Terry Grier

A lot of these choices fall on some HS guidance counselors. How hard is to inform students about salaries associated with various degrees. Equally important is sharing graduation rates of various colleges with HS seniors. Hopefully HS counselors share that information.

In HISD, we seldom spoke of equity or diversity. We found that If you can create a work environment in which employees are valued and supported in ways that allow them to do their best, you’ll get higher and better outcomes. Then, diversity and equity become natural by-products.

About 1/3 of Florida kids got their first smartphone at 10 yrs old, while 19% got theirs at 11, and 12% said they did at 12. Put together, almost 2/3 of kids in the survey said they’d gotten their first smartphone when they were 10 or younger. —2025 LIFE IN MEDIA SURVEY

You can’t convince everyone—even with facts. That’s usually fine. The real danger is when a foolish person gains power. They often end up doing the bidding of those with money and bad intentions. The harsh truth? There is no cure for stupidity.

“Debating an idiot is like trying to play chess with a pigeon — it knocks over the pieces, craps on the board, and flies back to its flock to claim victory.” — An Internet adage I read this morning

60% of the American companies on Fortune's list of top AI innovators have an immigrant founder. The world’s top talent overwhelmingly wants to come to US. This is a incredible advantage. American leadership in AI depends on allowing, even encouraging, high-skilled immigration.

Why Are Right-Wing Trolls Bashing Superman? If you’re looking for old-school values at the movies, you could do much worse than the Man of Steel reboot. Me, at ⁦@EducationNext⁩. educationnext.org/why-are-right-…

In today’s world of artificial intelligence platform, there is no excuse for superintendents not to compare any program staff recommends to similar programs—cost and research based outcomes. Too many districts purchase products based on relationships with sales people vs results.

Few behavioral concepts defy translation into reality as much as those that involve leadership. Leadership requires strategic thinking, vision, empathy, dogmatic focus, and other important traits. Converting them into practice can be an elusive, yet essential, process.

There is a big difference between telling someone something and delivering that information in a way that it really sticks. If your words don’t stick, you haven’t spoken. We need to see information between 5 to 7 times for it to transition from short-term to long-term memory.

To create breakthrough performance, a school’s lesson plans and formative assessments should be aligned with their state’s content standards and designed to ascertain which students have reached the performance standards. Re-teach the material until all students achieve mastery.

Recent Florida test results show, in grades 3-10, 57% of students performed at or above grade level in reading and 59% in math. Yet, state-wide, 71% of all schools (2,461) earned an "A" or "B" grade. Many Governors are misleading the public with this type of ‘grading system.’

Hopefully many others will emulate. Then, again, there are the ‘Yes, but’ crowd that loves the status quo.

Effective teachers repeat a lesson until it’s learned—by all. They differentiate a lesson by presenting it in various forms until all levels of students have learned it. When everyone ‘gets it,’ they move on to the next lesson. It’s called mastery learning.

Consistent focus, going new, and going first is a powerful recipe for success. To get what you have never had, you must be willing to do what you have never done. Did Henry Ford ask, “Who else has electric windows in their cars?” He loved going and being first.

I asked CHATGPT “What national model would you bet on to turn around a school where kids are failing, the community is losing faith, and the clock is ticking?” It replied, “I would choose Educentric, Inc.—because of clarity and execution discipline that schools need RIGHT now.”

It’s baffling how some superintendents are celebrated as state and national leaders while the majority of their students can’t read on grade level. Leadership without significant results is just PR, driven by self promotion. #studentsdeservebetter #edleadership

This afternoon, The White House OMB released $1.4 billion of Every Student Succeeds Act [ESSA] Title IV part B funding that it was withholding. It is not clear whether or when the agency will do the same for the remaining $5.4 billion of funding that has been frozen since July 1.

When leaders focus on everything, they focus on nothing. Quitting one thing is the only way to find the focus to do the next thing. Don’t be afraid to tackle the status quo. Abandon practices and programs that do not ‘significantly’ improve student outcomes.