Education Excellence

Kristina chats with Michelle Fleming, principal at Lake Park Elementary School in the Palm Beach School District in Florida, the 10th largest school district in the country, although the Lake Park Elementary School (which Burt Reynolds attended) is relatively small.  The school is 98 percent minority, including with 33 percent of the student body being Haitian Creole, she notes. The school has implemented iReady to overcome its literacy proficiency of only 25 percent. Now, the school is off of the state’s list of low-performing schools. According to Fleming, the iReady books and the data produced by iReady, a product of Curriculum Associates, have been a game-changer for the school. In need of funds to purchase iReady, Fleming engaged in a GoFundMe campaign — very successfully. In a Title I school, “you’re your own marketing agent,” Fleming notes. iReady really pushes students and has a wide range of offerings, she adds. This episode was sponsored by NWEA, www.nwea.org, Better Lesson, https://betterlesson.com

In Special Episode #1, Kristina chats with Sen. Tom Carper from Delaware about repurposing the GM plant in Delaware for STEM education, the importance of happiness, and why emphasizing potential in education is paramount. Sen. Carper also describes why charter schools and public school choice are important concepts. He explains why putting together a consortium of science companies, including DuPont, to develop a STEM high school called the Charter School of Delaware, which is now one of the top 10 public schools in the country, is one of the proudest moments of his career. Carper also talks about how being a Principal for a Day is a very rewarding experience for him. And you definitely want to hear Sen. Carper’s story about the rewards of mentoring.

Kristina chats with Rick Jetter, co-author of the book, Let Them Speak!, and co-founder of Pushing Boundaries about student voice, one of the “new,” “cool” terms in education. Student voice isn’t really “new,” and shouldn’t be viewed as just a “cool” buzzword, he notes. Really, Jetter says, student voice is about partnerships with students and asking them what they think about lessons, programs, or initiatives. Jetter has been collecting student narratives for years, and these narratives have become a pathway for really hearing student voices. When shared with boards of education, for example, it can lead to real-world changes in education policy, such as with anti-bullying programs. Pendergast in Arizona had created a true student discourse, and it’s making a real difference, he says. Educators work with staff all the time, so why don’t we also bring in students when making decisions, he asks, adding that such inclusion “is not treason.” The bottom line, he says, is that student voice activates happiness, wh

In this inaugural episode, host Kristina MacBury chats with Dwight Carter, a former high school principal in Central Ohio and NASSP Digital Principal of the Year. Carter, a co-author of several books on education, is currently an Effectiveness Coach for Dynamix. Carter describes his education excellence mission as doing something every day to positively impact students. In his book, Leading Schools in Disruptive Times, he explains the positivity comes from CAT (Cope, Adjust, and Transform). Carter discusses how he reacted to racist graffiti at his school—being visible and providing reassurance to his staff and students. Carter talks about Dynanix’s launch of Be GREAT Huddle, as a means to implement positivity, and which will include a private Facebook group, which you might want to consider joining. External recognition and intrinsic motivation—two extremely important concepts in education—need to be balanced, Carter notes. Other significant education excellence aphorisms: Good grades don’t always translate i