The Saint Mary's University first-year student success program was developed by its strategic enrollment management (SEM) group to enhance support for first-year students. As an integrated program that implements student success modules into the first-year core curriculum, this initiative has proven to be effective in enhancing student engagement…

In order to further understand what educators can do - and are doing - to build strong relationships, Transforming Education (TransformEd) has produced a series of briefs or "stories from the field" that are intended to share student and educator perspectives about developing and sustaining strong relationships within the classroom and…

This article focuses on techniques used in professional development to strengthen the community of faculty in FYE courses, while aiming at improving the classroom experience for today's learners, specifically those related to providing content, building community, and strengthening understanding. To provide a solid foundation, creating a course…

Colorblindness is socially acceptable bias that lives in our personal and institutional beliefs. Its existence inhibits our ability to recognize and respond to the realities of the lives of students of color. The author outlines several activities that educators can use to surface beliefs about race during staff meetings and the like.

In the everydayness of faculty meetings, collegial conversations mirror distinctive dynamics and practices, which either enhance or undercut organizational effectiveness. A cluster of conversational practices affect how colleagues connect, engage, interact, and influence others during faculty meetings in diverse educational settings. The…

Make your school soar by escalating trust between teachers, students, and families. Trust is an essential element in all healthy relationships, and the relationships that exist in your school are no different. How can your school leaders or teachers cultivate trust? How can your institution maintain trust once it is established? These are the…

Like many school districts across the nation, Solon (Ohio) City Schools is committed to improving the quality and depth of student learning while simultaneously fostering the growth of leadership in the district. To achieve these goals, the district is investing in sustained professional learning designed to build leadership among faculty and to…

A literacy coach describes the various components of her work and how they combine to help teachers provide more effective literacy instruction. Walk-throughs, literacy team meetings, formal coaching, professional learning communities, and regular meetings with the principal enable her to understand what teachers need and then assist teachers in…

Monthly meetings and a peer-observation program help novice teachers overcome isolation and practice new skills that support improved student learning. Peer observation is not without its difficulties. Above all else, the point of the program is to make teachers more comfortable observing, sharing instructional ideas, and learning from one…

Consensus-based decision making can turn faculty meetings into meaningful and productive work sessions in which faculty members know that their input is respected and valued and important decisions are made. Reaching consensus has different meanings in different contexts. Decisions are made "by consensus" when the decision affects the entire…

As every principal knows, working with parents can be very stressful and many teachers do not have the experience or the skill to work with them effectively. Principals must train their teachers to ensure that they have the know-how to conduct successful parent-teacher conferences. These skills can be developed one-on-one or in a staff development…

This comprehensive and practical handbook offers research-based tools to help you fulfill all of your leadership responsibilities on time and with laser-like focus. The authors also share tips from their combined experiences as elementary, middle, and high school principals. This book provides examples of best practices from the business and…

This case describes how Hannah, a new math specialist, strives to create a positive math culture in her elementary school. Along the way, she works to build relationships with the teachers and the school principal. The accompanying teaching notes facilitate analysis of the case from the perspective of professional relationships in schools.

In this article an alternative interpretation of the functions of decision-making and the inherent activities at teachers' meetings at schools are presented. The metaphor of "play" is introduced in order to make the teachers' actions during decision-making comprehensible, not only for outsiders, but more importantly for "involved insiders", such…

Creating a culture of inquiry rather than continuing to work in a culture of isolation represents a significant change within schools that must be supported. In this article, the author presents and discusses a well-constructed agenda template which shows topic, purpose, guiding questions, and background or process. He states that an agenda…