Posts Tagged ‘Talent’
Ensuring a Strong Start for Talent Leaders: From “HR” to “Talent Partner”
In many school systems, the relationship between central talent teams and building-level administrators follows a seasonal rhythm: heavy, fast-paced collaboration during spring hiring, followed by a transition to administrative compliance, benefits processing, and formal evaluation checkpoints once the school year begins.
When talent management operates purely from the central office, performance management becomes reactive. Leaders only connect when an educator is struggling, when an emergency vacancy opens, or when mid-year intent-to-return surveys reveal unexpected attrition risks. Sustainable talent strategy requires stepping out of spreadsheets and into school buildings alongside principals and instructional coaches during the earliest weeks of the school year.
By prioritizing early norming, joint classroom walkthroughs, and collaborative talent reviews in the first 3 months of the school year, talent leaders shift performance management from a compliance hurdle into a proactive, trust-building retention lever.
1. Calibrating Expectations Through Early Walkthroughs and Norming
Clear, equitable evaluation systems require a shared definition of effective instructional practice. When building leaders and network talent teams conduct joint classroom walkthroughs during the first month of school, they establish critical alignment:
- Eliminating Evaluator Isolation: New school administrators and department chairs often navigate observation rubrics alone. Walking classrooms side-by-side with talent leaders grounds rubric criteria in real-time practice and builds evaluative confidence.
- Norming on Low-Inference Evidence: Early calibration ensures that feedback across different campuses or grade-level teams is grounded in objective evidence rather than subjective impressions.
- De-Escalating Evaluation Anxiety: When staff see talent leaders engaged in routine, developmental visits early in the year, it normalizes feedback as a standard professional practice rather than a signal of formal scrutiny.
2. Early Talent Reviews: Spotting Trends Before They Become Vacancies
Waiting until mid-year or late winter to conduct structured talent reviews leaves schools with little time to intervene when staffing friction arises. Scheduling proactive, 30-to-45-minute talent check-ins in September and October enables school leaders and talent partners to assess staffing health across three key dimensions:
- High-Leverage Growth Opportunities: Identifying early-career educators who are excelling and need stretch leadership roles, pathway development, or mentorship responsibilities to stay engaged and retained.
- Targeted Coaching Needs: Surfacing individuals or instructional departments that need immediate, structured support before small gaps become persistent performance challenges.
- Staffing Stability and Staff Climate Indicators: Reviewing operational workload distribution, grade-level dynamics, and early attendance or climate signals to address burnout before it leads to mid-year departures.
3. Becoming a True Strategic Partner in “People Work”
When talent teams position themselves as collaborative problem-solvers rather than top-down auditors, the cultural dynamic shifts across the entire organization School leaders face an overwhelming array of day-to-day operational demands. Having a dedicated talent partner who actively helps them analyze team dynamics, structure support plans, and anticipate staffing needs creates the bandwidth principals need to focus on student learning.
An Early-Fall Action Plan for Talent Teams
To build a proactive, shoulder-to-shoulder talent model this fall, consider embedding these three practices into your early-year schedule:
- Schedule Joint “Norming Walks” by Week 4: Spend a half-day with each building leadership team visiting classrooms, comparing observation notes, and aligning on coaching priorities.
- Institute (at minimum) Monthly 1:1 Talent Check-Ins: Replace ad-hoc emails with structured, standing touchpoints focused purely on team health, retention risks, and coaching plan effectiveness.
- Aggregate Network Trends for Targeted Professional Learning: Use notes from early walkthroughs and reviews to identify system-wide development needs
When talent leaders start the year present in the hallways, performance management becomes an authentic investment in educator success. Proactive partnership keeps staffing plans stable, empowers school leaders, and ensures teachers receive the clarity and support they need to thrive.
Interested in chatting more about all things talent in school systems? Reach out to Hendy President, Jessica Wilson, for a call – jessicawilson@hendyavenue.com
Don’t Wait for the First 30 Days: Why the Best Coaching Plans Begin During Summer PD
The energy of August professional development is electric. Classrooms are being decorated, curriculum binders are opening, and school leaders are delivering the foundational sessions that set the academic tone for the entire school year. Traditionally, the calendar follows a predictable script: deliver whole-group summer PD, welcome students, let teachers get through September, conduct initial observations, and then roll out individual coaching priorities.
