Director of Professional Learning
MASA
As the school year begins to wind down, it’s tempting to shift quickly into planning for next year – next year’s budgets, staffing, calendars, projects…the to-do list seems endless. It’s actually one of my personal favorite things about working in schools; we have so many opportunities for new starts and ways to improve what we do for students!
Before we move too quickly into “what’s next,” however, it’s important to pause and look back. Years ago, I had the opportunity to work with and learn from Jen York-Barr (co-author of Reflective Practice To Improve Schools: An Action Guide for Educators) and experienced first hand what can happen when leaders make time to pause and reflect before diving into how to “fix” things.
Now is a perfect time to do that! What have we learned this year? What are we proud of? What surprised us? What do we want to carry forward, and what might we need to release? End-of-year reflection isn’t just a checklist item. It’s a leadership practice that fosters clarity, connection, and purpose—both for ourselves and the teams we lead.
In the worlds we work in and the time we live, we seem to be set in constant problem solving mode. Making time to reflect, both internally and collectively, is not only critical for strategic planning, but also for sustaining leadership. In a fast-moving environment, reflection allows us to:
- Acknowledge challenges without getting stuck in them,
- Recognize progress that might otherwise go unnoticed, and
- Reconnect to core values and district mission
As you do this work, remember to look at more than just data points. While academic and operational data are important, human-centered questions reveal how systems felt—to students, families, and staff. The stories we collect matter at least as much, maybe more, than the scores we report. When we ask you to contact your legislator, it’s because of the story you bring to the statutes and mandates. It’s the faces and experiences that connect us to the most important parts of the work we do. Don’t let your teams forget that.
Consider offering a set of reflection prompts for your leadership teams, principals, or even board members to use to spark meaning conversations and unearth the stories. For example:
- What leadership moments this year stretched us the most?
- Where did we lead with courage? Where could we have listened more deeply?
- Whose voices were amplified? Whose were missing?
- What practices supported belonging and connection?
- What did we learn from students this year?
- What are we most proud of—and what still keeps us up at night?
- What did we learn this year about our community’s hopes and concerns? (Not just when we are asking for additional financial support)
- How might we create more authentic space for co-creation with our internal and external community, not just feedback?
And finally, remember that being a leader doesn’t mean you must have all the answers. It’s about leading with intention and purpose, with clarity and collaboration, and in ways that support each member of your community.
Purposeful leadership grows not just from what we do—but from how we pause, notice, and choose what comes next.
