Lessons Learned for Low-Performing Schools

85 percent of school, transformation efforts being announced will fail.  This is a bold and likely perceived as a negative statement.  Well, it IS a negative statement about the results.  However, the intent of this statement is to not be negative, but rather to create a different conversation about why failure is likely imminent in this current environment of education reform. 

This is an important video that offers insight about the concept of Total Student Load (TSL). William Ouchi talked about his new book, "The Secret of TSL: The Revolutionary Discovery That Raises School Performance" (Simon & Schuster; September 1, 2009), and he responded to telephone calls and electronic communications. He suggests that TSL, or the Total Student Load, is the key to student improvement & performance in schools. Professor Ouchi participated by remote access from New York City.

When does a school leader or superintendent have time to actually think?  I read , or more accurately browse a number of news sources each day; many related to K-12 education and many sources that are not.  I am fascinated with the job of superintendent because of its enormous complexity and skill the job requires to be reasonably successful (which is relative).  This is what leads me to write this post with a declarative statement: The position of Superintendent of a school district is the most difficult job in the world. I will share why from two perspectiv

I am very concerned about the dysfunctional behavior that exists with school districts and individual schools when it comes to generating new ideas and solutions.  Brainstorming is one of the most overused terms for so-called problem solving and yet the least understood to do it effectively.

I am winding up an executive analysis with hard-core approaches on how to learn from the experiences of other Districts. The cities covered include: