This post is adapted from an email originally shared on October 27, 2023. If you would like to receive future emails, you can sign up here. I started Instruction Partners because of a recurring set of experiences I had as Assistant Commissioner of Curriculum and Instruction in Tennessee. After I…

This post is adapted from an email originally shared on June 30, 2023. If you would like to receive future emails, you can sign up here. When this school year ended, I asked my son to reflect on 1st grade. His teacher featured prominently in almost every story. What was…

This post is adapted from an email originally shared on April 28, 2023. If you would like to receive future emails, you can sign up here. Every leader of a state or school system I know regularly gets asked the question, “how do all of the things we are doing…

This post was originally shared in an email on March 17, 2023, and was republished by the Fordham Institute. If you would like to receive future emails, you can sign up here. When I started Instruction Partners and began working deeply and regularly with multiple school systems, I was surprised…

This post is adapted from an email originally shared on February 3, 2023. If you would like to receive future emails, you can sign up here. As an instructional nerd, I love how much attention reading instruction is getting. I love journalism that wades deeply into the merits of particular…

When I had my first child, I was overwhelmed by the job of getting him from infancy to adulthood. A friend offered a focusing goal: be the best parent you can be for a year. When his first birthday rolled around, I asked her, “what do I do now?” …

This post is adapted from an email originally shared on September 30, 2022. If you would like to receive future emails, you can sign up here. Recently, I’ve had a number of conversations about the role of the principal. We all know that principals matter immensely to student learning and…

This post is adapted from an email originally shared on August 26, 2022. If you would like to receive future emails, you can sign up here. The 2022–23 school year is several weeks underway in parts of the country and about to begin in others. After three years of instability…

This post is adapted from an email originally shared on June 3, 2022. If you would like to receive future emails, you can sign up here. I cannot find words to process the tragedies in Buffalo and Uvalde or the many shootings since. I will not try to in this…