Educational Directions Blog

Ed Directions coaches and leadership team encounter lots of educational challenges in the schools we partner with.  Read more about how to overcome some of the more common challenges that we have helped schools overcome.

December Imperatives for Teachers – Preparing for the Calibrating Period

During the Opening of School and the Formative Period of the Learner Year, teachers focused on preparing students with the ...
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December Imperatives for Academic Leaders – Preparing for the Calibrating Period

From the start of school through December, the focus for academic leaders has been the development of proficient learners. Ed ...
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The Academic Leadership Year – Part 7

Once the school leadership team has completed the data mining and goal setting parts of academic leadership, their tasks expanded ...
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The October Imperative – The Academic Leader

Years ago, teachers used to talk about the “big” learning months – September, October, January, February, and March – because ...
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The Academic Leadership Year – Part 6

The Academic Leadership Year – The July Period (Part Six) If leadership has done adequate pre-planning and provided teachers with ...
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The October Imperative – The Effect of Teachers

Years ago, teachers used to talk about the “big” learning months – September, October, January, February, and March – because ...
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The Academic Leadership Year – Part 5

Once schools know the number of students needed for success, their next step would be to identify the teachers of ...
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The Academic Leadership Year – Part 4

When working with underperforming schools, Ed Directions’ coaches always emphasize that a school cannot improve scores by setting out to ...
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The Academic Leadership Year – Part 3

In states with more detailed district and school reports, we can carry our analysis to another level. In states that ...
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The Academic Leadership Year – Part 2

Once we have established where students are expected to be as learners and performers by the time they take a ...
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The Academic Leadership Year – Part 1

There are lots of things for school leaders to do between the time students leave school to the time they ...
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Free Tools for Teachers: End of Year Unit Review

When Ed Directions was in its infancy and studying research about how adults and students learn we were intrigued by ...
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Supporting the Whole Student: Lesson Learned from a Year of COVID-19

Recently, I spoke with one of my mentee principals about the impact of the pandemic on his students’ learning and ...
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Test Prep Planning – A Self Analysis for Schools

Ed Directions continues to emphasize the importance of preparing students to work at the level of the state assessment. We’ve ...
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Taking test preparation seriously even if your state tests won’t count this year

In our planning, the Ed Directions staff looks at state standards or expectations and come up with a plan as ...
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Student Mental and Emotional Health – Part 2

In our first mental health blog we identified an abbreviated list of pandemic related conditions that could create stresses and ...
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Student Mental and Emotional Health – Part One

For the last five years or so, Ed Directions planning teams have been studying the impact of mental and emotional ...
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Become a quantum business with the Five-Legged Model of Performance

In the past, many organizations and business leaders used a reductionist view of the way things work inside their companies, ...
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What we can learn from the K-12 education pandemic response

The classroom has many lessons it can teach the boardroom. Five years ago, I wrote a series of chapters in ...
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Education During a Pandemic: Returning to Traditional School/Classroom Settings – Part Two

Recently, I wrote about a principal’s request for me to review his school re-opening plan for students in April. I ...
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Education During a Pandemic: Returning to Traditional School/Classroom Settings

Last month, a friend asked me to review his school’s plan for restarting traditional classroom learning in April. Specifically, he ...
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Covid-19, NTI, and School Data Needs Part 8 – Critical Thinking

When the Ed Directions coaches started working with schools, they were working with schools that had been identified as “in ...
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Covid-19, NTI, and School Data Needs Part 7 – Social Studies

While there are “smart student characteristics” that are common to all disciplines and all grade levels, there are some characteristics ...
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Covid-19, NTI, and School Data Needs Part 6 – Science

While there are “smart student characteristics” that are common to all disciplines and all grade levels, there are some characteristics ...
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Covid-19, NTI, and School Data Needs Part 5 – Writing

When it comes to writing, there are a number of variables that determine whether or not a student will develop ...
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Covid-19, NTI, and School Data Needs Part 4 – Reading

As we’ve discussed in past blog entries, there are smart student characteristics that are common to all disciplines and all ...
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Covid-19, NTI, and School Data Needs Part 3: Mathematics

While there are smart student characteristics that are common to all disciplines and all grade levels, there are some characteristics ...
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Assessing our NTI Performance as Educators and Evaluating Student Populations

At this point, we’re essentially two semesters deep into non-traditional instruction (NTI) as a result of Covid-19. The natural assumption ...
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Covid-19, NTI, and School Data Needs, Part 2: Grade Level Status

As schools and teachers focus on content coverage and test scores, it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that ...
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Covid-19, Non-Traditional Instruction (NTI) and School Data Needs

  In a recent discussion of how schools can address data needs with the uncertainties of off-site instruction, flexible schedules, ...
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Assessing the At Risk Population in Your School

At this early point in a normal school year, teachers and administrators are assessing the student population to identify those ...
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Unpacking a Standard in the Formative Period

Ed Directions coaches and trainers are currently presenting “Rhythm of the Learner Year – Formative Period” workshops in our partnership ...
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Virtual School – The Challenge of Keeping Students Engaged

 It comes as no surprise that one of the most challenging issues that our coaches have helped teachers with has ...
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