Calvin Johnson

High School Principal. Advocate for vulnerable young people. Sharing insights on literacy, leadership and education.

[Calvin Johnson @CalvinFJohnson]

Seeing this more and more in my work: Often, team dysfunction is not a relationship problem. It's a structural problem. Rational people respond rationally to invisible structural incentives. Change the structure, the behavior changes, too.

[Calvin Johnson @CalvinFJohnson]

@M_Dannenberg1 Great list. One more ingredient: Building-based leadership.

Effective principals create the conditions for everything on your list—without strong leadership, even great curriculum and teachers underperform.

[Calvin Johnson @CalvinFJohnson]

Thinking about this recently: You can't decide your way out of a structural problem. Most leaders see: "Our team keeps relitigating decisions."
They try: More processes. Better logs. Clearer protocols. Nothing sticks.
Why? Because you're fixing what's visible while ignoring what's invisible.

The real problems are below the waterline:
- Informal power structures
- Gaze hierarchies
- Voice activation gaps
- Hidden coalitions

You need to diagnose what's underneath.

[Calvin Johnson @CalvinFJohnson]

@MrZachG Yes to this! I'd add that making the prerequisite skills explicit (rather than assuming students will just 'figure it out') helps demystify learning for students who may have gaps. When we name what we're building on, we give all students a roadmap

[Calvin Johnson @CalvinFJohnson]

Been meditating on this all year: “Common sense is like oxygen: the higher you go, the thinner it gets.” —John Gaddis

I see it everywhere—leaders who know what’s right but can’t act on it. Gut instincts buried under performance.

Simple decisions made impossibly complex.

Does this resonate with you?

[Calvin Johnson @CalvinFJohnson]

This has been on my mind lately: The year before a new strategic plan isn’t neutral time. It reveals whether a district can build the habits and coherence a future plan will depend on. Strategy only works if the system is already learning how to change.

[Calvin Johnson @CalvinFJohnson]

Thinking: Many district/school teams think they have an execution problem when they actually have a coherence problem. All the implementation in the world won’t work if initiatives are pulling you in ten different directions.

[Calvin Johnson @CalvinFJohnson]

@BarryGarelick @JonMHenderson1 I appreciate this. It resonates as well. When HQIM designation prioritizes standards alignment over instructional effectiveness research, it does raise real questions about actual pedagogical quality.

[Calvin Johnson @CalvinFJohnson]

HQIM doesn't guarantee strong instruction. The gap between design and delivery disproportionately harms vulnerable students.

[Calvin Johnson @CalvinFJohnson]

@JonMHenderson1 Amen. Don't assume the curriculum materials are actually good just because they're labeled HQIM.

[Calvin Johnson @CalvinFJohnson]

@marcusmercy318 Welcome!

[Calvin Johnson @CalvinFJohnson]

We call principals “instructional leaders” but often give them no real system to lead. They’re told to improve teaching schoolwide without the tools, models, or infrastructure to do it. Spotting good instruction isn’t the same as causing it. That gap is killing coherence.

[Calvin Johnson @CalvinFJohnson]

@sneal1911 Well said. Sometimes doing the right thing as a leader genuinely sucks, even when you know it's necessary.

[Calvin Johnson @CalvinFJohnson]

All fair. But let me add ones I’ve been sitting with recently-All fair. Let me add one more—Regularly examine evidence of whether your decisions and expectations are improving student outcomes, and be willing to change course when they're not.

[Terrance Hill ED.S @20THill20]

Leadership Nuggets:

1. Communicate decisions clearly and early

2. Address performance issues promptly- don’t delay difficult conversations

3. Foster professionalism- support staff through changes but set clear expectations from day one

[Calvin Johnson @CalvinFJohnson]

@TroyMooney There's also something here about emotional labor. Leaders often avoid early feedback because we think we're being kind and extending grace, but we're actually transferring the emotional burden to the new person who has to wonder if they're meeting expectations

[Calvin Johnson @CalvinFJohnson]

Love this. We can implement project-based learning or inquiry methods, but if our students don't have sufficient background knowledge, they can't think critically about the projects. They're just going through motions.

Doctors need to memorize anatomy before they can diagnose. Lawyers need to know case law before they can argue. But the goal isn't memorization but rather building the knowledge base that makes expert thinking possible. Need that knowledge base.

[Calvin Johnson @CalvinFJohnson]

@BarryNSmith79 I'd use the quote to reveal whether you've built adult competence. If your team hears it and makes excuses, you haven't. If they hear it and immediately know five things they can change this week, you have.

[Calvin Johnson @CalvinFJohnson]

Teachers and leaders have to make hundreds of micro-decisions daily that compound into the culture they want to build in their classroom/building. Grand gestures and inspiring speeches don't create culture. Consistent small choices do.

[Calvin Johnson @CalvinFJohnson]

@BenisonMrs Competent instruction is the highest form of care.

[Calvin Johnson @CalvinFJohnson]

@KJWinEducation What's devastating is that this child did exactly what she was taught. We teach kids to guess, they guess wrong, then we pathologize their frustration instead of fixing our methods.