By waiting until the first baseline formal observation cycle to tailor support, leaders lose nearly two and a half weeks of critical instructional runway.
Summer PD is more than content delivery – it is the first and best formative assessment window of the year.
The Dual Purpose of Summer PD: Baseline Content + Diagnostic Data
Every school needs whole-group baseline training. Setting a unified vision for school culture, unpacking curriculum scope and sequences, and aligning on your school’s strategic priorities for the year are critical.
For instructional leaders, remember: every collaborative planning session, lesson rehearsal, PLC, and larger PD session provides actionable data about adult learners:
- Lesson Rehearsals & Role-Plays: Who effortlessly commands the room with strong pacing and crisp directions? Who needs immediate support with tone, precision of directions, or check-for-understanding techniques?
- Intellectual Prep & Unit Studies: Who deeply understands the conceptual arc of the curriculum? Who needs targeted support unpacking the mechanics of a lesson before delivering it?
- System & Routine Setups: Who quickly translates operational expectations into classroom execution? Who is struggling with physical flow and classroom management systems?
Looking at summer professional development through a diagnostic lens allows leaders to strike the right balance: establishing a common standard for all staff while gathering the observational evidence needed to differentiate support on Day 1.
Fast-Tracking Development: Coaching as an Investment, Not a Consequence
Framing real-time, responsive support matters. Rolling out a targeted development plan during the first weeks of school should never feel like a deficit-based consequence or a precursor to formal evaluation. Approached through a genuine growth mindset, immediate support is a direct investment in a teacher’s confidence and success.
When leaders wait until mid-fall to flag gaps that were visible during August lesson rehearsals, it creates unnecessary frustration for both the educator and their students. Moving quickly normalizes continuous improvement. Deploying action-oriented, fast-cycle coaching right out of the gate eliminates early-year guesswork. It equips teachers with concrete, bite-sized practice before small habits harden into year-long hurdles.
The Strong Start Checklist for August
To capitalize on this window before students enter the building, build in three immediate structural practices:
- Audit Summer Session Artifacts: Review the lesson plans, intellectual prep notes, and role-play feedback generated during PD to identify common team-wide strengths and individual coaching priorities.
- Draft Day 1 Coaching Focus Areas: Ensure every new or transitioning teacher has one concrete, bite-sized instructional habit to focus on during Week 1 (e.g., strong start routines, economy of language, 100% attention).
- Schedule Week 1 Touchpoints Immediately: Put quick 15-minute observation and feedback loops on the calendar for the very first week of instruction, rather than waiting for formal post-observation conferences in October.
When schools treat summer PD as both a foundational launchpad and a real-time learning lab, they don’t have to wait for early-fall missteps to begin meaningful development. Meeting educators where they are on Day 1 creates the fastest path to teacher success and student achievement.
Hendy <3’s coaching! To learn more about our coaching and professional development offerings, reach out to Hendy President Jessica Wilson at jessicawilson@hendyavenue.com.
Coaching the Coach: Supporting Effective Instructional Coaching
Instructional coaching can be a key lever for teacher development. High quality teacher coaching results in teachers receiving targeted, focused support that is directly relevant to their work in their classroom. But, the effectiveness of coaching is tied directly to the quality of the coach, and the extent to which the coach receives intentional, high quality support from their own leaders. Over the past several years, we’ve had the privilege to not just support coaches directly, but to also support the school leaders who are responsible for developing instructional coaches. (Read more about our work in instructional coaching here, here and here).
Many of our school system partners have invested time and resources into instructional coaching. But, it’s not enough to simply identify instructional coaches and set them to work. In our work supporting these systems, we have found that coaches often struggle with fundamental issues, such as lacking a consistent coaching template, talking too much during meetings, giving vague feedback, or avoiding direct confrontation. Intentional development—which requires leaders to observe the coach in action to identify strengths and opportunities—ensures instructional coaches acquire the precise, targeted skills needed to drive meaningful improvements in teaching and learning.
Here are actionable ways leaders we have seen leaders intentionally support their instructional coaches:
Focus on Structure and Efficiency
- Establish Consistency: Require coaches to use a consistent coaching template for all sessions, building on it weekly to keep resources organized.
