Brian M. Stack's School Leadership Blog

Character is perhaps the most abstract of the four National Honor Society pillars, and that perhaps makes it the most difficult to quantify and speak about. Most of us would say that we know good character when we see it. We identify with examples of strong character. Consider this situation: Four friends from out of state are passing through Kingston on their way to a vacation in the White Mountains. Their names are Jerry, Elaine, George, and Kramer. Yes, for those of you who recognize this story I am talking about the 4 main characters from the television series Seinfeld and this is the famous “final episode.” They witness a robbery in broad daylight. The robber has his hand in his pocket, and the victim shouts that the man has a gun. As soon as the robber runs away, a Kingston policeman appears on the scene; but instead of pursuing the robber, he arrests Jerry, Elaine, George, and Kramer for having violated the "Good Samaritan" law. Since the four of them spent ...

This past week, Sanborn Regional High school announced that 80 of its graduating seniors, a record number for the school, have met the requirements for the New Hampshire Scholar program. New Hampshire Scholars is a community-based program that encourages students to take a more rigorous core course of study in high school.  It is based on a partnership between local business leaders and the school district.  New Hampshire Scholars is federally-funded through the U.S. Department of Education, College Access Challenge Grant (CACG). Sanborn Regional High School has been involved with the program since 2010. The percentage of Sanborn graduates who qualify to be New Hampshire Scholars has steadily risen from 35% in 2010 to nearly 50% in 2013. In 2012, 21% of New Hampshire seniors qualified for the program, making Sanborn’s participation rate one of the highest of all New Hampshire Schools. New Hampshire Scholars Program Director Scott Power attribut...

Introduction:   Rethinking the Effectiveness of the Dog & Pony Show Model During my first three years as a high school math teacher in Massachusetts back in the early 2000’s, I had grown accustomed to having an administrator in my classroom to observe me teach a math lesson. As a new teacher I was required by district policy to be observed at least three times per year. Both my administrator and I knew how the drill worked:   We would pick a date and a class for me to be observed. We would meet in advance to talk about what I was planning to teach. During my observation I would make sure to use innovative teaching strategies or cooperative learning activities with my students. We would meet after the lesson to talk about what went well and where I could improve. The administrator would write up a narrative, I would sign it, and it would be filed away. The process would then repeat, and repeat, and repeat. Over my first three years I had nine observations. Once ...