The Most Important Stretch of the School Year
Happy New Year from the Simply Great Schools team! As 2026 begins, we’re inspired by the work happening in schools across the country, and ready to help you make these next few months your strongest yet.
The Most Important Stretch of the School year
We only have a few months left of the school year where instruction feels truly normal. This is before test prep and readiness planning for next year shift the rhythm of classrooms and schools. January through March is that window, and how we use it matters.
This is the stretch where great schools separate themselves. The strongest leaders don’t add new systems or launch new initiatives (unless absolutely necessary). They tighten what already works. They sharpen routines, strengthen feedback, and push for rigor in every student interaction.
Now’s the time to hit the ground running. Tight habits and high-quality feedback create classrooms that think deeply, move with purpose, and stay focused long before test prep begins. Because when that season arrives, you don’t want to be building consistency, you want to be leveraging it. Here's a quick checklist to ensure that habits and routines are solid before moving into test prep:
Are common time transitions (i.e. transitions, lunch, recess) tight and maximizing instructional time?
Are 95%+ of students in any classroom, at any given time, on task?
Are teachers preparing for lessons by identifying the productive struggle?
Are teachers launching students to independent work with clear expectations and criteria for success?
Are teachers giving feedback to every student during independent work time and debriefing common error trends?
Make every week count. The habits you strengthen now are the ones that will carry your school across the finish line in the spring.
A Simply Great Resource
Every spring, schools face the same challenge: how to help students show what they truly know on state tests, without losing weeks of meaningful instruction.
Crescendo is our comprehensive state test prep and review system built for real results. We design an entire scope and sequence that spirals the most critical standards, provides daily mixed practice, and builds student stamina and confidence, all while keeping instruction grounded in strong pedagogy.
We don’t do packets or cram sessions. We build coherent, data-driven plans that align your vision, your teachers, and your students to finish strong.
What's Most Important Right Now?
Executing a Start to the New Year
Teacher Intellectual Preparation
Ensure that teacher lesson preparation has not taken a back seat. Remind teachers of expectations, and hold them accountable to them.
Be In Classrooms
The best way leaders can spend their time the first few weeks of January is in classrooms, observing and giving real time feedback. Gather trends you see across classrooms and create PD to close gaps.
Student Work Outputs
Even just a few weeks off can have a huge impact on student stamina. Make sure students are producing high quality work during independent work time. This can be checked with a simple stack audit at the conclusion of a lesson.
Keep Culture Simple & Steady
Resets fail when they try to do too much. Focus on daily consistency over big initiatives. One month of unified effort on a few key habits can shift your entire school’s culture.
How Can We Work Together?
Leader Curriculum: Our ready-to-use leadership curriculum saves leaders hundreds of planning hours while boosting retention and achievement through 50+ scripted PDs, practice clinics, and coaching tools.
Curriculum Implementation: We partner with schools nationwide to bring math and ELA materials to life, helping teams deliver instruction that drives measurable achievement gains.
1-on-1 Coaching: From superintendents to APs, we coach leaders at every level to run great schools, grow great teachers, and deliver great results for kids.
Keynote Speaking: We’ve inspired and equipped leaders at conferences and PD days with practical, immediately actionable insights that spark motivation and results.
Cohorts: Our customized leadership cohorts rapidly build skills through a blend of live PD, coaching, site visits, and robust resources that create lasting impact.
We need your help getting these tools into as many schools as possible.
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