- Shift the Cognitive Load: Use a shared document and have the teacher being coached take notes and synthesize ideas instead of the coach doing the heavy lifting.
Focus on Clarity and Concrete Action
- Identify Highest Leverage Focus: Coach coaches to narrow their focus to the single highest leverage action step for a teacher. The test is: “if the teacher changed that one thing tomorrow, would the lesson be materially better?”.
- Model Direct Feedback: Role-play delivering direct feedback. The clear structure could be: “When you [specific teacher action], I saw [specific student outcome]. Moving forward, try: [specific new action],” avoiding “softening” language like “maybe”.
- Practice Doing the Work: Support coaches to ensure that half of every coaching meeting is spent doing the work (e.g., writing an exemplar, scripting questions, stand & deliver practice) rather than just talking about it.
- Use Bumper Questions: Instead of broad, open-ended questions (e.g., “What went well?”), use questions with “bumpers” that guide the teacher to key moments, such as: “What did you notice most students did when you asked them to stop and jot after paragraph 1?”.
Focus on Trusting Relationships and Accountability
- Balance Praise and Push: Ensure every coaching conversation follows a 3:1 rule, providing three pieces of specific praise before moving to one, high-leverage constructive push.
- Lead with Priority: Coach coaches to maintain focus on the highest leverage gap they observed. If the teacher requests a different focus, the coach should acknowledge it but redirect the conversation: “Today I need us to focus on [your highest priority] because I saw [student impact]”.
- Maintain Accountability: End every coaching meeting by scheduling a specific accountability check-in (e.g., “I’ll be back tomorrow/this week to see this in action. What period should I come to observe?”) and then consistently following through.
Instructional coaching can be a critical lever to drive improvement in teaching and learning in classrooms. But this investment must come with intentional support for the instructional coaches driving the improvement. Are you interested in exploring how to improve instructional coaching in your school or system? Reach out to Jess to talk.
Hendy Avenue: The 2025 Year in Review
We always love a good end-of-year recap, and we’re here with our own “Best Of” list! 2025 was a phenomenal year of deep thinking, high-impact partnerships, and big news. So, queue up the celebratory playlist and let’s dive into the year that was for Hendy Avenue Consulting!
The Headliner List: Our All-Star Clients
Our clients are the reason we do what we do, and collectively, the organizations we supported in 2025 served over 850,000 kids nationwide. That is an incredible impact we are honored to share.
We were lucky enough to partner with outstanding organizations, including:
- AI for Equity
- Breakthrough Public Schools
- Chicago Public Schools
- Delaware Department of Education
- Excel Academy Charter Schools
- Foundation Academies
- Hebrew Public Schools
- NYS CTE Technical Assistance Center
- PAVE Schools
- Urban Community School
Want the full list? Check out the details of all our current and past client projects here!
Our Vibe Check: What We Had on Repeat
Our work spanned the full spectrum of academic and talent systems this year. If 2025 had a few core themes, they would be:
- The Power of “Basics”: Instructional improvement in math and ELA.
- Next-Level Leaders: Leadership coaching and support.
- Improvement Synced: Performance management strategy.
- The Future is Now: Implications, planning, and implementation of AI.
- Talent Blueprint: Talent policy and planning.
The Marathon Minutes: How Long We Rocked Out
We spent many, many minutes collaborating this year including:
- Client Check-ins: Clocking in at more than 37,000 minutes.
- School Site Visits: 9,600 minutes dedicated to being on the ground.
- Team Huddle: Our team check-ins totaled 2,400 minutes.
- Coaching & Cohorts: 5,300 minutes across cohort meetings and one-on-one coaching.
- Steering Committees: more than 1,000 minutes leading decision-making committees.
Big Drop of 2025
Every day is a “biggest working day” in its own way, but May 1st was our main event! We celebrated the legacy of our founder and President, Sarah Rosskamm, as she transitioned from her role, and officially welcomed Jess Wilson as our new President. What a day for Hendy!
Big Birthday: Level 12 Unlocked!
Hendy is officially 12 years old! We’re incredibly proud of the impact we’ve created in service of kids and the adults who support them.
Cheers to an even greater impact in 2026—let the next track begin! Want to join our playlist? Reach out to Jess or schedule a call!
