Collective Impact Project
23-Oct	The Lies Reformers Tell About Public Schools
When “the heartbeat” stops: Rural schools close as opportunity and residents flee
Communication Tips for School Administrators
During Kavanaugh Craziness, News About DeVos Gets Lost
Develop and Validate – Then ScaleLessons from the Gates Foundation’s Effective Teaching Strategy
What skills must teachers learn to teach digital-age students?
Tap Into That Grapevine To Boost Your School PR Impact
10 Easy Tricks That Will Instantly Make You a Better Conversationalist
What Happens When States Un-Standardize Tests?
The Standardized Classroom (Part 1)
Challenging, Inspiring and Preparing Students for the Future
I Want a Job and a Life’: How Principals Find Balance in All-Consuming Work
What If America Didn’t Have Public Schools?
30-Oct	Asking candidates the right questions about public education
Infographic: Facing down the problem of bullying in our schools
Examining the Myth of Accountability, High-Stakes Testing, and the Achievement
The Role of Education in Preventing Sexual Misconduct
Public schools for private gain: The declining American commitment to serving the public good
Advocates for Public Schools Have Good Reasons to Keep on Fighting Against Privatization
5 key priorities for today’s superintendents
Tensions in teacher choice and professional development
50 Ways to Boost Membership
How Can You Be Sure Someone Has True Leadership Skills? Watch for These 3 Rare Signs
Examining the Myth of Accountability, High Stakes Testing, and the Achievement Gap
3 Self-Sabotaging Ways of Speaking Which You Need to Stop Doing Right Now
The School-House Gate: Public Education, The Supreme Court, and the Battle for the American Mind
6-Nov	Leadership Habit Bad Bosses Always Fear (but Great Leaders Always
The 2018 New York Times/New York Public Library Best Illustrated Children’s Books
The School-to-Deportation Pipeline
3 Things to Do Immediately After an Argument at Work
Principals’ Working Conditions, Job Stress, and Turnover Behaviors Under NCLB Accountability Pressure
How to deal with criticism when you have thin skin
5 Things to Know About Today’s Teaching Force
How America Is Breaking Public Education
Fear Is the No.1 Destroyer of Great Teamwork and Productive Workers
Top 10 Conservative Educational and Advocacy Web Sites
Dr. Lisa Parady, Executive Director of the Alaska Council of School Administrators
13-Nov	The Backlash Against Screen Time at School
Strategies for the Privatization of Public Education
Not Just Philanthropy: For Top Charter School Backers, Political Giving Is Seen as Key
Are You a Visual or an Auditory Learner? It Doesn’t Matter
Why the History of School Reform is Essential for Policymakers, Practitioners, and Researchers
The Tapestry of American Public Education: How Can We Create a System of Schools Worth Choosing for All?
Linda Darling-Hammond Vs. Ravitch and Burris on School Choice
A History of Instructional Design and Technology
The Leader’s Guide to Corporate Culture
My students asked who I would vote for. Here’s what I told them.
Young Children in the Digital Age: A Parents Guide
New study claims Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat are linked to depression
	The Problem with Proficiency Standards
Kids Need Play and Recess. Their Mental Health May Depend on It.
Dr. Ruben Alejandro, former Superintendent of the Welesco School District, Y\|TX
20-Nov	What Does Your District Stand For?
4 Rare Signs That Instantly Prove You Are Meant to Lead People
The Key Ingredient Every Agile Company Needs Right Now
Can Superintendents Raise Test Scores?
The Future Of Learning? Well, It’s Personal
What Happens When Government Services Are Privatized
Strategies Used for the Privatization of Public Education
One Iowa school’s approach to stopping student violence, suicide, self-harm and bullying
3 Things That Women Say Yes to that Undermine their Impact at Work
Some Suggested Guidelines for School Board Presentations .
Why Schools Must Safeguard Free Speech
5 Leadership Blind Spots That Limit Your Ability to Keep Up With Change
27-Nov	Lessons for learning: How cognitive psychology informs classroom practice
The secret to speaking with confidence is mastering these 5 powerful techniques
How to Deal with Change and Turnover
Why We Misread Motives
The Beginning of the End of Snow Days
Study: Too Many Structured Activities May Hinder Children’s Executive Functioning
Cultivating a Strong Staff Culture: School and district leaders can build strong relationships
How our word choices can empower our students
Is the Corporate Reform Goliath Truly Dead?
15 unmistakable qualities of a bad manager
What Do Parents Look for?
Dr. Talisa Dixon, Supterintendent of the columbus, Ohio Schools

