NAESP Radio- The National Association of Elementary School Principals

Our guest is widely respected across the education community for his work in turning around school culture and outcomes. He tells us that the process begins with one word. Can school performance truly pivot on three syllables?  Follow on Twitter: @APrincipalKafele @efranksnaesp @NAESP @bamradionetwork Award-winning educator Baruti Kafele is a leading keynote speaker and best-selling author. His books include Is My School Better a Better School BECAUSE I Lead It?, The Principal 50: Critical Leadership Questions for Inspiring Schoolwide Excellence, and The Teacher 50: Critical Questions for Inspiring Classroom Excellence.

Discover why physical activity should be a priority for schools principals, teachers, parents and students. Our guests explain why active schools are smarter schools and how to introduce more activity into your programs. @ActiveSchoolsUS @efranksnaesp @NAESP @bamradionetwork Charlene Burgeson is Executive Director of Active Schools, a national movement to make 60 minutes of before, during and after school physical activity the norm in our nation’s K-12 schools. Active Schools is a collective impact initiative driven by over 90 health, education and private sector partner organizations and 38,000 individuals (“champions”) affiliated with more than 23,000 schools that serve over 13 million students. Burgeson is a national leader for the promotion of children’s health and well-being through physical activity.

Volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous, welcome to the brave new world of education. Join us as we talk about the critical mindset and skills we need to adapt. Follow: @efranksnaesp @Ray_McNulty @NAESP @bamradionetwork Raymond J. McNulty is the President of the National Dropout Prevention Center (NDPC), and the Successful Practices Network SPN). He is also a Senior Fellow to the International Center for Leadership in Education. Prior to that, Ray was Dean for the School of Education at Southern New Hampshire University which Fast Company magazine named the 12th most innovative organization in the world in its World's 50 Most Innovative Companies in the world. Ray has served as Chair of the National Dropout Prevention Network and was the Chief Learning Officer for Penn Foster a global leader in online education. Ray also was a senior fellow at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Good timing is essential and our guest tells us that school leaders can apply scientific principles to make better, smarter, more effective decisions. Follow: @efranksnaesp @DanielPink @NAESP @bamradionetwork Daniel H. Pink is the author of six provocative books — including his newest, When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing, which has spent four months on the New York Times bestseller list. His other books include the long-running New York Times bestseller A Whole New Mind and the #1 New York Times bestsellers Drive and To Sell is Human.

School leaders have an important role to play in strengthening to the quality of early childhood education nationwide. Join us as we talk about what you can do to collaborate with national leaders and provide local leadership in your school. Follow: @efranksnaesp @RhianNAEYC @NAEYC @NAESP @bamradionetwork Rhian Evans Allvin is Chief Executive Officer of National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).

Why do some school leaders get so much more done than others? Our guest offers answers and a framework for executing well. Follow: @efranksnaesp @NAESP @bamradionetwork Sean Covey is a business executive, a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling author, a speaker, and innovator. He is President of FranklinCovey Education and is devoted to transforming education throughout the world through a principle-centered leadership approach.

For a myriad of reasons, support for public education is waning. Join us as we discuss what elementary school principals can do to strengthen support for public schools. Follow: @jamievol @efranksnaesp @NAESP @bamradionetwork Jamie Vollmer is president of Vollmer, Inc., a public education advocacy firm working to increase student success by raising public support for America’s schools. He is the author of Schools Cannot Do It Alone, proclaimed by the American School Board Journal as one of the “top ten books of the year,” and the writer and producer of the video series, The Great Conversation.

What is global education? How can global competencies be cultivated? Why does global competence matter? Follow: @davidb_ young @NAESP @bamradionetwork David B. Young is the CEO of Participate, whose mission is to ensure inclusive, equitable learning for all. Participate partners with schools and districts to provide leading-edge technology, comprehensive frameworks and support service that impact student outcomes by improving teacher practice through collaborative professional learning.

