Why do people cringe when they hear the words pop-quiz or evaluation?

Because accountability usually has consequences. As educators, we understand the importance of implementation and evaluation. On a daily basis, we teach our students, ask them to implement the skills learned, and then we evaluate their mastery. Without evaluations, there’s no way to measure progress and growth. The same goes for the school's leadership (including the board) and faculty.

If you create an evaluation process that adds value to everyone involved, you communicate your high expectations and develop a solution in the areas that need more attention. When it comes time for evaluations, your faculty wants to be confident that they are well prepared.

You can start by asking two questions:

Word-of-mouth marketing is the number one source of leads for enrollment and fundraising for every school. Expanding your network of influence is the most powerful way for you to accelerate and sustain growth. Below are a few ways to accomplish this goal.

Like so many others I was saddened to read about the death of actor/comedian Robin Williams. As a long time fan of his many characters over the years, it struck me how such a talented person struggled in so many ways. Though his bouts with depression and addiction have been written about, I was more knowledgable about the roles than the reality.

The School Growth Webinar series theme this month is Think BIG!

If you're implementing some new innovations this year, especially with technology, think about how to make this change a motivating experience for your faculty. Great teachers remain the core of any great school.

The keys to transition for teachers

As you're crafting your school design consider ways to stand out by creating a distinctive value proposition. No matter the size of your program, you can construct an effective innovation strategy that enables you to more quickly and economically offer a new combination of services in your market than the other schools around you.

Yesterday Rory McIlroy won the British Open golf tournament. It was the fulfillment of a dream he had envisioned and practiced at least 15 years ago.

Executive leaders, including school chief administrators, overwhelmingly agree that, "It's lonely at the top." According to a study conducted by Stanford University's Center for Leadership Development, over 60% of the top leaders do NOT receive outside coaching or mentorship. The twist in this survey is that nearly all of these people WANT IT!

Yesterday's School Growth Webinar focused on one of the toughest challenges for school leaders: Strategic Planning. Over the last ten days we received coaching requests from at least four schools that are trying to figure out whether they will be able to survive the upcoming school year. Changes in their local economy/market and a variety of other school design issues have put the leaders of these schools in a very difficult situation. As we've worked with schools across the globe, those that are not growing consistently exhibit similar traits.

The School Growth ISTE 2014 Conference Survey was conducted a few weeks ago in Atlanta. This was a huge demonstration of educational technology and included some cutting edge solutions that may have a big impact. Dwarfed in the size and scope of the Expo area were some very interesting tools that we think have great potential.