4-Dec	Students Say Schools Don’t Give Them Skills They Need to Succeed After Graduation
Help all students have high graduation rates like College athletes
Positive school leadership
Tap Into That Grapevine to Boost Your School PR Impact
Everything You Know About State Education Rankings Is Wrong
What Works May Hurt. Side Effects in Education.
Voice And Choice: Agency In Personalized Learning Environments
Are Companies Overselling Personalized Learning?
5 Tips for Reaching Your Goals in 2019
These are the 4 reasons you suck at public speaking (and how to fix them)
Leadership: Myths and Realities
Dr. Brent Clark, Executive Director of the Illionis School Administrtors Association

11-Dec	Lessons for learning: How cognitive psychology informs classroom practice
We Asked 105 Experts What Scares and Inspires Them Most About the Future
The big and seemingly impossible jobs of small town princiapls
The new ‘How People Learn’: Culture matters
5 Educational Concepts We Need To Eliminate In 2019
Leadership: Myths and Realities
What It Takes to Make a 4-Day School Week Work
Five Secrets of Great Leaders Who Get the Most Out of Meetings
Dr. Ember Conley, Superintendent of the Mesa Public Schools, AZ.
18-Dec	An Eye-Opening Psychology Study Found This to Be the Greatest Predictor of Happiness (Especially During the Holidays)
Strategic Planning for Bottom Line Results
Later school start times are associated with more sleep and better performance in high school students
Down With Homework, Say U.S. School Districts
Boys need better access to mental health care. Why aren’t they getting it?
The power of peer influence to address student behavioral problems
Reducing suspensions or building relationships? Reframing the problem
Is The Big Standardized Test A Big Standardized Flop?
Want to Personalize Learning? Computers Aren’t the Answer
The Superintendent’s Priorities for a Typical Week by some Outstanding (former) Superintendents
25-Dec	HML Announces 2019 Outstanding Educators Awards to three outstanding friends of public education.

It’s Time to Change How We Do Business

It’s time to Change How We Do Business by Rich Bagin in the book, Makiing and Marketing Your Schools by NSPRA.

To turn the tide in favor of public schools in this era of competition, major transformations have to be made:

1. Schools need to continue to improve, even though more indications demonstrate that we’re better than we have been and yes, we still must get better every day.

2. A transformation needs to occur in how we communicate and market our schools. what we do now is not adequate to meet the demands of battling in this new competition era. some privatized characters spend more than 255 of their total dollars on marketing, branding, and recruitment. Meanwhile, public schools spend less than 1%. so 25% to 1% is just not a fair fight.

3. The restructuring of the communications and marketing function in school districts needs more resources and additional firepower to help local schools compete against the new challenges they now face.

4. If we continue to lose students and millions of dollars a year because we can’t afford to do anything at this moment, our leadership must be held accountable for inactive before conditions get even worse of public educations.

The Focused Leader

by Daniel Goleman on the HBR site.

A primary task of leadership is to direct attention. To do so, leaders must learn to focus their own attention. When we speak about being focused, we commonly mean thinking about one thing while filtering out distractions. But a wealth of recent research in neuroscience shows that we focus in many ways, for different purposes, drawing on different neural pathways—some of which work in concert, while others tend to stand in opposition.

Grouping these modes of attention into three broad buckets—focusing on yourself, focusing on others, and focusing on the wider world—sheds new light on the practice of many essential leadership skills. Focusing inward and focusing constructively on others helps leaders cultivate the primary elements of emotional intelligence. A fuller understanding of how they focus on the wider world can improve their ability to devise strategy, innovate, and manage organizations. Continue reading The Focused Leader

Strategic Planning: Is Your Board Ready?

by Richard Mittenthal

Consider this scenario: You are a relatively new board member. At the last meeting, a long-time board member suggests it is time for a new strategic plan.

