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Collaborative Learning Teams

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Grading Reform

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Fearless Instruction

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Collaborative Learning Teams

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Collaborative Learning Teams

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Latest News

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Latest News

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Blogs

Five Skills Colleges Really Want Now

One of the most common challenges I receive when I suggest improvements in K-12 education is, “…but this won’t help them when they go to college!” The premise of this challenge is that colleges and universities remain today as they were in centuries past: institutions that rely on multiple choice tests, one-shot opportunities for success, […]
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Blogs

These Are Really Good People

Avon Avenue School in Newark, New Jersey is a magical place. Although the building is old and shows the frailties of age, the inside smells of fresh paint from the murals of the heroes children celebrate every day. But far more important than the physical structure is the spirit of the school. This K-8 school […]
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Blogs

Three No Cost, No Extra Time Things You Can Do NOW to Reduce Failures Next Semester

How much money and time have you invested in one initiative or another that was designed to improve student performance, but ultimately failed?  Here are three ways to reduce failure for your next semester.  These ideas cost nothing and take no time. First, replace automated grade calculations with teacher judgment.  Most computerized grading systems use […]
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Latest News

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  • Research Wednesday

    Research Wednesday | April 8, 2026

    Uncomplicated Grading Reform
    Contributing author: Dr. Emily Freeland

    It is not surprising that in schools and districts, significant grading reform efforts often stall. Not because educators disagree with the need to reconsider current practices, but because the work becomes burdensome and overly complicated. Issues and disagreements arise when monitoring checklists multiply in length; reporting systems grow more complex, and fairness and accuracy give way to compliance.

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  • Research Wednesday

    Research Wednesday | March 11, 2026

    The Key to Secondary School Success: Getting 9th Grade Right
    Contributing author: Dr. Douglas Reeves

    Kaaron Andrews has studied the relationship between 9th-grade student performance, graduation, and subsequent post-secondary success.  She is the Director of the Center for High School Success. When they increase on-track 9th-grade rates, they are 3-4 times more likely to graduate from high school. It is the single strongest predictor of high school success – more than race, socioeconomic status, or even 8th-grade test scores. She contends that high schools are programmed for disconnection – disconnected from their peer group and from teachers who often have 150 students with whom they struggle to have a relationship.

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  • Research Wednesday

    Research Wednesday | March 4, 2026

    Do Audiobooks Count as Reading?
    Contributing author: Dr. Douglas Reeves

    While surveys indicate that more than 40% of U.S. adults think that listening to a book should not be regarded as genuine reading, Brian Bannon, Chief Librarian of the New York Public Library, disagrees in a November 23, 2025, article.  He notes that while print circulation in the library has remained flat over the past five years, audiobook demand is up 65%.

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Research Wednesday

Jonathan Haidt’s “The Anxious Generation”

The Missing Variable in the Childhood Attention Crisis: Parents

In this challenging article from the University of Virginia, Professor Dan Willingham requires us to reconsider the vilification of electronic devices as the source of the decline in attention and focus among today’s students.

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Research Wednesday

Gloria Mark and her book “Attention Span”

This week’s evidence comes from Microsoft researcher and University of California professor Gloria Mark in her book “Attention Span”.

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Blogs

Take a Closer Look at the “Mississippi Miracle”

Mississippi educators and leaders can take justifiable pride in the progress that students have made.  Throughout the 80s and 90s, Mississippi, one of the poorest states in the Union, was a reliable last-place finisher in national education scores such as NAEP.  But in recent years, the state has led the nation in reading gains.

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Research Wednesday

Gloria Mark and her book “Attention Span”

This week’s evidence comes from Microsoft researcher and University of California professor Gloria Mark in her book “Attention Span”.

Read More
Research Wednesday

Jonathan Haidt’s “The Anxious Generation”

The Missing Variable in the Childhood Attention Crisis: Parents

In this challenging article from the University of Virginia, Professor Dan Willingham requires us to reconsider the vilification of electronic devices as the source of the decline in attention and focus among today’s students.

Read More
Blogs

Take a Closer Look at the “Mississippi Miracle”

Mississippi educators and leaders can take justifiable pride in the progress that students have made.  Throughout the 80s and 90s, Mississippi, one of the poorest states in the Union, was a reliable last-place finisher in national education scores such as NAEP.  But in recent years, the state has led the nation in reading gains.