Our guest shares his district's plan and strategies for driving authentic educational equity. Follow: @Ddance_BCPS @NAESP @bamradionetwork As superintendent of the nation’s 25th largest school system, (Baltimore County schools) Dr. Dallas Dance oversees the instruction of more than 110,000 students and leads and manages a $1.76 billion budget, more than 21,000 employees, and 175 schools, centers, and programs. He aslo has served on President Obama's Advisory commission on Educational Excellence for African Americans.

Great principals are intentional about their process for hiring, training and supporting new teachers. Join us as we look at the best practices, and how they impact new school culture. Follow: @ToddWhitaker @NAESP @bamradionetwork Todd Whitaker is a professor of educational leadership at Indiana State University in Terre Haute, Indiana. He has written over 30 books including the national best seller, What Great Teachers Do Differently. Other titles include: Shifting The Monkey, Dealing With Difficult Teachers, What Great Principals Do Differently, Motivating & Inspiring Teachers, and Dealing With Difficult Parents.

Our guest has done compelling research and writing on the impact of emotionally intelligent leadership. In this segment, we highlight the main ideas every principal needs to know. Daniel Goleman is an internationally known psychologist who lectures frequently to professional groups, business audiences, and on college campuses. As a science journalist Goleman reported on the brain and behavioral sciences for The New York Times for many years. His 1995 book, Emotional Intelligence was on The New York Times bestseller list for a year-and-a-half, with more than 5,000,000 copies in print worldwide in 40 languages, and has been a best seller in many countries. His most recent book is Leadership: The Power of Emotional Intelligence.

Though these are challenging times to be in education, our guest provides a compelling overview of what great principals are doing to drive student success. Follow: @PedroANoguera @naesp @bamradionetwork Pedro Noguera is the Distinguished Professor of Education at the Graduate School of Education and Information Sciences at UCLA. His research focuses on the ways in which schools are influenced by social and economic conditions, as well as by demographic trends in local, regional and global contexts.  He is a nationally recognized voice on urban school reform and has written 11 books, including, "The Trouble with Black Boys" and "Excellence Through Equity".

Our guest offers an insightful and fresh perspective of the brave new world education leaders face. In this segment he draws stark comparisons between the way teaching and leading has been done and what is truly required in a world of increasing ambiguity, complexity and exciting new possibilities. Follow: @PedroANoguera @naesp @bamradionetwork Erik Wahl is an internationally recognized graffiti artist, # 1 best selling author and entrepreneur. Erik’s on-stage painting seamlessly becomes a visual metaphor to the core of his message, encouraging organizations toward profitability through innovations and superior levels of performance. A TED presenter and author, Erik’s bestselling business book UNTHINK was hailed by Forbes Magazine as THE blueprint to actionable creativity and by Fast Company Magazine as Provocative with a Purpose.

Our guest offers new data which powerfully suggests that student voice matters. In this segment we define student voice and discuss how it impacts academic motivation, absenteeism, disciplinary academic achievement graduation rates. We further explore why teacher, parent and principal voice are also essential. Twitter ID: @PrincipalMWhite @dinhulsen Dennis Inhulsen is Patterson Elementary principal in Holly, Michigan and president of the National Art Education Association. Recently, Dennis served as writing chair for the new National Voluntary Visual Arts Standards. Mark White is the elected president of the National Association of Elementary School Principals, which represents pre-K-8 educators in the United States, Canada, and overseas.

The new Visual Art Standards have been aligned to the Common Core Standards as well as the aim of ensuring that all kids are college and career ready. In this segment we summarize what every principal needs to know. Twitter ID: @PrincipalMWhite @dinhulsen Dennis Inhulsen is Patterson Elementary principal in Holly, Michigan and president of the National Art Education Association. Recently, Dennis served as writing chair for the new National Voluntary Visual Arts Standards. Mark White is the elected president of the National Association of Elementary School Principals, which represents pre-K-8 educators in the United States, Canada, and overseas.

