How does a school go from struggling to success? My goal in this blog is to share success stories and resources to help you make a difference in all the schools with whom you make contact. There is a role for everyone here: principal, superintendent, teacher, parent, school board member, politician, community member and taxpayer.

Becoming an Above Average School
I'll start with a magical place where I had the privilege of being the principal for four years: Georgetown Community School. We went from below the state average to the top 8 percent of schools in Colorado, ultimately earning the John Irwin School of Excellence.

Lesson 1: Fight for Quality Schools (Parents and Community)
I was school board president during an extended period of declining enrollment and we were considering closing our smallest school. But the community had a school in Georgetown for over 125 years, and there was no way they were going to let that school go without a fight. The tiny community had well over 100 people at our contentious board meetings.

But the school was clearly in trouble. Enrollment was declining. The school had five principals in four years. The Colorado Student Achievement Program test scores were below average and the school had...