The Akribos team of Professional Associates include a number of former superintendents, assistant superintendents, principals, university administrators and supporting professionals representing all phases of the contemporary educational endeavor. These professionals are widely recognized and highly respected in their respective areas of expertise and professional practice.
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Akribos, a Greek term, meaning more accurately, more exact, and more thoroughly investigated, clearly reflects the professional work ethic and commitment that we have embraced at The Akribos Group. We are a professional consulting practice specializing in accurate and precise research-based solutions through strategic planning applications, innovative organizational design, expert leadership training and highly effective professional development services. The work of The Akribos Group is filtered through the lens of experienced educators and supporting professionals representing all phases of the educational endeavor. The Akribos team of Professional Associates, in conjunction with our innovative planning and research partnerships, offer a broad and diverse perspective, extending from the classroom all the way to the boardroom. These professionals are impeccably credentialed and highly-respected in their designated areas of expertise and professional practice and they recognize the critical need for projects delivered on time and within budget. We invite you to explore our website to learn more about our professional team, innovative partnerships and the menu of professional services that we are equipped to provide.
We also invite your attention to our digital newsletter publication entitled Thought Leader, specifically designed to provide timely and informative content for those who aspire to or currently serve in various positions of leadership. Through this publication we are prepared to offer expert opinion and relevant content designed to inspire, motivate, and support your efforts as you navigate your own professional journey.
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Blog - Akribos Professional Associates and Guest Contributors
“The Core of Change is Learning.
Which is ironic.
Our institutions of learning are slow, some might even say, immune to change.”
– ‘The Human Side of Changing Education’, Julie (Wilson) Jungalwala
Here we are in spring 2022. COVID-19 is shifting from pandemic to endemic. Putin invaded a sovereign nation and revived the threat of global nuclear war. Inflation is the highest it has been in four decades. And if you have been working in schools, you are the closest to burnout you have ever been – or well past it.
School administrators and teachers have been heroic in their efforts to prop up the creaking bureaucracy of our inherited system of schooling. A system that was designed during a time when teachers and textbooks were the predominant sources of knowledge and the path after secondary school was highly predictable.
If engagement through two-way communication is part of your strategic plan, it may be time to
think critically about the tools teachers are using to reach parents. Most K-12 communication
solutions weren’t built with consideration for analytics, or administrator oversight.
Other common issues are lack of language translation, one-way mass text blasts, and robo calls
with no way for parents to return a phone call. Feature-rich parent apps may seem like the
solution, but apps only work for the parents who will download them. What results is inefficient
communication that frustrates teachers and parents alike.
For a district administrator, these issues may go unnoticed because they can be difficult to
observe. Educators are innovative–experts at making the most of the tools available to them
with little extra time. Your teachers may be using a free app with little security, a tool with no
administrator oversight, or their own cell phones to talk to parents. What are the signs that your
teachers need better tools so that parent engagement is supporting your district goals?
At The Akribos Group, we are fully committed to research-based practice and data informed
processes and solutions. In support of that commitment, we attempt to provide informative
insights and resources that support educational institutions and organizations in their efforts to
facilitate productive and efficient programming. In this edition of Thought Leader, we are
pleased to share content from our friends at SchoolStatus with a focus on data informed parent
communication for effective strategic planning.
If you are trying to change your school, this is where your efforts will be most rewarded. In Part II, we again visit the work of systems guru Donella Meadows who identifies ” ‘leverage points’ within a complex system (a corporation, an economy, a living body, a city, an ecosystem) where a small shift in one thing can produce big changes in everything.” In Part I, I covered her Bottom Six, or less impactful leverage points; in this post I translate the Top Six.
Schools are complex systems. In a meaty article by systems guru Donella Meadows (HT to Tim Fish at
NAIS for sharing with me) we find that, “Folks who do systems analysis have a great belief in ‘leverage points’. These are places within a complex system (a corporation, an economy, a living body, a city, an ecosystem) where a small shift in one thing can produce big changes in everything.”
The Covid 19 Pandemic was declared a national emergency on March 19, 2020, and most of us would
agree that the past twenty-two months have been memorable, and unfortunately not all those
memories have been pleasant. A world-wide pandemic with resulting implications, compounded by a
highly contentious political season, has left many of us worn and weary looking for a much brighter
future. The covid experience has certainly given us multiple opportunities for personal and professional
reflection and learning and this is particularly true for those who serve in positions of leadership.
Without a doubt, many leaders find themselves in a truly defining moment, both personally and
professionally.