Gail Connelly, executive director of the National Association of Elementary School Principals sits down with Secretary of Education Arne Duncan to get a national perspective and highlights from his recent bus tour. Follow: @NAESP @bamradionetwork Arne Duncan is the United States Secretary of Education. Duncan had previously served as CEO of the Chicago Public Schools.Duncan was appointed U.S. Secretary of Education by President Barack Obama and confirmed by the Senate on January 20, 2009.

Our culture tends to celebrate extroverts while often labeling introverts as shy, insecure or lacking the qualities of a successful student, effective teacher or good leader. Our guest aims to disabuse us of these ideas and offers compelling insights about, being, leading and teaching introverts. Follow: @susancain @NAESP @bamradionetwork Susan Cain is the co-founder of Quiet Revolution and the author of the award-winning New York Times bestseller QUIET: The Power of Introverts in A World That Can’t Stop Talking, which is being translated into over thirty-five languages. Cain’s book was the subject of a TIME Magazine cover story, and her writing has appeared in the The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Wall Street Journal. Her TED talk was named by Bill Gates as one of his all-time favorite talks.

Finding an appropriate and valid way to evaluate principals is a high priority as we seek greater accountability and support for education leaders. To we explore some of the directions in which our community's thinking about principal evaluations is evolving. Follow: @NAESP @bamradionetwork Joseph Murphy is the Frank W. Mayborn Chair of Education and Associate Dean at Peabody College of Education of Vanderbilt University. He has also been a faculty member at the University of Illinois and The Ohio State University, where he was the William Ray Flesher Professor of Education.

The population of English language learners is rising dramatically, but our principals and teachers are not adequately prepared to handle the increase. In this segment we discuss strategies for preparing administrators and teachers. Maureen Keithley joined the WIDA Consortium five years ago from the Kentucky Department of Education where she served as a Title III - LEP/Immigrant Consultant. Her prior experience as a mainstream teacher, ESL teacher, district Title III coordinator and at the state education agency equips Maureen to have a multi-dimensional approach when providing professional development, technical assistance and consulting to WIDA state and territories. She is a National Board Certified Teacher.

New brain research has identified the skills that must be developed at the earliest ages to provide children with a foundation for learning success. In this segment our guest discusses how principals can help teachers develop these skills in their students. Deborah Leong is the co-developer with Elena Bodrova of the Tools of the Mind PK and K program. She is Professor Emerita of Developmental Psychology at Metropolitan State University of Denver. She has written numerous books and articles on the development of make-believe play, play and executive function development, and early childhood assessment.

In this segment our guest says that before we can close the achievement gap, we need to rethink our understanding of it. Only after we truly comprehend the factors causing the gap are we prepared to think strategically about what role educators can realistically play in closing it. Freeman Hrabowski has served as President of UMBC (The University of Maryland, Baltimore County) since 1992. His research and publications focus on science and math education, with special emphasis on minority participation and performance. He was named by President Obama to chair the newly created President's Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for African Americans.

In the wake of the tragic shootings at Newtown, conducting school safety reviews can be challenging. Pressure to respond quickly and decisively can lead imprudent, costly, ineffective and unnecessary measures. We have assembled an "A -team" of leading school safety experts to help principals make smart decisions, avoid routine mistakes and determine what's over the top and what's not when making school security decisions. Michael Dorn has worked in the field of school safety for 33 years, has published 26 books on school safety. Dr. Melissa Reeves is a school psychologist and chair of our PREPaRE School Crisis Prevention and Intervention Workgroup. Gregory Thomas is former director of security of New York City Schools. Dr. Gary Mathews is Superintendent of the Newton County Schools in Covington, Georgia. Dr. Nancy Flatt Meador is the Principal of Madison Middle School.

