Karen Power

Karen Power is an educational presenter and a former teacher, principal, superintendent, and senior advisor for professional learning and leadership. Karen has implemented the PLC process both as a principal and as a superintendent, and for several years, she has supported collaborative, school improvement work to meet the needs of students.
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illustration of books with text strengthen your skills in literacy leadership

Strengthen Your Skills in Literacy Leadership

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Striking the balance of a focus on management and leadership is a daily dilemma for school and district leaders. Never has this been more critical or obvious than the school year that is finally coming to a close. Leading through a global pandemic has required leaders at all levels to make intentional efforts taking care of health and safety issues (management) while ensuring that student learning is a priority (instructional leadership).

The next school year will require all leaders and teachers to meet students where they are and to accelerate learning for all. It’s been well established that inordinate numbers of students need support to bolster their literacy capabilities. One avenue to cure this literacy malady is through strong leadership at all levels. Principals, district leaders, team leaders, instructional facilitators, and coaches can collectively help to combat the illness that plagues our students. How? By capitalizing on their roles for the betterment of teachers who directly interface with students day-to-day. It’s through the concerted efforts of all that will help to improve literacy rates so that students succeed in school and beyond. So, how do leaders assist teachers in making literacy a priority? What actions do you take? How can you champion the efforts? And lastly, how can leaders use the PLC process to further literacy goals? Read more

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4 Reasons Why PLCs Fail, and How to Prevent Them

Categories: PLC, School Improvement

Schools and districts throughout the world claim to embrace the professional learning community process. Unfortunately, a term that is often used to describe some schools and districts is “PLC lite.” How can a school or district buy in to the process but not get the results? If you follow the steps, creating collaborative teams, answering the four critical questions, and accepting the three big ideas of PLCs, are you not guaranteed results? Why do PLCs sometimes not work? Read more

Too much on your desk?

5 Reasons Your School Is Disorganized

Categories: School Improvement

Based on Leading With Intention

We both love concerts and attend them often. We recently compared notes about summer concerts we attended, and it was interesting how different our experiences were. One concert was well organized with many entrances open, plenty of places to buy food and drinks, and a highly visible staff that was attentive and ready to assist. Overall, the event felt safe, controlled, clean, and organized. In another city, a similar event felt very different. There were limited entrances open, with long lines to get inside the venue and even longer lines to get food and drink. Event staff were difficult to locate, and it generally felt chaotic.

As we compared our experiences, it was easy for us to make the connection to schools. When organization is not of the utmost concern in schools, a situation similar to the chaotic concert experience can ensue. How can school leaders engage in practices that increase a sense of order? Read more