Read More

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  • Research Wednesday

    Research Wednesday | April 8, 2026

    Uncomplicated Grading Reform
    Contributing author: Dr. Emily Freeland

    It is not surprising that in schools and districts, significant grading reform efforts often stall. Not because educators disagree with the need to reconsider current practices, but because the work becomes burdensome and overly complicated. Issues and disagreements arise when monitoring checklists multiply in length; reporting systems grow more complex, and fairness and accuracy give way to compliance.

    Read More
  • Research Wednesday

    Research Wednesday | March 11, 2026

    The Key to Secondary School Success: Getting 9th Grade Right
    Contributing author: Dr. Douglas Reeves

    Kaaron Andrews has studied the relationship between 9th-grade student performance, graduation, and subsequent post-secondary success.  She is the Director of the Center for High School Success. When they increase on-track 9th-grade rates, they are 3-4 times more likely to graduate from high school. It is the single strongest predictor of high school success – more than race, socioeconomic status, or even 8th-grade test scores. She contends that high schools are programmed for disconnection – disconnected from their peer group and from teachers who often have 150 students with whom they struggle to have a relationship.

    Read More
  • Research Wednesday

    Research Wednesday | March 4, 2026

    Do Audiobooks Count as Reading?
    Contributing author: Dr. Douglas Reeves

    While surveys indicate that more than 40% of U.S. adults think that listening to a book should not be regarded as genuine reading, Brian Bannon, Chief Librarian of the New York Public Library, disagrees in a November 23, 2025, article.  He notes that while print circulation in the library has remained flat over the past five years, audiobook demand is up 65%.

    Read More
  • Research Wednesday

    Research Wednesday | February 25, 2026

    Hope for Cynics
    Contributing author: Dr. Douglas Reeves

    In this inspiring book (Hope for Cynics: The Surprising Science of Human Goodness, 2025) by Stanford’s Jamil Zaki, there is a treasure trove of research that will help all of us who support educators and school leaders who are dealing with despair in the dark winter months and pervasive threats to our schools, students, and professional careers. Professor Zaki marshals research and keen observation to make these essential arguments.

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  • Research Wednesday

    Research Wednesday | February 18, 2026

    A Balanced and Skeptical View of AI in Schools
    Contributing author: Dr. Douglas Reeves

    In this thoughtful and evidence-rich article (February 12, 2026), the authors cite several randomized control trials (RCT) that provide mixed evidence on the use of AI in schools. My recent book, Education and the Ethics of AI, offers practical ways to avoid cheating – the principal concern of teachers – and use AI in an ethical and constructive way.  This new article notes that when students become dependent on AI, their performance actually decreases, especially when they practice with AI but are later tested without AI assistance. Moreover, while AI can assist with simple tasks, such as learning multiplication tables, it does not enhance students’ reasoning or creative thinking.

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  • Blogs

    From PLC Meetings to Instructional Reliability – What High-Reliability Organizations Teach Us About Coherent School Improvement

    Introduction: Why Look Outside Education?

    Educators are understandably cautious when lessons are drawn from outside K–12 schooling. Industry comparisons too often reduce education to efficiency, compliance, or factory-style thinking. This article makes no such claim. Instead, it begins from a different premise: schools and high-reliability organizations face the same fundamental challenge—how to help people do complex, human-centered work well, together, under conditions of variability. This article advances one central claim:

    High-reliability operating models succeed for the same reasons effective schools do—through disciplined collaboration, clarity of standards, rapid feedback, and tiered response when performance varies.

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What Our Clients Are Saying

Working with Pam and the creative leadership solution team has developed my own leadership and the leadership of our administrative team to improve the effectiveness of our PLC teams at our site. Most importantly, overall instruction has improved through this process. CLS has created a focus on strengthening individual PLC teams through focused conversations, strategic questions, and a commitment to basing what we do on evidence of learning.
Justin Woodbridge Principal Enochs High School
I just wanted to say thank you. Your support, guidance, and inspiration have meant so much throughout this journey. You’ve helped strengthen our PLCs in meaningful ways, and your presence will truly be missed.
Denise Powell Principal Modesto USD, Lakewood Elementary
Linda has been an active and consistent presence in all of our Building Leadership Team meetings, offering invaluable expertise as we work through our Fearless Grading book study. With her support, we have already made meaningful strides in our grading reform efforts, and her partnership has kept our work focused, productive, and energizing.
Jennifer Buscher Principal David Douglas High School