As the year draws to a close, here are the top 10 posts that readers on the District Dossier blog found most engaging.
1. Traits of Top Principals: Q & A with New Leaders’ Benjamin Fenton
Our most-read post this year was an interview with Benjamin Fenton, the co-founder of New Leaders, on the release of a new book that examined the common characteristics of high-performing principals. New Leaders trains principals and other school leaders to work in high-poverty schools. (Fenton left New Leaders this year.)
2. Graduation Rates Rise; Gap Between Black and White Males Grows, Report Says
This post from 2015, based on a Schott Foundation report on the increase in graduation rates for black and Hispanic males along with a widening of the graduation gap between black male students and their white peers, continued to draw readers this year. The report also highlighted districts that were making strides in shrinking the graduation gap.
3. School Superintendents Think Parents Just Don’t Understand, Gallup Poll Finds
In a January poll from Gallup, fewer than one-third of superintendents surveyed said they thought parents had a solid understanding of the district’s academic model and curriculum. Only 16 percent said they thought parents understood state accountability systems.
4. Universities Chosen for $47 Million Overhaul of Principal Preparation
Seven universities will work with select districts, state education agencies (or credentialing commissions), and a principal-training program as part of this Wallace Foundation initiative to revamp how principals are prepared.
5. School Districts Need To Be More Strategic About School Leadership Roles
In the past decade or so school districts have added more personnel in schools to help principals and teachers, including assistant principals, teacher-leaders, and instructional coaches. But districts have often added extra staff without a lot of thought to how they would work together. A January report from Bain & Company dug into this phenomenon and argued that districts needed to be more strategic about how they deployed those individuals in schools in order to achieve maximum results.
6. Pennsylvania Top Court Says Philadelphia Can’t Cancel Teachers’ Contract
Facing severe financial constraints in 2014, the Philadelphia School Reform Commission abruptly voted to cancel the teacher’s union contract and make changes to the union members’ health benefits. The Philadelphia Federation of Teachers sued. In August, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court said the School Reform Commission (the equivalent of the school board) overstepped and that it cannot unilaterally cancel collective bargaining agreements with its teachers. The PFT contract expired in 2013, and the two sides have been negotiating since.
7. Black Lives Matter Activist Appointed to Baltimore Schools Cabinet
New Baltimore City Schools Chief Sonja Santelises appointed DeRay McKesson, a prominent member of the Black Lives Matter movement, as the district’s interim chief human capital officer.
8. Cost of School Supplies Could Hit Families Hard This School Year, Survey Finds
This is another story from 2015 that resonated with readers this year. According to the 2015 survey by Huntington Bank, parents of an elementary school child expected to pay $649 to get that student ready for school in the 2015-16 school year, an increase of 1 percent over 2014.
9. New York City Will End Suspensions for Students in K-2
The nation’s largest school system announced in July that it will join a number of other districts across the country that had ended suspensions for their youngest students. New York City officials said that instead of suspending students in kindergarten through 2nd grade, they will instead employ alternative, “age-appropriate” discipline methods. The teachers’ union, the United Federation of Teachers, pushed back against the proposal saying that it could lead to disruptive classrooms.
10. Ohio Educator Named 2016 National Superintendent of the Year
Thomas Tucker, the superintendent of Princeton City schools in Cincinnati, was selected from a field of four finalists for the award given by the AASA, the School Superintendents Association.
Image: Benjamin Fenton, co-founder of New Leaders. Image courtesy Benjamin Fenton.