Solutions 4 Education Inc.

World-class schools do not exist without #PrincipalExcellence and on this special day, we celebrate those school leaders who strive to exhibit such!

Executive and aspiring school leaders do not have the 🕰️ or energy to read everything in search of the good stuff. Our Library Pro Tips are released monthly at s4e.pro/L where we share the best of what sits on our shelf in a sequence designed to support the professional journey of every K-12 school leader.

Getting our #STEM on @NSTA during #ana26!

The problem/challenge/issue/conundrum you are facing at this very moment…has already been solved…by someone else…in some other place…perhaps at a time much earlier than today. Certainly, the details might be different and the context (technology involved, politics being prioritized, roles of participants, etc.) varies, but the essence, the true essence of your problem (or challenge or issue or conundrum) already has a workable, sometimes an ideal, solution. You just haven’t met a person with that firsthand knowledge; or read that particular book; or analyzed that visual depicting the success path; or watched that explanatory video; or attended that conference breakout session; or ‘war-gamed’ all the routes to failure; or had lunch with that key player; or fed the correct prompt into a human or A.I. engine…yet! At this very moment, executive and aspiring leaders in schools worldwide are wrestling with a problem that already has a solution. And as the leader who (In our own minds!) is supposed to, maybe expected to, have all the answers, we often get stuck in the proximal depths of our current problem while not wanting to advertise to anyone that we might need help. There is no white flag to raise in surrender to temporary defeat. Furthermore: We, as leaders in schools, want to experience the self-satisfaction of ‘figuring it out ourselves’. There is a fatal flaw with this approach ➡️ opportunity cost. The longer it takes us to FIOO, the more time we spend, and each minute is valuable because we could have used each minute in a different but productive way. Each path to success we start and then re-start while FIOO consumes financial resources, and each dollar is valuable because we could have used each dollar in a different but productive way. Each school year we spend trying to FIOO involves an entire graduating class of students, each child of which is valuable and we could have improved the school experience for each child in a different but productive way. The path to #PrincipalExcellence does not have enough expendable time, dollars, or children to FIOO. That path is only possible when many of the learning curves involved can be flattened, in whole or part, by credible partners who can connect leaders in schools to solutions faster and with significantly less collateral damage to children or budgets. The vision of our organization is to be this most trusted and credible partner. “Nothing under the sun is truly new.” s4e.pro/P

#ana26 is here...and we are here!

We are "wheels up" from #ATL on our way to #ana26, excited to learn and teach @NSTA this year!

We are 3 days from #NSTA #ana26! Are you ready? If you are an executive or aspiring #STEM school leader, connect with us for refreshment and conversation. #PrincipalExcellence

What do teachers in your school do when the internet is suddenly unavailable? You can tell a lot (although maybe not everything) about a person who leaves a shopping cart in the parking lot without returning it to the cart bin or the store front. (This very event has its own study and stories galore.) Likewise, much can be said for how teachers respond on normal class days when internet access is unexpectedly unavailable. The chasm is wide between a teacher who quickly gives up on the day's plans and one who adroitly modifies the class experience to a different but effective lesson format. Teachers are either prepared for this or they are not! School leaders will eventually have opportunities to model what this looks like for a school-wide function (e.g. faculty meeting, parent night, field trip, etc.) and the tone that is set then will repeat itself in classrooms over and over. #PrincipalExcellence can be seen through the actions of leaders who respond with calm, wisdom, and adherence to performance expectations regardless of the interruption. Partner with us for this kind of school leadership preparation so you and your school are ready for the unknown. s4e.pro/P

The second-hardest job in any K-12 school is that of a world-class assistant principal. Whether a school has a dozen APs or one, the entire leadership team's success in supporting teachers and students (in that order) depends on each member of the team. For that reason, we celebrate, appreciate, and thank them all! #APWeek #PrincipalExcellence

We are excited about #NSTAspring26 in Anaheim, California! Our founder and CEO — IV Bray — will lead two sessions at this annual convening of science teachers and leaders. Come learn with Solutions 4 Education! s4e.pro

