GAEL UnscriptED

GAEL UnscriptED S2:E18 | From Standards To Student Impact

Your ELA standards aren’t “new” anymore, but the way they show up in classrooms still depends on leadership choices made every week. We sit down with Georgia DOE leaders Amy Denty and April Aldridge (with support from Dr. Sarah Welch in the chat) to get brutally practical about how to move from page to practice with Georgia’s Now ELA Standards. We dig into the alignment advantage and the four levers leaders juggle every day: standards, curriculum, time, and support. Then we walk through the three drivers of instructional alignment that keep the gears turning: clarity, coherence, and consistency. That means knowing what the standards actually require, using learning progressions to strengthen vertical alignment, and understanding today’s broader definition of “text” including digital, visual, auditory, spoken, and multimodal texts. We also talk about why situating text by author, audience, purpose, and context changes the quality of student thinking. From there, we move into the hard part: checking alignment between standards, high-quality instructional materials (HQIM), and real classroom tasks. You’ll hear what to watch for during learning walks, how to avoid over-scaffolding that lowers rigor, and why “engagement” can’t replace cognitive demand. We break down an eight-step planning process for PLCs that helps teams identify priority standards, deconstruct expectations into skills, write transferable learning targets and success criteria, align assessments, and fill curriculum gaps consistently without burning teachers out. Subscribe for the rest of the series, share this with an instructional leader who owns the schedule and the PLC agenda, and leave a review if it helps. What’s one alignment move you’ll try this week? Please note: this is Session #1 of the 2026 GAEL Spring Webinar Series.

GAEL Micro-Credentialing Course: Leadership Coaching

Most leadership problems don’t need a faster answer. They need a better conversation. We sit down with Cindy Flesher, Kerensa Wing, and Wanda Law from GAEL to get practical about leadership coaching and why it’s becoming a must-have skill for principals, assistant principals, district leaders, and anyone supporting others in schools. If you’ve ever left a meeting thinking, “I gave great advice and nothing changed,” this one is for you. We unpack the real difference between mentoring and coaching. Mentoring often centers on sharing experience, while coaching relies on active listening and open-ended questions that help the other person clarify goals, explore options, and choose next steps they actually own. We talk about why coaching can work even when you’re not “job-alike,” and how curiosity can be more powerful than expertise when the goal is growth. You’ll also get clear details on the GAEL leadership coaching micro-credential, including the virtual option on June 1 (Teams, 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.) and the in-person option on June 16 in Athens (8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.). We explain the full pathway, from the training day to three follow-up virtual check-ins in August, September, and October, when you earn the badge. We also share what ongoing monthly coaching connections will look like so your coaching skills keep getting sharper long after the training ends. If you’re building a leadership pipeline or trying to “grow your own” leaders, trained internal coaches can be a game changer. Subscribe for more practical leadership learning, share this with a colleague who coaches others, and leave a review with your biggest coaching challenge so we can tackle it next.

GAEL UnscriptED S2:E17 | Teacher Retention Starts With Leaders

Teacher retention is often treated like a staffing puzzle, but we keep coming back to a tougher truth: educators stay or leave based on the daily experience of working in a school. That experience is shaped, minute by minute, by leadership. We sit down with Jennie Welch and Leslie Hazel Bussey from GLISI to unpack Retain (Restoring Teacher Aspiration and Innovation), a leadership development program designed to improve educator retention by changing working conditions at the source.  Jeffrey O’Neal, an assistant principal at Marietta City High School, brings the real-world view from the building. He shares how his leadership mindset shifted from pure performance mode to human centered leadership that still gets results. We dig into teacher voice as a practical strategy for belonging, trust, and instructional risk-taking, plus what it looks like to listen well without carrying everyone’s stress home. Jeffrey also names something many school leaders feel but rarely have language for: secondary traumatic stress, and how simply naming it can be a turning point.  We also get concrete about the tools: somatic awareness, short breathing practices, five minutes of silence, being present where your feet are, and setting boundaries so the job does not swallow your entire life. Retain treats these as elite leadership skills tied to clarity, decision making, and resilience. You’ll also hear why “quick fixes” like jeans days miss the point, and how sustained investment in people connects to measurable retention results over time.  Subscribe for more conversations with education leaders, share this with a principal or AP who needs it, and leave a review so more educators can find the show. What is one leadership habit you think would most improve teacher retention where you work?

2026 Georgia Education Legislative Recap

The laws that hit Georgia classrooms rarely start as clean, simple ideas. They start as priorities, get reshaped by amendments and late-night negotiations, and land in districts with real staffing, scheduling, and budget consequences. We sit down with GSSA leaders Josh Hooper, Rob Brown, and Mike McGowan for a detailed Georgia education legislative recap that connects what happened at the Capitol to what superintendents, principals, and district teams will actually have to do next. We talk through the collaboration behind the scenes with Peach State Education Partners and why relationships and in-person advocacy still matter. Then we dig into the biggest K-12 public education bills: the literacy legislation (House Bill 1193), what the timelines look like, and why the move toward QBE-supported literacy coaches matters for long-term stability. We also cover the cell phone restrictions moving toward high school, the Math Matters Act time requirements and advanced math placement rules, completion schools cleanup, educator preparation program performance measures, and the return-to-work extension for retired TRS educators through 2030. The financial storyline gets just as real. We unpack the property tax fight, the shift from proposals that could have capped district revenue to what ultimately passed, and the state income tax reduction plan. We also explain new district fiscal monitoring and accountability laws and why strong financial practices protect local control. If you lead in Georgia schools and want a clear, practical map of what changed and what’s coming next, this conversation is for you. Subscribe for more Georgia education policy updates, share this with a colleague who handles budgets or scheduling, and leave us a review. What bill will impact your district the most this year?

GAEL UnscriptED S2:E16 | How GLISI Builds Trust Based Leadership

The fastest way to stall school improvement is to treat leadership like a set of tips you can download. Real change asks something harder: adults have to be willing to learn, unlearn, and look in the mirror. We sit down with Leslie Hazel Bussey (CEO and Executive Director of GLISI), Jennie Welch (Chief Strategy and Growth Officer), and Dr. Brian Keefer (Fulton County Schools) to talk about what leadership development looks like when it’s built for transformation and not compliance. We unpack how GLISI designs professional learning that actually sticks by creating psychological safety, building trust through community, and pushing teams to identify the true root of a problem of practice. Leslie and Jennie explain why defining a clear district leadership profile matters for culture, shared expectations, and retention. Brian shares what he saw as a principal and now as a central office leader, including why middle school leadership teams often get overlooked and how intentional team learning creates accountability that follows you back into the school year. We also zoom out to the outcomes everyone cares about: teacher retention, leader retention, and student success. Brian challenges the “high-achieving school” label by asking a sharper question: are kids doing great, not just scoring great? The conversation highlights practical ways districts can measure student experience through engagement, attendance, and culture while strengthening working conditions for educators. If you want smarter school leadership, stronger professional learning, and a repeatable process for change, hit play, then subscribe, share with a colleague, and leave a review so more Georgia education leaders can find the show.