Manage Complex Change: Keeping Your Shared Vision for Readiness in Mind
Complex change in schools is both necessary and challenging. Drawing on Mary Lippitt’s Integrated Change Management Model, this resource explores actionable strategies for managing complex change effectively in schools.
Sharing Student Stories to Bring Your School Identity to Life
Your students’ stories are already unfolding in classrooms, sports fields, extracurricular activities, and the community. How can you collect and celebrate these stories to bring your school’s mission to life? Let their voices drive your shared vision of readiness—one story at a time.
Engage in Function-Based Thinking to More Deeply Understand Students
Understanding the root cause of student behavior is essential for creating meaningful interventions. By focusing on function-based behavior, educators can uncover the purpose behind actions and respond with empathy. Examining patterns and providing targeted support empowers students to grow and thrive within a supportive school community.
Use Openers and Closers to Support Authentic Connection
Meetings that start and end with purpose don’t just feel better—they produce better outcomes. Openers and closers create a foundation of trust, engagement, and alignment, which leads to more innovative ideas, stronger relationships, and actionable results. When participants leave a meeting feeling inspired and connected, they carry that energy into their work, their relationships, and even their personal lives. It’s a ripple effect that starts with a simple but powerful choice: to invest in the moments that prime people to think differently, share openly, and connect authentically.
Encourage Feedback and Build Consensus: Use the Fist to Five Protocol to Guide Decisions
Building consensus as a school leader is crucial for fostering collaboration, trust, and shared ownership of decisions and direction. By involving stakeholders in the decision-making process, leaders create a sense of unity and alignment toward common goals, improving the chances of success for initiatives and fostering a positive, inclusive school culture.
Creating Shared Approaches: Tuning Protocol for Building Consensus
It is critical for school leaders to understand the importance of consensus building within school communities, process feedback, and effectively communicate with stakeholders throughout the decision-making processes. This protocol is designed to gather warm, cool, and cold feedback from your school community, which can be used to “tune” or adapt the decisions and approaches you move forward with.
Enticing Into Confusion
No matter our instructional, distributed, or transformational leadership strengths their value does not address the change agent’s mortal enemy, the status quo. Foot soldiers in the status quo army are the purveyors of “No!” No matter how promising an idea, the answer is always the same—no.
Open Lines of Communication: Hold Authentic Spaces to Gather Feedback and Have Brave Conversations
Open lines of communication to create brave spaces for your staff, students, and community to share their excitement, hesitations, and to crowdsource the genius in the room. These protocols support organic conversations as you navigate changes or challenges.
Resources We Love (And Hope You Will Too!)
During our May Counterpart meetings, we asked folks to share what they have been engaging with recently. Below is a list of all the resources shared by our incredible community, offering a taste of the diverse and inspiring content they’re currently exploring. This list has something for everyone: from thought-provoking articles to captivating podcasts to must-watch documentaries. So, take a peek, pick your poison, and get ready to dive into something fantastic!
Engage Your Emotional Intelligence to Improve Staff Retention
Most likely, you’ve heard or read about how employees don’t quit jobs, they quit bosses. One of the most fundamental aspects of leadership is hiring the best people and retaining them. But retention needs more than compensation, benefits, and rewards. Employees need to know and feel they are valued not only for what they bring to the team, but for who they are as people. Consider this Emotional Intelligence (EQ) Pyramid as it relates to employee retention to ensure you are a leader who not only hires talented people, but creates an inclusive and compassionate culture they want to remain a part of.
Leadership Language that Promotes Psychological Safety
Words matter. What we say and how we say it affects those around us in powerful ways. And while even with the best of intentions and practice, miscommunication and negative effects can occur, being mindful and intentional with our language can help reduce those instances. And you might just be surprised by what a positive and profound effect small, everyday phrases can have on others. Consider these 12 statements that help foster psychological safety to begin creating a safe and inclusive workplace.
Inclusive Leadership “I Believe” Statements
Much of what guides and shapes a leader is what they themselves believe to be their role and function as a leader. But how many times have you actually stopped to reflect on what you believe your job as a leader is? Consider these 5 Leadership “I Believe” Statements to begin shaping what kind of leader you want to be, what you believe your leadership should produce, and how your leadership can foster a more inclusive workplace.
7 Great Leadership Qualities
Not all great leaders are the same or lead in the same way. Educational leaders, specifically, face many different responsibilities and challenges that other leaders may not. However, there are some core qualities that transcend the time, place, and nature of leadership work. Consider these 7 Great Leadership Qualities to strengthen your own leadership skills while fostering a more inclusive workplace.
6 Types of Courage for Inclusive Workplaces
The role of educator—and educational leader—takes heart. And courage. But did you know that courage isn’t one-size-fits-all? Not only are there different types of courage, but you can also develop your own personal levels of courage through reflection and practice. Consider these 6 Types of Courage for Inclusive Workplaces to strengthen your own resolve as a leader and help model a more confident and inclusive workplace.
