High schools often are the anchor of their communities. Nowhere is this more so than in rural north-central Missouri where Trenton High School is the community. Over the last 10 years, this 400-student comprehensive high school mirrored the community's economic downturn and experienced a significant increase in students living in poverty--to the…

Commitment to one another, determination to prove stereotypes wrong, and a strong belief in the power of education are the core values at San Ysidro High School in San Diego, California. The school serves 2,364 students in one of the poorest communities in the country. The community celebrates its predominately Mexican-American heritage and…

Matthew R. Willis, an assistant principal at William C. Hinkley High School in Aurora, CO, is the 2013 NASSP/Virco National Assistant Principal of the Year. In this interview with "Principal Leadership," he is asked to relate what he believes are his largest accomplishments in his role as assistant principal at William C. Hinkley. He…

Ask a room full of sixth and seventh graders at Fossil Ridge Intermediate School in St. George, UT, to name their favorite part of the day and the answer is, in unison, always the same: REAL (respect, explore, achieve, lead) Time. This 35-minute block embedded into the school's schedule three days each week provides immediate, specific…

Schools must be learning organizations, but learning does not happen automatically. Visiting classrooms, reviewing student work, collecting artifacts, and analyzing achievement data is essential to the health of a school and its ability to educate students. One of the key ways the school administrators of Pottsgrove Middle School in Pottstown,…

This article features Pierce County High School in rural southeast Georgia whose 965 students, almost half of whom are from economically disadvantaged families, have demonstrated what a focus on student learning can accomplish. In 2004, the school ranked at the bottom of the state in students passing the high school graduation tests, and only 55%…

No student has been retained at West Carter Middle School in Olive Hill, Kentucky, in the last five years. Staff members proudly point to that fact as evidence that their decision to not permit zeros is working. That's a bit misleading, because coupled with the no-zero policy were a number of programmatic initiatives and supports that allowed all…

Being an assistant principal can be difficult, but using a professional learning community (PLC) to explore and capitalize on the aspects of the job that give one energy can help. The author shares her experience in serving as an assistant principal in a suburban school district in Colorado that supports the professional learning and growth of…

This article presents an interview with Cathy Carnahan, the 2011 MetLife/NASSP National Middle Level Principal of the Year. Carnahan makes adult learning a priority to support student achievement at Duniway Middle School in McMinnville, Oregon. She describes her school as a community of learners that is a safe setting for teachers to lead and…

In the 2006-07 school year, North Brunswick High School--a rural, racially and economically diverse high school in Leland, North Carolina--was identified as a priority school by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. Overall student proficiency was at 48.6%, indicating that less than one-half of all students earned a score of…

Public schools must be the catalyst for achieving equity in education. Real equity is not simply achieving equality or about ensuring that everyone gets the same resources and receives the same instruction. Equity is about ensuring that all students get what they need to be successful. Fairness is not providing the same resources, instruction, and…

At Hoover High School in San Diego, California, the hard work of learning and refining teaching practices began and continues through professional learning communities (PLCs). The teachers and administrators see PLCs not simply as another reason to attend meetings, but as a means of engaging with their colleagues about the implementation of a…

The literacy team at Brentwood (NY) High School, a large urban high school, focused its efforts on building content-area teachers' literacy instruction skills. The team is made up of teachers from the various content areas, including physical education and art, as well as supportive administrators. The team developed a pacing guide, a monthly…

Many school leaders seek new strategies from their colleagues and education literature on how to develop and sustain a positive school culture where students feel safe and are able to reach their greatest potential in academic achievement. Leadership books focus on strategies of building professional learning communities and developing capacity…

Response to intervention (RTI) protocols at the secondary level require a systems approach that is supported by professional learning teams (PLTs). PLTs create viable courses in which most students experience success and work together to plan further interventions. PLT protocol work begins with the design of uniform summative assessments and is…