It's now generally established that school leadership is second only to classroom instruction in improving student outcomes. In this segment we look at five key factors that ensure school principal success, how to manage them well and why these key points can make such a profound difference. Jody Spiro is The Wallace Foundation's director of education leadership. She began working at the foundation as senior program officer in 2002 where she has worked on issues of education leadership throughout the country.She is the author of the Leading Change Handbook and Leading Change Step-by-Step: Tactics, Tools, and Tales.

Much has been added to the curriculum since the first schools were established. In order to keep track of the additions, Jaime Volmer developed a decade-by-decade list of all the academic, social, and health responsibilities that have been heaped upon our schools. Listen and get a better understanding of why educating our children has become so challenging. Jamie Vollmer is president of Vollmer, Inc., a public education advocacy firm working to increase student success by raising public support for America's schools. Jamie is the author of Schools Cannot Do It Alone: Building Public Support for America's Public Schools. He is the 2010 recipient of the Learning and Liberty award presented by the National School Public Relations Association.

Our guest says that character development programs reduce bullying in schools. She offers a practical and proven eight step plan for developing character in students. Bobbi DePorter is president of Quantum Learning Network (QLN), a leading education company dedicated to engaged effective learning that has impacted the lives of over 10 million students. Author of 18 books, Bobbi is a thought leader on effective learning and youth development.

What does it take to create a dynamic and engaging classroom that causes children to want to participate and take responsibility for their own learning? Our guest says the key is to teach like your hair is on fire. Listen in as this award winning teacher explains what makes his classroom so arresting to students. Rafe Esquith has taught at Hobart Elementary School in Los Angeles for twenty-four years. He is the only teacher to have been awarded the president's National Medal of the Arts. His many other honors and awards include the American Teacher Award, Parents magazine As You Grow Award, Oprah Winfrey's Use Your Life Award TM, and People magazine's Heroes Among Us Award.

Our guest points out that educators at the grassroots are rebelling against the current use of standardized test scores. In the absence of a national retreat on standardized testing, how can principals lead the way to moving beyond educating by the numbers?

The national emphasis on improving student performance has placed significant attention of evaluating teacher efficacy. However, our guest suggests that some rethinking is required to get our teacher evaluation process on target and he discusses a promising model.

NAESP's President Ron Monson was invited to the White House to meet with President Obama on the American Jobs Act. In this segment Monson shares with us what we need to know about how this bill will impact us.

Diane Ravitch travels the nation speaking to educators and says that the depth of discouragement in the field is at an all time high and can not be overstated. Why are so many principals demoralized? More importantly how can those who feel this way recover their passion to make a difference?

School culture is critical argues Anthony Muhammad. Anthony believes that without a healthy school culture, no amount of structural change will produce positive results. In this segment we talk about the how principals can transform a toxic school culture.

Education Secretary Arne Duncan talk with NAESP's executive director Gail Connelly on the role of principals in education reform. Duncan shares his thoughts on principal evaluations, managing with limited resources and amending No Child Left Behind.

With the push for accountability in high gear and budget cuts crippling, limiting or eliminating many school arts programs, how do we engender creativity in our students? Our guests provide some guidance for schools that have a commitment to creativity and those that don't.

Leading change is perhaps one of the most challenging things that 21th century principals have to do. Our guest is the best selling author of "How to Change When Change is Hard." In this segment he applies his research to school principals struggling with being an agent of change.

Yong Zhao writes that the weakness of American education may be greatly overstated. Zhao argues that American public schools are fundamentally well positioned to produce children with the skills needed in a new world transformed by technology. We just have to unleash the talent.

Greg Mortenson has spent almost two decades traveling the world to promote community based education and literacy . Tune in and as Greg shares some of the insights he has learned from his travels.

Gail Connelly, executive director of the National Association of Elementary School Principals hosts a round table of guests to discuss how to convert lessons learned during the initial outbreak of H1N1 into a strategic readiness plan for school leaders.

New Leaders for New Schools has had 10,000 applicants for their principal development program. The program is aimed at finding the best principal candidates and giving them the training and support they need to become exceptional leaders. Find out what veteran principals can learn from the program.