Meaningful Endings Inward-Outward Activity
This brief, yet powerful, closing activity not only offers a clear end to your gathering/meeting/training/activity/etc., but it provides participants the opportunity to reflect on their experience in ways they may not consciously be aware they need, but that they do nonetheless. This versatile closing activity is fantastic for students, staff, leadership teams, peer groups, etc.
Foster Student SEL Competencies: Embed SEL Explanations Into Daily Check-Ins and Student Self-Management
Embedding social and emotional learning (SEL) into instruction is a powerful way to help students connect and engage in learning. Sharing with students the WHY behind SEL content, just as we do with academic content, is critical. Self-awareness and self-management exercises are great opportunities to explain why you are checking in.
Quick & Fun Learning: Improve Literacy Skills with These 10 Games
These are some of the best writing games that require minimal or no setup time and are an excellent option for substitute teachers looking to quickly break the ice with students or English teachers just seeking fresh ideas to brighten up their lessons.
Build Unity Through Change: Engage Staff in Continuous Improvement Processes
Continuous improvement should be embedded in day-to-day work, in a systemized, organic way. You can think of the cyclical process as a formative assessment of the ideas being tested.
Become an IB World School: Primary Years Program
The IB Primary Years Program (PYP) for children aged 3-12 nurtures and develops young students as caring, active participants in a lifelong journey of learning. PYP offers an inquiry-based, transdisciplinary curriculum framework that builds conceptual understanding. It is a student-centered approach reflecting the best of educational research, thought leadership and experience derived from IB World Schools.
Become an IB World School: Middle Years Program
The International Baccalaureate® (IB) Middle Years Program (MYP) is for students aged 11-16, and is a challenging framework that encourages students to make practical connections between their studies and the real world.
Become an IB World School: Diploma Program
The International Baccalaureate® (IB) Diploma Program (DP) is for students aged 16-19. The program aims to develop students who have excellent breadth and depth of knowledge – students who flourish physically, intellectually, emotionally and ethically.
Become an IB World School: Career-Related Program
The International Baccalaureate® (IB) Career-related Program (CP) is designed for students aged 16-19. The program leads to further/higher education, apprenticeships or employment.
Well-Being in Schools: 4 Steps to Building an Approach to Well-Being in Your School
This paper is the first policy research paper in a series on student well-being in IB World Schools. In this resource, the paper provides practical guidance to schools for developing a context-specific well-being policy.
Culture at the Core: How North Valley’s Monthly Themes Reinforce Maxims to Unify the School Community
During a Crowdsource on March 18, 2023, Erik Lathen, Principal of North Valley High School in Grants Pass, Oregon, shared how he’s putting their maxims to use in every period, every day, for all students—and staff.
Supporting Your School Community: Culturally Responsive Trauma-Informed Teaching
While research has shown school-wide trauma-informed practices benefit all students, one-size-fits-all programs don’t work. Mainstream approaches to trauma-informed practices often fail to address or prevent trauma, and at worst can actually perpetuate harm. In order for trauma-informed practices to be meaningful for students—their teachers and school leaders must question whether those practices are being rolled out in a culturally responsive way.
Trauma-Informed Teaching: 8 Strategies to Fostering a Feeling of Safety
When teachers are proactive and responsive to the needs of students suffering from traumatic stress and make small changes in the classroom that foster a feeling of safety, it makes a huge difference in their ability to learn. This resource provides some examples.
5 Ways to Support Your School Community: Integrating Trauma Responsiveness Into Your MTSS Framework
During a Crowdsource Coffee on May 10, 2023, Portico coaches and school leaders discussed strategies for rethinking systems with a trauma responsive mindset. Through their combined experience, they shared examples of challenges and best practices regarding integrating trauma responsiveness into their MTSS frameworks.
5-Point Intervention Approach: Implementing PBIS with a Racial Equity Mindset
Many schools are implementing PBIS in efforts to reduce racial disproportionality in school discipline. Research shows that schools implementing PBIS with fidelity have more equitable school discipline, but eliminating disproportionality requires a specific equity focus. This resource highlights specific strategies and free Center on PBIS resources for enhancing the cultural responsiveness of PBIS systems.
Implementing PBIS: 6 Challenges and 7 Supports to Consider for Your Schoolwide Program
Effectively implementing a schoolwide PBIS system that is equitable and meets the needs of all students may feel like a fairy tale. But by understanding the barriers to successful implementation and the supports needed to overcome them, school leaders can better prepare for and modify PBIS at their sites.
Dos and Don’ts of PBIS: 10 Ways to Increase Equity and Authentic Positive Reinforcement
Instead of ditching the entire philosophy and practice of PBIS, we need to be aware of and prevent implicit biases from influencing our systems and practices.
Ditch the Clip: PBIS Alternatives to the Clip Chart
Clip charts have been a common classroom strategy for many years. Once considered an effective tool for displaying behavioral progress and adherence to classroom rules, they may not be as helpful as once thought. [These] strategies are inconsistent with a PBIS approach and, more importantly, can be harmful. [This resource from The Center on PBIS] provide[s] alternative strategies that are evidence-based and more likely to improve student behavior while promoting a safe, positive classroom.
