Published Commentary

• The Missing Seat at the Cabinet Table: Why School Districts in Crisis Need a Chief of Staff
  “The coordination problem described here is one that MAT leadership in England is grappling with equally, as the functional silos between curriculum, finance, HR and estates routinely undermine the integrated thinking that sustainable improvement actually requires.” — @smartcurriculumnetwork
• The K-12 Crisis: It’s Not Just Leadership – It’s Also About Weak Controls
• What’s Next, If School Districts Fail to Resolve the Complex Crisis They Face? Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst is still good advice.
• School District Financial Distress, Part 1: Treat the Real Problem, Not Its Symptoms
• School District Financial Distress, Part 2: District Consolidation
• School District Financial Distress, Part 3: District Takeovers and Turnarounds
• School District Financial Distress, Part 4: Should You File for Chapter 9 Bankruptcy?
• Lilypad Dynamics and the K-12 Crisis
• For Districts Facing Financial Crises, Board Governance is Critical … And too often it falls short.
• A Response to “High Turnover with Low Accountability: Local School Board Elections in 16 States,” by Vladimir Kogan, et al What are the possible underlying root causes of poor board performance?
• Faced with an Unprecedented Crisis, Many Districts are Focusing on Their Strategy… But What Does That Mean?
• Risk Oversight is Too Often Neglected by School Boards The contrast with corporate boards will surprise you.
• Painful Lessons from Closing 23 Schools … and how to avoid them in your district.
• It’s Time for School Districts to Take a Different Approach to Cost Management
• School District Management in a High Choice Environment
• CTE and WBL are Critical for Closing America’s Talent Gaps. Why Aren’t They Meeting Their Goals? Challenges school districts must meet.
• Key Elements in Alberta’s Coherent, High-Performing K-12 Education System Could we replicate it in the United States?
• How Superintendents Can Successfully Meet the Complex General Management Challenge They Face Today

See the full archive on Substack →