Keep Your Best Talent: Implementing Stay Conversations
The winter break can be an opportunity to relax and refresh in preparation for a strong start to the second half of the school-year. But for some teachers and leaders, winter break can also be a time to consider their next professional move. That’s why we encourage leaders to engage in stay conversations with each of their teachers and team members. This informal, but highly cultivating conversation can be a meaningful tool in a leader’s retention toolbelt.
What is a “stay conversation”?
A stay conversation is just that: a brief conversation with an employee that provides a chance for the leader to clearly state that they value the person and want them to stay at their school or system for the following year. This conversation can be brief, 5-15 minutes, and can happen as a part of a standing check-in or in a separate meeting.
When should stay conversations happen?
Now! Ideally, stay conversations happen right before or right after a break, when teachers may be more likely to be thinking about a job change. But, it’s never too late – stay conversations can be just as meaningful in late winter and early spring.
What should I share in a stay conversation?
Be specific; communicate why the teacher or staff member is an important part of your team. Share examples of ways the teacher or staff member makes a difference to your school community. Be transparent about challenges the school or system is facing, and how valuable the team member is to being a part of addressing those challenges. Listen for motivation; ask for specific ideas from the teacher about what could be improved, and leave the lines of communication open.
A stay conversation is the lowest cost and one of the highest leverage retention strategies leaders have. Consider holding stay conversations with your staff members this winter! Check out our other posts on stay conversations here and here. Or reach out if you want to learn more about retention strategies, or talk about how Hendy can help!
Announcing the 25-26 DEEL Cohort!
Last fall, Hendy launched the District Educator Effectiveness Leader (DEEL Cohort) – an opportunity for senior-level leaders in large public school districts responsible for employee effectiveness initiatives. The cohort was so successful that we are launching for the second year this September! The DEEL builds on Hendy’s success at facilitating cohorts for charter-network leaders, and extends that opportunity to leaders from traditional public school districts. The cohort includes a group of leaders from districts across the country, who collectively are responsible for performance management and effectiveness initiatives for tens of thousands of employees. Join us in congratulating the 2025-26 DEEL cohort participants!
- Tori Austin from San Antonio Independent School District
- Amber Daniel from Houston Independent School District
- Michael Herring from Chicago Public Schools
- Chrishele Kingdom from Detroit Public Schools Community District
- Charity Magruder from Prince George’s County Public Schools
- Jesse Papia from Baltimore City Public Schools
- Richel Raich-Cantu from IDEA Public Schools
- Yolanda Stanislaus from Montgomery County Public Schools
- Tiffany Suggs from Gwinnett County Public Schools
The 25-26 cohort will begin meeting in September. We look forward to sharing what we learn! Interested in joining the DEEL cohort, or want more information? Visit our website or check out this information sheet. Ready to participate? Contact Jessica.
The CAO Cohort: Where Vision Meets Action
In education leadership, the role of Chief Academic Officer stands at a critical intersection: where strategic vision meets daily implementation, where data meets human experience, and where individual school success connects to systemic change. Yet too often, CAOs navigate these challenges in isolation.
A Different Kind of Professional Community
The CAO Cohort breaks this isolation by bringing together academic leaders from high-performing charter networks who share an unwavering commitment to educational equity. This isn’t just another professional development program – it’s a carefully curated community where every member brings both expertise to share and a willingness to grow.
What Sets Our Members Apart
Our cohort members share core values that drive their work:
- They embrace the power of partnership, recognizing that collective wisdom surpasses individual insight.
- They maintain the flexibility to adapt their thinking while staying true to their core mission.
- They welcome productive friction, knowing that growth comes from being both challenged and supported.
- They freely share their resources and best practices, lifting all boats in the pursuit of excellence.
Real Impact Through Structured Collaboration
Throughout the year, cohort members engage in:
- Regular data review cycles that inform strategic planning
- Collaborative problem-solving around shared challenges
- Resource exchange that accelerates implementation
- Deep discussions about equity and anti-racist practices
- Strategic planning sessions for systematic improvement
Beyond Professional Development
What truly distinguishes this cohort is its impact beyond individual growth. When CAOs collaborate at this level, their insights and solutions ripple across multiple school networks, potentially impacting thousands of students’ lives.
