The CSAS Blog
Written by educators. For educators.
Science of reading, MTSS, leadership, and special education insights from Dr. Chandra Williams and the CSAS team: the same thinking our partner schools get, published for everyone. Learn, grow, and take your system to the next level.
From Compliance to Excellence: How to Rebuild Special Education for Outcomes, Not Paperwork
The students with IEPs in your buildings deserve more than a lawful program. They deserve a great one. Most special education programs in America are built around compliance: meet the timelines, write the goals, hold the meetings, file the paperwork. And students with...
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The Real Cost of Curriculum Hopping: Why Districts Spend Millions and Move Nothing
If you've adopted three reading programs in five years, this is for you Every district leader has felt the pressure. Scores didn't move. The board wants action. Vendors are circling....
Why Your Best Teachers Are Quitting: And the Leadership Move That Keeps Them
Its not the pay. It's not the kids. It's almost always something you can control Every principal in America right now is losing teachers they desperately wanted to keep. The exit...
The 60-Second Test for Tier 1 Health: 5 Questions Every Principal Should Be Able to Answer
If your Tier 1 is healthy, these answers come fast. If it isn't, you'll feel it in your gut Most school leaders can't tell you with confidence whether their Tier 1 instruction is...
The Data Meeting Trap: Why Most School Data Meetings Are Performance, Not Practice
If your data meetings end with everyone agreeing things are 'on the right track,' something is broken Picture the scene: every grade-level team gathered in the conference room with...
Stop Calling It a Behavior Problem. It’s a Literacy Problem in Disguise
The boy in the hallway can't read your worksheet. Now what? He's been in the hallway again. The principal has had the call with mom three times this month. The counselor has met with...
Why Fluency Is the Most Misunderstood Skill in Reading (And the Easiest to Fix Wrong)
Fast isn't the goal. Accurate, expressive, and meaningful is Every reading benchmark report has a line for fluency, usually expressed as 'words correct per minute.' Every coaching...
Dyslexia Is Not Rare. Your System Is Just Failing to See It.
About 1 in 5 of your students. Almost none of them identified. Now what? Walk into any school district in America and ask how many students have dyslexia. You'll likely get a number...
The Real Reason Your PD Doesn’t Stick (It Has Nothing to Do With Your Teachers)
Drive-by training is a leadership choice. Here's what to do instead Every August, school leaders open the year with two days of professional development that they hope will transform...
The Phonics Myth That’s Killing Your Middle School Readers
'They learned that in elementary' is the most expensive lie in your building Here's a sentence I hear in nearly every middle school I walk into: 'We don't teach phonics here, they...
School Turnaround Is Not a Mystery. It’s a Sequence. Here’s the Order
The schools that turn around don't have better luck. They have better order of operations If you've ever inherited a struggling school, you know the temptation: try everything at...
The 5 Words Every Reading Teacher Should Say Every Day (And Most Don’t)
Small language shifts. Massive learning shifts Reading instruction lives or dies in the language teachers use minute by minute. A child trying to decode a word is listening for...
Special Education Isn’t a Placement. It’s a Promise You’re Probably Breaking
What an IEP actually obligates you to and where most schools quietly fall short Every special education student in your building has a federally protected promise: specially designed...
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