Episode Details

Sponsor: Sanebox, erase email insanity! 

Sharyle Karren has been a principal for the last 22 years! She has a lot of experience and this interview is a really great opportunity to learn from a great principal about how much she has helped students over the years.

In this interview, we talk about the following:

• Her history as a principal and some of the trials she went through.
• The common theme through her experiences is that she had a positive attitude and knew that the people she worked with were amazing individuals.
• How she opened a new school, her current school.
• Establishing positive community relationships.
• How she went to each local organization and “dug her roots into the community”.
• How she established walking field trips to further establish a positive community relationship.
• How she manages intern principals. She has a great balance of allowing interns to make decisions, but making sure that they know that they need to talk to her. She gives them an opportunity to learn, but allows them the authority to make decisions
• What things she keeps for herself and refuses to delegate to her AP or interns.
• Challenges associated with training interns and Assistants.
• How she establishes relationships with schools that are close by.

Learn more about today's sponsors, Playworks, IXL, and Renaissance Learning:

As a global leader in education technology operating in more than 110 countries, Renaissance is committed to providing educators with insights and resources to accelerate growth and help all students build a strong foundation for success. We believe that technology can unlock a more effective learning experience, ensure that students get the personalized teaching they need to thrive, and help educators and administrators to truly, fully, See Every Student. Learn more at renaissance.com.

We’re proud to be sponsored by Playworks, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization with evidence-based practices that help schools improve the health and well-being of children by increasing opportunities for physical activity and safe, meaningful play.

If you’re a school or district leader struggling with the challenge of chronic absenteeism, as so many are across the U.S., you may not realize that structured recess is a research-backed approach to keep kids in school. In fact, a UC Berkeley study of Title I schools found that those partnering with Playworks had significantly lower chronic absenteeism rates. Further, Mathematica research demonstrated that Playworks schools spent 27% less time transitioning from recess back to learning, saving teachers valuable instructional time. 

These results are possible for your students, too. Learn how Playworks can help you improve student-educator relationships, belonging, and attendance by signing up for a quick no-obligation conversation.

We’re also thrilled to be sponsored by IXL. 

IXL’s comprehensive teaching and learning platform for math, language arts, science, and social studies is accelerating achievement in 95 of the top 100 U.S. school districts. Loved by teachers and backed by independent research from Johns Hopkins University, IXL can help you do the following and more:

• Simplify and streamline technology
• Save teachers’ time
• Reliably meet Tier 1 standards
• Improve student performance on state assessments

🚀 Ready to see why leading districts trust IXL for their educ