Sites, VARC, Finland and The Heart of Leadership

For a team project this year, I started a list of blogs and social media sites. Feel free to add to both of these GoogleDocs with great places you have found to learn, gather and share.

Great portrayal of the challenge of determining what impacts student achievement – do we ever do one thing in isolation?

The concept of Value-Added is not new to education. We hear the term a lot these days in connection with teacher evaluation. This visual (~10 minutes) from VARC is a nice explanation of the concept.

The Finland phenomenon – Finland is often mentioned as an exemplar in educational systems (not to mention scores on international assessments). Recently there have been several pieces in the news. The Daily Riff actually curates stories about Finland’s educational system. There is a good documentary on YouTube – The Finland Phenomenon (4 parts). Larry Ferlazzo’s blog has a post on “best resources” for learning about Finland’s educational system. At Boston’s 90.9 NPR station you’ll hear a piece (~45 min) on lessons from both Finland and South Korea. Each country has different philosophies and practices.

The title of this post says it all – The heart of leadership – Having had a daughter who sang the Star Spangled Banner at high school sporting events, I have watched the stumble and heard the pitch change. Never have I seen a coach step towards her at that moment. As Diego Rodriguez says, “At the heart of leadership is a deceptively simple question: “Am I willing to risk my personal reputation, status, and safety for the good of others?” Fortunately, I work with leaders who are.