Join a Community of Change-Makers
The CAO Cohort isn’t just about professional growth – it’s about joining a movement of leaders committed to transforming education through collaboration, equity, and excellence. If you’re ready to both contribute to and learn from a community of visionary academic leaders, we invite you to learn more about joining our next cohort.
The Power of Cohorts
In today’s complex educational landscape, leadership can feel isolating. Whether you’re a Chief Academic Officer driving instructional excellence, a Superintendent exploring AI implementation, or a CTE leader shaping career pathways, the challenges you face are unique to your role—and often, you’re the only person in your organization navigating them.
At Hendy Avenue Consulting, we’ve witnessed firsthand how cohort learning transforms educational leadership. Our experience has shown that the most powerful professional growth happens when leaders come together in structured, purposeful communities.
Why Cohort Learning Works
The power of cohort learning lies in its fundamental truth: leaders need other leaders. When we bring together diverse talent in similar roles, something remarkable happens. Challenges that seemed insurmountable become opportunities for collective problem-solving. Individual expertise becomes shared wisdom. And perhaps most importantly, professional isolation transforms into lasting community. From adaptive leadership skill-building to tactical strategic planning to navigating change within an organization or across the broader educational sector, our cohorts aim to create space for thoughtful engagement and planning for leaders. We currently facilitate four distinctive cohort experiences, each designed to address specific leadership needs in education:
Chief Academic Officer Cohort: For CAOs in high-performing charter networks, this cohort creates a space where academic leaders can sharpen their vision and deepen their impact. Members engage in data-driven discussions, share remediation strategies, and collaborate on achieving equitable outcomes for all students.
AI Explorers Cohort: In partnership with AI for Equity, this nationwide community of practice supports senior executives as they navigate the AI revolution in education. Participants collaborate on everything from organizational planning to product evaluation, ensuring thoughtful and equitable AI implementation in their systems.
Career & Technical Education Group: Tailored for New York state CTE leaders, this program combines strategic planning with practical leadership development. Whether you’re a principal, assistant principal, or district director, you’ll find a community dedicated to advancing career and technical education.
District Educator Effectiveness Leader Cohort: Created for senior talent leaders in large public school districts, this cohort addresses the unique challenges of managing educator effectiveness initiatives at scale. Members find crucial thought partnership among peers who understand the complexities of their role.
The Hendy Approach to Cohort Learning
What makes our cohorts different? We believe effective cohort learning combines:
- Structured learning with organic relationship-building and thought partnership
- Immediate problem-solving with long-term strategic thinking
- Individual growth with collective wisdom
- Theory with practical application
Join Our Community
Educational leadership doesn’t have to be a solitary journey. Whether you’re looking to enhance your leadership, tackle complex challenges, or find a community of fellow leaders, our cohorts offer a proven path forward.
Interested in learning more? Explore our Cohorts page and discover how collaborative learning can transform your leadership journey.
Don’t You Want to Stay? Virtual Stay Conversations as Key Teacher Retention Strategy
Teacher and staff retention is a common concern we hear from school leaders in “normal” times. One of the most efficient and lowest cost methods we have found for encouraging great teachers to stay is by holding “stay conversations”. A stay conversation is an informal chance to share how much you appreciate a teacher’s work, and to directly ask them to stay at your school for the following school year. Stay conversations don’t take much effort, but they have a big impact. When teachers were asked why they left their school, a common response was simply that no one asked them to stay.*
A stay conversation usually happens in a regularly scheduled one-on-one meeting with the teacher. Stay conversations should begin early in the year, ideally before winter break. Leaders can and should continue to communicate value and priority to teachers throughout the spring. This way, if teachers are presented with an opportunity to leave their school, they know how much they are valued and are less likely to leave.
That’s how stay conversations might proceed in normal times. These, however, are not “normal” times. The challenge and uncertainty of the pandemic makes retaining teachers even more critical. Just because we are all working virtually, leaders should not stop holding stay conversations. In fact, the best practices for stay conversations still apply: keep the conversation brief, affirm how much you value the teacher, and articulate how important they are to your students and school. Be honest about the challenges of remote teaching and uncertainty of what the fall might look like. Then share why the teacher is an important part of the team, especially in this uncertainty. Strong teachers are providing a lifeline to families and students right now, and they will continue to need your great teachers when school restarts in the fall. Finally, ask the teacher directly to stay at your school next year.
