Above the Line: Not a Level Playing Field
Johnson County Central has eighteen first graders. On a staffing sheet that looks like one class. Jon Rothers may still split it into two. When more than half a roster carries poverty, language, or special-education needs at once, 'small' stops meaning what the number says.
Above the Line: A Framework Too Big
Jason Kjos's problem with Marzano was not the ideas. It was the size. At Menahga, the framework can stay big, but the next step a teacher is asked to take cannot.
Above the Line: The Visit Has to Go Somewhere
DeSmet School in Montana was 638th out of 649 districts when Matt Driessen arrived. He rebuilt it from the board and community up, then made classroom visits the engine of feedback. His version of the walkthrough is plain enough to miss: one thing, try it, I'll come back.
Above the Line: Evidence-Backed Feedback
In a small Arkansas district, a leader trusts his read on classrooms. He also wants more behind it. Palestine-Wheatley is building a disciplined system where learning-walk notes, formal evaluations, value-added measures, and attendance converge so teacher support rests on evidence, not instinct.
Above the Line: The Table She Asked For
A child cried at dinner because no one waited to eat together, the way her class does at lunch. At Alief Montessori, independence is taught by arranging the room so the habit gets practiced again and again.
Above the Line: Greensburg Lets Students Teach the Adults
I went to Greensburg, Indiana looking for teacher coaching. Superintendent Tom Hunter kept pointing at the children. The throughline: invest in students, then let their success teach the adults.
Above the Line: An Introduction
An interactive look at which schools outperform what their poverty rate would predict in third-grade reading. Each dot is a school; the schools above the line are doing something worth studying.