Education philosopher & instructional leadership author. Creator of Repertoire, the professional writing app for instructional leaders.
Joined March 2009
- Tweets 46,852
- Following 11,753
- Followers 26,585
- Likes 20,549
Photos and videos
Pinned Tweet
I’m thrilled to announce that my new book with Keith Fickel is available for pre-order!
Cultivate & Activate: Building Teacher Capacity for Instructional Leadership
Ships May 2026
a.co/d/09pc4IKs
2
3
24
5,259
New book! Teacher leadership is instructional leadership, but 4 gaps inhibit it. This book shows how to close the gaps:
principalcenter.com/caa
1
262
Jun 11
Education has artisan roots, but industrialization forces us down one of two paths: becoming mere labor, or transitioning into a full profession.
2
314
Zero, always. It’s not measurable—too much noise and not enough signal.
Teachers are about 9%, principals about 1% of the variance in student learning.
Central office leaders only have a measurable impact on student learning when they do something terrible.
Jun 3
A good question for superintendents: “What percentage of your central office staff directly improve student learning outcomes in measurable ways?”
2
18
2,478
May 31
Sounds cool, but this technology can’t work.
The founders of @reflectorbital know this, yet still hype it.
chatgpt.com/share/6a1c9ecb-9…
1
3
1,937
May 31
Yeah, if you add enough satellites, the illumination starts to become significant.
But that has the rather cataclysmic effect of…eliminating night.
We should not mess with nature so dramatically.
1
142
May 31
So this is some combination of:
1. Not enough light to matter at a small scale
2. Too expensive to be feasible
3. Terribly evil at the necessary scale
141
May 31
Super interesting! And I would imagine, great conceptually as a teaching tool.
1
2
1,084
May 31
Over half of education dissertations now contain A.I. writing, and 1 in 5 are written mostly (>50%) by A.I. What does this mean for the status of expertise? Higher ed needs to get this figured out quickly.
2
2
8
1,301
Justin Baeder, PhD retweeted
May 30
You know what other tools know better than most instructors? Coursera and YouTube courses from top faculty, *the internet*, books from the library. How many students used those tools instead of formal ed? Very very few. How many will use Claude independently to learn the material? Probably the same amount.
I know it doesn’t sound glamorous, but the primary role of faculty is to get students in the seats and create incentives to actually absorb the information. This is your job. AI can help as a tool, I’ve seen some great harnesses of AI for education, but it will not do this.
May 29
“AI is demoralizing.”
A Princeton Professor says he kept wondering this semester (while lecturing) if his students would be better off learning from Claude:
60
146
1,131
117,287
May 28
Clearly, this needs to be reevaluated, because grade inflation is rampant.
What was true few years ago is likely not true today.
May 28
No this is a widespread belief but isn't generally true.
Several studies of average colleges have found GPA to be more predictive.
At top colleges, it's less predictive, but that's likely because so many students have near-perfect GPA (range restriction).
2
10
4,071
May 24
Massive respect for a proposal that actually states a bold, falsifiable hypothesis!
I’d take a testable proposal I believe is incorrect over a vague study that can prove nothing—any day of the week.
May 24
Met with my doctoral advisor to discuss my dissertation topic. He asked, “What problem in education do you want to solve?”
I said: “Students should be able to move through curriculum at their own pace (with a required minimum).”
He replied, “That’s not possible. It’s too expensive to individualize education. Why not focus on improving test scores or student engagement?”
I said, “If you individualize instruction, those issues improve naturally.”
(20 minutes later)
He said, “I’m not sure I agree, but it’s clear you care deeply about this. I’ll approve it.”
1
653
May 22
It’s worth pointing out that *the authors themselves* sometimes draw the wrong conclusion from their data.
May 22
I once refereed a paper at three different journals, including the journal where it was eventually published. Every time, I pointed out that the authors mis-cited another paper, claiming it found X when it actually found the opposite of X.
1
2
6
2,397
May 22
My prime example is the many RAND studies on school discipline, which are commissioned to provide evidence for restorative justice and similar practices.
fordhaminstitute.org/nationa…
1
2
294
May 22
RAND is a rigorous enough shop report the data honestly, but not familiar enough with education to interpret it correctly.
1
205
May 21
Letting students use AI is pulling the ladder up behind you.
May 21
Wow. Surprised at the breadth of this AI BAN at @BerkeleyLaw.
Higher education—particularly professional schools—should develop AI tools to accelerate learning. Cognitive offloading is a real problem, but mounting evidence shows that the thoughtful redesign of courses and offering personalized AI tools can level the playing field and accelerate learning.
The Berkeley Law policy BANS AI for EVERYTHING except identifying sources.
Brainstorming with AI - BANNED
AI for exam outlining - BANNED
AI grammar check - BANNED
AI translation - BANNED
Difficult to understand the rationale for banning grammar check and translation, which will disproportionately (and unnecessarily) harm first-generation students and nonnative speakers of English.
Faculty may opt out of the Berkeley Law policy, but faculty must then require that students disclose AI use.
The Berkeley Law policy BANS students from uploading course materials into generative AI systems. Sadly, this BANS some of the most useful ways in which law students are using AI tools, including to generate additional practice problems and exams for courses.
2
1
14
3,454