Blog

By Erica Wallstrom The most memorable moments in my career as an educator, the high points that I return to and reflect on, the moments where I have thought “this is it – this is learning at its best,” these moments have come from outdoor learning, education happening in nature beyond the confines of the classroom […]

As the person expected to model learning for everyone else in the building, the principal is often the loneliest learner in the school.This is why principals need safe, collective learning spaces outside their own schools – to sustain not just effective leadership, but humane leadership. A day in the life of a principal… 7:00am. The

By: Krystal Bravo Family engagement in schools is a Community Engagement priority that brings families into the school community, so families have the supports they need to ensure their students can not only succeed in their learning, but feel safe and seen in school.These practices center families, focusing on how best to support them, and

Guest post from Jessica Barajas – Learning Policy Institute Manager, Shared Learning Initiative  Grace looked into the crowd; her eyes caught the proud gaze of her mom, grandma, and siblings in the audience. As a 6th-grader, she found herself at the University of California, Irvine, for her first solo performance. Taking a breath, she waited

A sneak peek at what GSP will cover in our Virtual Book Club series on Peter Liljedahl’s Building Thinking Classrooms in Mathematics. What is a “thinking” classroom? A thinking classroom is one where students, not the teacher, are doing the intellectual heavy lifting. In a thinking classroom, students actively engage in problem-solving, discuss ideas, and

Across the country, debates about the future of public education, and the systems we use to understand and improve it, are growing louder. Yet even as oversight structures shift and long-standing data systems erode, I see something different on the ground: local leaders, educators, families, and students using data not as a checkbox or afterthought,

By: Sarah Malinoski Over the past few years, Great Schools Partnership (GSP) has had the privilege of partnering with the Ashford School District to grow teacher leadership and build sustainable professional learning communities (PLCs). Our coaching partnership focused on empowering a team of reading and math interventionists to facilitate grade-level professional learning communities, shifting the

By: Darthula Mathews, and Erin Conley Originally published in the October 2025 edition of The Connecticut Association of Boards of Education JournalEducation leaders increasingly recognize that a diverse educator workforce is not just a matter of equity; it’s a matter of impact. All students benefit when they learn from educators who reflect the diversity of the

An Interview By Darthula Mathews, Krystal Bravo, and Clyde Cole This fall, Great Schools Partnership is hosting a book club featuring “The Antiracist Roadmap to Educational Equity: A Systemwide Approach for All Stakeholders” by Dr. Avis Williams and Dr. Brenda Elliott. Ahead of the series, book club facilitators Clyde Cole, Krystal Bravo, and Darthula Mathews

By Gabriela StitelerNow more than ever, educators are asking themselves: How do we deeply engage students in their own learning? How can we keep students invested and curious about the world around them? How do we ensure that learning experiences are relevant? How do we provide multiple pathways to meet each student where they are