To provide a glimmer of hope that what is possible in our schools is actually possible, even probable, let us back go back twenty or thirty years ago and celebrate how far we have come as an industry. Let us be reminded how much better we are now at planning rigorous lessons, inspiring higher-order questions, and requiring a greater distribution of student responses. This growth in instructional best practices is evident among our teachers, but also among our leaders. Our school principals and assistant principals are much better equipped today than ever before in observing teachers, providing meaningful feedback, reviewing academic data, and making instructional decisions around facilities, scheduling, hiring, and professional development. We have a long way to go (we always do), but don’t…
