Joanna Michelson

The Essential Role of Coaches in Advancing Instructional Leadership

Instructional leadership is not a solo endeavor—it is a collective effort that thrives on collaboration between school leaders and instructional coaches. While principals and district leaders set the vision for high-quality teaching and learning, instructional coaches...

Centering Student Experience in Learning Walks

Leaders are shifting instructional practices by conducting learning walks focused on students who are least well served in schools. By centering observations on focus student experiences, leaders gain actionable insights, refine feedback to teachers, and strengthen their shared understanding of how these young people are experiencing learning.

Building a vision for student learning

CEL’s yearlong, contextualized Leading for Teacher Learning helps leaders assess their current state of teacher learning and better understand what teachers need in order to improve students’ experiences. Throughout the leaders’ learning with CEL, we explore the...

Instructional Leadership Teams: 3 Tips to Clarity

Instructional leadership teams (ILTs) can play a key role in creating more equitable schools that give all students the opportunity to thrive. But in our work with schools around the country, we often see a missed opportunity for teams to build clear, shared purpose...

How to Help Teachers Find an Area of Focus

Teachers have always set goals for their students and for their teaching. But what used to be a fairly open-ended conversation in the principal's office or staff room has now become a critical component of a teacher's professional development. Driven by student and...

Recent Posts

From Observation to Action: What Leaders Learn by Seeing School Through Students’ Eyes

When I was a superintendent, one of the most meaningful things my cabinet and I did was spend a day shadowing students. Following them from class to class gave me a perspective that I could not get from reports or test scores. It showed me what school really felt like for them. Sometimes what I saw was hard to take in, and other times it was inspiring, but it always helped me understand how our schools were working, or not, for every student. Now, as CEL’s Executive Director, I am proud to lead an organization that believes strongly in the power of students’ voices. At CEL, we help leaders slow down, listen to students, and see school through their eyes.

Q&A with Dr. Susan Enfield, UW CEL’s New Executive Director

Q: What initially drew you to education? Dr. Enfield: I knew from a young age that I wanted to be a teacher. From as early as age 7, I was “teaching” my stuffed animals and dolls. By the time I became a high school English teacher, I knew I was doing what I was put on...

The Essential Role of Coaches in Advancing Instructional Leadership

Instructional leadership is not a solo endeavor—it is a collective effort that thrives on collaboration between school leaders and instructional coaches. While principals and district leaders set the vision for high-quality teaching and learning, instructional coaches...

5 Tips for Classroom Observing: An Educational Leader’s Guide

For over two decades, the University of Washington Center for Educational Leadership (CEL) has partnered with educational leaders across the country who are observing teaching and learning in classrooms. We see time and again that effective classroom observations can...

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