You’re intrigued and begin to silently ask yourself the following questions:

Has the organization done planning in the past and, if so, how did it turn out? Was it successful? Why or why not?
Will the organization do this on its own or might it need an outside consultant? If the latter, do we have a budget for that?
By when do we need the plan?

Continue reading Strategic Planning: Is Your Board Ready?

The Best Board Meeting I Ever Attended

What makes a board meeting great? While lots of little things can distract from a productive meeting, there are key elements that can make each board meeting great.

by Les Wallace

Here’s what it looked like:

1. Consent Agenda

The monthly meeting began online and 10 days prior to the physical meeting with the approval of the consent agenda, which included the CEO report and several updates from key staff members. Proper use of the consent agenda moves dialogue to the more vital issues rather than to the information inherent in every board packet that simply requires a read-through and consent. Continue reading The Best Board Meeting I Ever Attended

The 100 Best Leadership Quotes of All

By Lolly Daskal on the INC Magazine site.

Time Sometimes the most powerful and meaningful things come from words that touch our heart and lead us forward to our potential.

1. “Every time you have to speak, you are auditioning for leadership.” –James Humes

2. “You are not here merely to make a living. You are here in order to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world, and you impoverish yourself if you forget the errand.” —Woodrow Wilson

3.”A good leader leads the people from above them. A great leader leads the people from within them.”–M. D. Arnold

4. “Don’t follow the crowd, let the crowd follow you.” —Margaret Thatcher

5. “We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.” —Kurt Vonnegut

Continue reading The 100 Best Leadership Quotes of All

The 7 Worst Job Interview Mistakes People Make

By MAUREEN MACKEY, The Fiscal Times
You landed a job interview for a position you really want – but the hiring manager never called you back after it was over. What happened?
It could be that the chemistry wasn’t right, of course, or that the salary didn’t align – but it’s very likely you made some foolish and entirely preventable mistakes that derailed your chances.“Given how competitive it is out there, I’m appalled at some of the interview mistakes people keep making,” says Dana Manciagli, a Seattle career expert who spent a decade at Microsoft and today runs her own executive coaching business.
She and other experts say that even job candidates at the highest professional levels make mistakes – not just those at lower or mid-level ranks. In a still-tight economy with plenty of people competing for positions of all kinds, here are some of the top job interview clunkers:
Continue reading The 7 Worst Job Interview Mistakes People Make

Some Good Quotes

Some of my favorite quotes:
1. The public school is the greatest discovery made by man. Horace Mann
2. Education is best provided in schools embracing children of all religious, social, and ethnic backgrounds.   Horace Mann
3. A teacher who is attempting to teach without inspiring the pupil with a desire to learn is hammering on cold iron.   Horace Mann
4. Never look down to test the ground before taking your next step; only he who keeps his eye fixed on the far horizon will find the right road.   Dag Hammarskjold
5. You have never done enough, so long as it is still possible that you have something of value to contribute. Dag Hammarskjold.

The following are quotes offered by school superintendents:
1. Don’t mistake the edge of the rut for the horizon.

2.. You are only as good as your teaching staff.

3. Introducing myself by saying ‘I am the current superintendent of …

4. Even if you can successfully swim against an angry tide as a school leader, you will be criticized for not walking on water.

5. All will be right with the world when the military has to hold bake sales to buy bombs and schools have all the money they need.

6. A (school) Board’s perception of reality is reality; regardless of the facts.
1st Corollary: The function of the superintendent is to make reality and the facts fit as closely as possible.
2nd Corollary: Any administrator/ s tenure in a district is directly related to how close the facts and reality correlate.

7. Being a superintendent is a fine line between leading a parade and being run out of town by an unhappy mob.

8. The key to leading a public school system is hiring great people and keeping everything that might prevent them from doing their job out of the way.

9. Don’t tell me what you value, tell me what you do and I will tell you what you value.