Ideally you are touching base with each teacher individually on a regular basis during this time of remote teaching and learning. These one-on-ones can be quick check-ins to ask the teacher how things are going for them, and how you can support them. And they are a great time to say directly how much you value the teacher’s work, and ask them to stay next fall.
P.S. If you need a soundtrack to your stay conversations, try this pop, or R&B, or classic rock, or country, or early 90s style (my personal favorite)!
-Jessica
*From The Irreplaceables, TNTP, 2012.
Yes, You Can Stop Doing That
Before COVID-19, education leaders prided ourselves in being goal oriented professionals, doing everything in our power to support student success. Working in schools, districts, CMOs, state departments of education and in supporting organizations, we took pride in our commitment to do whatever it takes, knocking through barriers, and always maintaining high expectations for ourselves and others.
But now, that day is over. Or at least on pause. We are balancing full days of meetings with full days of homeschooling our own children, we are nursing ourselves or our families back to health, we are facing fear, frustration, and grief. Our lives have changed and so too must our expectations for ourselves and for others.
Talking with talent leaders across the country, We’re discovering that many simply need to hear, “You can stop doing that. It will be ok.” It’s time to re-prioritize and focus on the purpose of your work, not stay wed to the original plan or program. Schools can be our model. Teachers and principals are learning a whole new way to educate students. They are no longer teaching the same lesson plan, but they are working toward the same standards, ensuring that students are able to learn and grow. District and network leaders need to do the same.
For example, we were recently asked by talent leaders in both a big urban district and in a big charter network about how to continue their robust evaluation systems. While we firmly believe in systems of teacher development, evaluation, recognition and pathways (and have spent most of my career focused on them), now is the time to pause and reassess. It’s the time to ask yourself what the ultimate purpose of your work is and if your system is doing that now. It’s time to simplify and focus on achieving that original purpose, not to MacGyver a complicated and time consuming process. When we talked with leaders about their multiple measure evaluation systems we were direct – your student achievement measures based on interim data aren’t going to be accurate and won’t help teachers get better, so don’t do that. Your families don’t have time to give feedback on teachers, so don’t do that. Your teachers aren’t teaching in ways that align to the observation rubric and had to learn this new method in a day, so don’t do that. Instead, coach and support the adults to do the best they can in a tough situation so they can be their best for kids.
The purpose is always to support people to get better and stay longer.
Is your system doing that now?
As a talent leader, we recommend focusing your time and energy into five priorities:
- Communicate clearly and transparently – State what you know and what you don’t yet know. Be clear about the values that are driving decisions and what is being prioritized right now. Be real about your own fears and your own optimism. And find ways to connect. You can share a video, hold office hours or reach out one on one. In doing so, always focus on the employee’s needs as a person.
- Listen to and support your school leaders – School leaders are struggling through this time, navigating their own emotions and disappointments, and those of their teachers, students and families. Be responsive to their needs and make them your priority. When you need their input, make it as easy as possible for them. Give them a clear proposal and let them react.
- Retain your staff – Have “stay conversations” so people know they are valued and appreciated. Ask them directly through conversations or surveys what their plans are for the fall. Consider how to retain salaries through limited budgets and how to incentivize people through non-monetary compensation.
- Recruit and hire new candidates – Hiring will need to move online, but keep the process moving. Think about how to get hiring managers comfortable granting offers remotely and how to get candidates comfortable to accept offers. Identify how to bring your schools’ unique culture to candidates. For more, check out TNTP’s Virtual Hiring Guide and Fast Company’s article on unconscious bias.
- Recognize and celebrate people – Consider cancelling performance based rewards based on results from 2019-2020 and re-use these funds to recognize teachers now (or returning teachers in the fall). Identify ways to say thank you for the hard work and creativity people are bringing to the work. For example, a personal thank you message, a take-out restaurant gift certificate or a retention bonus at the start of next school year are all effective in letting people know they are appreciated.
As our fearless talent leaders, we want to say thank you for taking care of the adults so they can take care of the children. And, yes, you can stop doing that.