Improving Education Today: The Deep Dive

   Your Podcast Hosts Angela and Davey discuss Dr. Howie Knoff's most recent Blog from Project ACHIEVE Educational Solutions. The Blog discusses the ongoing issues with student behavior and classroom management in schools since the pandemic, highlighting a significant increase in discipline referrals. The Blog emphasizes that student behavior is not improving, citing an Education Week survey where 72% of educators reported increased misbehavior. 

 

   Angela and Davey discuss how Knoff asserts that blaming external factors or implementing "quick fixes" like SEL and PBIS are ineffective, and he—instead—outlines five essential, interdependent, evidence-based, and field-proven components that focus on Positive School Climate, Explicit Prosocial Behavioral Expectations, Student Motivation and Accountability, Consistency and Fidelity, and Addressing Special Situations through Multi-Tiered Supports. 

 

   Davey and Angela describe the critical contents in each of these components, noting that Knoff has provided detailed questions for school leaders—in each component—to assess their school or district’s current status, so that resulting Action Plans can make changes for the upcoming academic year. 

 

   Angela and Davey then summarize Knoff’s research-based suggestions on the characteristics of effective grade or instructional teams, individual teachers, and related services professionals, and what they do to make the five school discipline, classroom management, and student self-management components above work.

 

   The Podcast concludes with a "Call to Action," asserting that the summer months offer a "unique and invaluable opportunity" for "reflective analysis, strategic planning, and skill development." The ultimate choice outlined for educational leaders is "between preparation versus procrastination, between systematic improvement versus wishful thinking, between investing in summer planning versus accepting the status quo."