Hello, I hope you are well. I was in Columbus, Ohio, last week, for the annual conference of the University Council for Educational Administration, which is a consortium of college of educations’ departments of educational leadership. I went because Jennie and I were presenting on the conceptual framework underlying our book on strategy: equity, logic, capacity and coherence. But even if I hadn’t been presenting, I would have tried to go, because it’s a small conference and I get to
Read More

Hello, I hope this finds you well. This is the weekend in the US when, for most states, the clocks go back an hour. It is, therefore, my favorite weekend of the year. Plus, I get to indulge my favorite delusion, that I will take advantage of the change in the time to start getting up earlier. It’s not going to happen, but it’s a nice idea. I have had a very busy, very stressful, but quite wonderful couple of
Read More

I hope you are doing well. Here in Connecticut, fall seems to have started later than usual—but today is a lot cooler, and the trees outside my window have all changed their colors, and so have we. As you probably know by now, the Center has changed its name to Partners for Educational Leadership. We have a new website, and if you want to learn more about the shift, you can read my colleague Richard’s letter explaining the background. And I have a
Read More

Friends, for those of you working in education, I hope that you are taking care of yourselves. Now that we have been dealing with Covid-19 for a year and a half, the extraordinary lengths to which educators are going to help their students of all ages is no longer news, but it is remarkable nonetheless. My dad brought to my attention that October 5 is World Teachers’ Day—remember, if you can read this, thank a teacher. This Coaching Letter is
Read More

Hello, I hope you are not too exhausted after the first few days of school. Everyone I know is working ridiculously hard, and is so frustrated that so many of the issues sucking so much of their time have nothing to do with teaching and learning. So this is a reminder to pay attention to your breathing, look into the middle distance every so often, get up and move at least a couple of times an hour (ha! I wish!),
Read More

Friends, I hope you are doing well. I cannot believe that it is the beginning of September; this summer has gone by incredibly quickly. It has been a while since the last Coaching Letter, not because I haven’t had anything to write about, but because so few people read the last one. And it was a really good one, too, on Perceived Self-Efficacy, so here it is if you missed it. And in case the anticipation has been driving you
Read More

Hello, I hope this finds you well. I just saw the obituary in The New York Times of Albert Bandura, the psychologist whose work on perceived self-efficacy I employ all the time. I never met him, but I’ve read his book on self-efficacy and many of his papers, and I admired his writing, so I was sad to learn that he has died. May his memory be a blessing. The obituary devotes most of its portrayal of Professor Bandura to
Read More

Hello, I hope you are doing well. Today was a big day for two reasons. One, it looks like England is dropping the quarantine requirements for international travelers from “amber” countries, which means that I’ll be able to visit my sister and father next month. Two, it was the first day of HQI Live! In Milford—the orientation day for the participating adults; the student participants start on Monday. And much as I am tempted to write about the first, I’m
Read More

Hello, I hope this finds you well. If there is your first issue of The Coaching Letter, welcome. You can find all previous issues here. I am currently in Seattle, where it is pleasantly cool—but it wasn’t earlier in the week, when it was in high 90s and low 100s. That wasn’t the plan when I booked the flights. So I’ve been participating in the third iteration of the Acceleration Workshop from the very beautiful back garden of the house
Read More

Good evening, I hope this finds you well. Only a few days left in this school year, so congratulations on making it through the most challenging school year ever! Now you know you can do ANYTHING! I wrote in the last Coaching Letter about some of the work I’ve been doing to prepare for the Acceleration NIC that launches in a couple of weeks. This CL is also about that work, although it is also a stand-alone piece, and actually
Read More