Personalize Your Professional Development: Leadership Scope and Sequence Planning
Portico coach, Jocelyn Bigay, uses this Leadership Scope and Sequence Planning Template within her Copilot sessions to focus goals for the year and identify short term measurable goals. It allows school leaders to think through how they can work toward their yearly goals and highlight shared vision for readiness. It also helps them to backwards plan a professional learning sequence.
Planning & Assessing Continuous School Improvement: Implement the PDSA Process & Template
This Plan, Do, Study, Act/Adjust (PDSA) template is designed to help district, building, and teacher leaders connect actions taken to the direct results impacted by the actions.
Just Breathe: Teach Your Students Belly Breathing for Self-Regulation and Well-Being
Managing your feelings requires the ability to respond to strong emotions in an appropriate way. In this belly breathing for kids activity, students will learn a new strategy for how to remain calm during stressful situations.
Student Cell Phone Policy: Best Practices for Student Success
As principal of Milwaukie High School, Carmen Gelman (now Director of Professional Development, Coalition of Oregon School Administrators, COSA) worked with the school community (including students) to ensure a firm but balanced approach to student cell phone use. We share their policy and rollout materials to inspire and guide you as you consider tackling this oft contentious topic.
Student Surveys: Evaluate and Elevate Your School’s Tiers of Support
In this segment, he shares examples of how focused and meaningful student surveys can help keep MTSS efforts, programs, and vision on-track to ensure ALL students are thriving and successful.
Evaluate and Elevate Your School’s Tiers of Support
In this segment, he explains the concept and provides examples of how expansive opportunities—in addition to traditional MTSS tiers of support—ensure ALL students are thriving and successful.
The Brain-Body Connection: Adopt Cross-Curricular Approaches in Elementary PE
Teaching physical education is the only content area that educates students in all three of the learning domains – the cognitive, the affective, and the psychomotor. Incorporating literacy concepts into physical activity such as; ABC Scooter, Quarterback Scrabble, Dribble Spelling, and Password is a great way to implement cross-curricular activities.
Beyond Just Reading: Combine Project-Based Learning with Literacy
PBLWorks put together a resource with innovative and creative ways to weave PBL into Literacy programs. Below are a few ideas.
Foster Instructional Best Practices: Add Learning Walks to Your School’s Evaluation Toolkit
The Learning Walk routine is a proven and powerful tool for getting smarter about teaching and learning. For almost 25 years this research-backed practice has been used to understand core instructional work across classrooms in schools and districts.
Learning from Each Other: Use These Tools for Peer Reviews in Teaching
This peer review activity focuses on specific elements of a classroom (outlined below) and fosters encouragement and strategies for teachers given by teachers. This is a means to improve, as well as be accountable for goals. Identifying what strategies should be implemented provides a focus for teacher’s and a starting block to navigate from.
Expansive Opportunities in Action: 4 Leaders Who Developed Supports Beyond Traditional MTSS
The Inflexion Approach incorporates core elements of a multi-tiered support approach to ensure each and every student gets what they need to be ready to thrive in the 21st century. During a Crowdsource webinar on April 20, 2023, Inflexion CEO Matt Coleman shared how the framework of the Inflexion Approach helps implement MTSS with aligned instructional supports across the school for every student, every period, every day.
In this segment, he explains the concept and provides examples of how expansive opportunities—in addition to traditional MTSS tiers of support—ensure ALL students are thriving and successful.
Your Students Deserve the Best: 3 Steps to Hiring & Retaining Top Talent
During a Crowdsource Coffee on February 24, 2023, the Portico community discussed their challenges and nest practices when it comes to hiring and retaining top talent.
One Portico leader shared this 3-Step collaborative and inclusive interview process that has helped their school not only hire, but retain, the best educators for their students and community.
Magnolia High School: Growing Their Community’s Future
Magnolia High School’s agriscience community center was highlighted as a model community school that’s helping its community solve its food desert problem.
Strategies for Equitable Family Engagement: Engaging Outside of the School Building
To build trust and relationships with families, it can be helpful for school staff to engage with families in spaces or at events in which families feel comfortable. These may include family homes, community centers, churches, or cultural centers. School and district leaders may consider the following strategies for engaging outside of the school building.
Checklist for Making Your Family-Community Partnership Work
Successful family engagement requires a multi-faceted approach. This customizable checklist can help you keep track of new and continuing family engagement practices at your school.
Supporting Family Engagement: Tools & Resources to Keep Families Connected
Developing a plan for family engagement may be the first step, but sooner rather than later, you also need to ensure that there are family-friendly tools and resources provided to families to ensure equitable and meaningful access to their students’ learning.
This guide will equip you with lots of tools and resources and ideas to meaningfully and continuously engage families in their children’s learning and development.
Get Started with Community School Development
So you’re familiar with community schools. You’re interested. But getting started can feel like the hardest part. While your own school/district’s path may ultimately differ from Anaheim Union School District’s, their example can help you begin mapping out where to start.