When you read this quote, what career field comes to mind?  Me too: politicians! In most civilized countries, we elect leaders to serve in positions where decisions are made on our collective behalf.  We can all point to specific individuals (men and women) at the federal, state, and local level who have made decisions where the consequences and longitudinal outcomes from some of their decisions do more harm than good.  And often the harm occurs and continues to exist in the lives of the citizenry who elected those very individuals. K-12 schools are not immune from this phenomenon.  The decision-maker may be a board member or they may be a superintendent.  They may also be a principal leading a school or a parent running a booster organization.  The “stupid or dangerous” decision may be a vendor contract offered to a family member or a policy decision removing individual accountability for wrongdoers.  It may also be a personnel decision driven by a grudge or financial fraud that goes uncovered during the leader’s tenure. For those individuals who are the leading decision-maker in a K-12 school (principal, dean, head of school, president, etc.) performing the job effectively requires making hundreds of small decisions each day as well as a few enormous decisions regularly.  The price for being wrong in making a small decision (e.g. the theme for Homecoming Week) may be disastrous for somebody but probably not life-altering for anybody.  The price for being wrong in making a huge decision (e.g. a personnel matter where adults harm children) involves responding to disaster that has already occurred and one where lives have already been altered, negatively and with duration. Leadership is challenging.  World-class leadership will eventually be gut-wrenching.  There are times when the right thing to do is also the hardest thing to do.  Lives will be affected; sometimes jobs are lost; sometimes the school or organization is portrayed as evil by multiple forms of media; sometimes reputations are smeared. When messes are made, the best leaders are always involved in the clean-up no matter who made the mess. The cost (professional and sometimes personal) of being the leader, including in K-12 schools, is making the best decision possible — on behalf of those being led — in every moment and assuming the responsibility when it is the wrong one. #PrincipalExcellence can be found in many schools.  Along with it will be decision-making driven by “doing the right thing in the right way” and without exception. s4e.pro/P

The "real pi day" was in 2015 and we did not miss it by capturing this image in an office where #PrincipalExcellence was the goal each day!

The March 2026 #ProfessionalLearning recommendation for executive and aspiring #SchoolLeaders: "Thanks for the Feedback" (2014) by Douglas Stone & Sheila Keen s4e.pro/L #PrincipalExcellence

It may be the norm in some schools ▶️ those that lack the kind of school leadership that deems instructional interruptions as intolerable. Students quickly learn what is tolerated and what is not in classrooms, throughout the cafeteria, at the bus stop, etc. and, like most things, it is arduous to un-learn it collectively. Schools where #PrincipalExcellence is observable are environments where the children and the adults are clear on which behaviors are encouraged and which actions merit accountability (consequences). It really can be that way!

World-class schools with longevity have world-class leadership 'under the hood'. The school leader must be strong and competent; but if you examine closely, there are other layers of leadership excellence across the organization, especially in classrooms. #PrincipalExcellence

Short answer: almost never! Longer answer: it depends on the thorny issue, and even then, almost never. Long explanation: (public) school districts fulfill a role in American society and they are funded by money that is (essentially) confiscated by legal compulsion (i.e., government schools). They are required to serve all eligible students, a statement often summarized in the small print of their own publications. When a school district speaks out (makes a public statement, releases a document, etc.) they are putting a stake in a position that is both political and ideological. What does that do? It opponent-sizes some of the very students and families that the district proclaimed they would not discriminate against in the first place. When you see a public statement released, this is often a personal opinion of members of the governance board, individuals who are elected/appointed to serve, not to indoctrinate. Their personal opinion is no more valuable than anyone else's...except they have influence to share it (force it?) on others using the methods of 'speaking out'. Is there any public school district in America whose mission/vision/purpose statement is fulfilled by the organization itself speaking out on a thorny issue? Shortest answer: no!

In the U.S. we refer to this as classroom management and, to your point, the novice teachers are often assigned the most challenging classes to 'manage'. #PrincipalExcellence is revealed when the support you suggest is a priority for the entire instructional program, including the CRM component.

@MrTeece_ There is quite a fine line between authentically serving the students in a school and assuming portions of parent/family responsibility. Communities, personalities, and dedication varies and muchly. #PrincipalExcellence is hard to define but easy to spot in these situations.

One of the hardest challenges I'm facing as a head right now is watching amazing and brilliant staff pushed to the edge because they are plugging gaps alongside their jobs. Because they truly care and are amazing people and want the best but it comes at their own expense.