Horacio Sanchez, one of the nation’s most prominent experts on resiliency and applying brain science to improve school outcomes, joins me on the podcast today. Horacio shares some fascinating insights how certain elements of our school culture can impact student behavior, academic achievement, and resiliency. It’s a “behind the curtain” conversation that reveals how our actions as teachers and leaders can make a profound difference in each student’s life. 

Author, podcaster, publisher, and all-around educational leadership expert Jimmy Casas joins the show today. We discuss his journey in education, the process of creating a healthy culture in your school or district, plus lots of great ideas for school leaders. Jimmy will be the Day 1 keynote speaker at Central Kentucky EDUCON on June 10 in Richmond, KY. For more information on EDUCON, visit www.ckec.org/EDUCON. For more resources from Jimmy, visit his website at www.jimmycasas.com.

It's hiring season again, and let's face it - there is nothing more important we do as leaders. Those who hire well give the organization an unparalleled opportunity to exponentially "leap forward" to higher levels of achievement. The best leaders know how to target, recognize, and prioritize high levels of talent when considering applicants.Mike Lafavers, former superintendent of Boyle County Schools, joined the podcast a while back to to talk about the importance of searching for, prioritizing, and finding the most talented individuals during the hiring process. .

Principals matter on EdVantage! Will Parker, host of the popular national podcast Principal Matters: The School Leader’s Podcast, joins me today. Will is an author, consultant, speaker, and executive coach who leverages his expertise in school culture, leadership, and communication to equip educators with strategies for motivating students, inspiring teachers, and reaching communities. His latest book Whose Permission Are You Waiting For? An Educator‘s Guide To Doing What You Love is sure to be a favorite among district and school leaders. You can learn more about Will at www.williamdparker.com. 

Take a look at what is happening in the educational ecosystem - in our communities, state, legislature, funding, etc. It’s pretty to see that things are changing. As leaders, if we can anticipate the changes and make proactive shifts, it positions our schools and districts positively when those changes occur. This episode (and the blog post below) dig into the future of education and what we can do to be ready for it.Blog Post: https://www.davidyoungeducation.com/post/the-changing-landscape-of-education-how-schools-can-thrive-in-a-competitive-future

BALANCE is such a tough concept to understand. If we're honest, most of us struggle with it.  A big part of remedying the problem is to first become aware of the imbalance that exists. That's true of several balance points in education. We are aware of some of them - we just don't know how to address them. There are also others that we maybe haven't even considered. That's what today's episode is about - 7 balance points we should be aware of and some suggestions for how to handle them.

It's March, which begins maybe the busiest time of the year for principals! The next few months will be spent trying to end this year strong while simultaneously planning for the summer and next year.  Evaluations, scheduling, testing, and hiring are only a few of the important tasks on the "to do" list.  It can be overwhelming, but there ARE some things you can do to make it more manageable.  Today we take a close look at everything that needs to be done, along with some tips for surviving - and even thriving - during this hectic time of year.

Artificial intelligence is taking the world by storm! It is really exciting, and it seems like the possibilities are endless - but it's also moving really fast. Those of us in administration are trying to figure out how students should and shouldn’t use it in the classroom, but there is another aspect we should consider: How can we use it to make us more effective leaders? AI expert Brian Buffington joins EdVantage to take a closer look at "AI For Administrators". If you want to follow Brian's work, just click  https://briankbuffington.com/subscribe/ to join the "Buff Nuggets" newsletter or visit www.briankbuffington.com.

Effective management of student behavior might be the top issue plaguing schools. Behavior specialist Maggie Hartlage joins EdVantage today with some tools and mindsets to help both principals and teachers begin moving student behavior in a positive direction. Negative, disruptive, and/or aggressive behavior can be crippling to the learning process and can make the school feel unsafe. Couple this with the fact that the misbehaving student also isn’t learning and having his/her needs met, and this is a problem that deserves extensive time, effort, and training. We all need to feel safe in order to learn, and this episode is filled with advice on how to make it happen.

It's the time of year when principals start thinking about professional development for the summer. There's so much to do at this time of year, and it's sometimes hard to know where to begin. In today's episode, we walk through the process of designing PD sessions that matter to your teachers and the school as a whole, deciding which PD topics are the best areas of focus for your school, and delivering PD in a way that engages teachers and leads to a measurable, observable difference in all classrooms.