Blueprint has a seven-year history of serving a variety of school districts and non-profit organizations. Blueprint provided school district management consulting on issues such as teacher and principal performance management, organizational effectiveness, and professional development evaluation. Blueprint’s services have helped its school district clients achieve their most pressing organizational goals. A few of these districts have won state-wide recognition for their success (e.g. Arizona Quality Alliance Performance Excellence Program, Broad Prize for Urban Education).

“Blueprint has a solid track record of getting results for its clients,” said Bill Haight, President of Inside the School. “We’re excited to introduce our quality consultants to Blueprint clients and to continue the exceptional service they have come to expect.”

Blueprint principal and founder, Todd Bloom, Ph.D, expressed confidence in Inside the School. “I have had the pleasure of working with Inside the School for over a year and feel that the combined capacity of Inside the School and Blueprint will only enhance the services we offer school districts.”

Inside the School continues to grow its number of educational consultants whose expertise fits well with Blueprint client needs. Consultants have backgrounds in teacher and principal effectiveness, organizational effectiveness, school turnaround and transformation, and school climate.

“We’re excited about acquiring Blueprint because it’s such a good fit for what our consultants do,” said Diane Trim, Director of Consulting for Inside the School. “We’re committed to making a difference in schools, so I’m looking forward to placing our consultants in districts where they can facilitate change.”

After the merger of Blueprint and Inside the School, Dr. Bloom will serve as a company advisor for Inside the School, which will ensure a smooth transition and long-term stability for existing Blueprint clients.

Inside the School has provided K-12 products and services since 2008. In April 2011, Inside the School expanded its mission and is offering consulting services in six service areas:

• Teacher and principal effectiveness
• Common Core State Standards
• School transformation
• Charter school development
• Organizational effectiveness
• School climate

Inside the School is the K-12 division of Magna Publications, a company that has provided information to the education community for more than 30 years. Magna’s products for higher education include subscriber-based print publications, electronic newsletters, in-person conferences, and online seminars and courses. Magna also owns NCSL, the National Center for Student Leadership, which provides online and in-person leadership development for collegiate student leaders and their advisors.

“There aren’t necessarily more or fewer issues today than there was when I started my career in education. It’s just things are constantly changing,” Mike Donlin said. “School districts have the responsibility to keep kids safe online and the only way to do that is through education.”

 To qualify as an Internet safety consultant Donlin’s resume can’t get much better. He’s received the 2008 Spirit of Online Safety Award from Qwest/NCMEC, has participated in the FBI’s Citizens’ Academy, was the Mayor’s Education Member Appointee to the Seattle Citizen’s Telecommunications and Technology Advisory Board from 2000 – 2004, was named the Most Influential Consultant by Seattle Magazine in 2010 and is a contributing expert to the 2012 book Cyberbullying, Prevention and Response: Expert Perspectives (Hinduja & Patchin).  He is currently a Program Supervisor with The School Safety Center for the State of Washington Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction.

“Inside the School has been working with Mike Donlin since 2008, so we know that he really knows his subject matter and the challenges schools face,” said Director of Consulting Diane Trim. “He brings an unmatched sense of professionalism and expertise to our consulting team.”

Donlin will assist schools with Internet safety issues such as aligning district policies with current federal regulations, cyberbullying, sexting and social media awareness. “There are so many issues impacting districts today around Internet safety I’m glad I will have the opportunity to help districts across the country regularly as well as daily in the state of Washington,” Donlin said. 

Inside the School has provided K-12 products and services since 2008. In April 2011, Inside the School expanded its mission and is offering consulting services in six service areas:

• Teacher and principal effectiveness
• Common Core State Standards
• School transformation
• Charter school development
• Organizational effectiveness
• School climate

Inside the School is the K-12 division of Magna Publications, a company that has provided information to the education community for more than 30 years. Magna’s products for higher education include subscriber-based print publications, electronic newsletters, in-person conferences, and online seminars and courses. Magna also owns NCSL, the National Center for Student Leadership, which provides online and in-person leadership development for collegiate student leaders and their advisors.

“Dr. Chase’s qualifications make her a very strong addition to our organization,” Director of Consulting Diane Trim said. “Her experience in curriculum design, professional development, data analysis, and school turnarounds make her a real asset to our consultant line up.”

Chase is looking forward to the challenge and the opportunity of improving schools.

“It couldn’t have worked out better. Inside the School was looking for my very specific qualifications and our relationship provides excellent opportunities to improve schools,” Chase said.

Chase provides expertise in cognitive aspects of literacy acquisition, cross-curricular technology integration and project-based learning. In addition to public school and university teaching she was a chief contributor to the design of Inspiration and Kidspiration Software, and other titles associated with critical thinking and visual learning.

Chase will focus her consulting engagements with Inside the School on teacher evaluation, school turnaround and helping schools adjust to the inevitable changes associated with the adoption of Common Core State Standards.

Inside the School has provided K-12 products and services since 2008. In April 2011, Inside the School expanded its mission and is offering consulting services in six service areas:

• Teacher and principal effectiveness
• Common Core State Standards
• School transformation
• Charter school development
• Organizational effectiveness
• School climate

Inside the School is the K-12 division of Magna Publications, a company that has provided information to the education community for more than 30 years. Magna’s products for higher education include subscriber-based print publications, electronic newsletters, in-person conferences, and online seminars and courses. Magna also owns NCSL, the National Center for Student Leadership, which provides online and in-person leadership development for collegiate student leaders and their advisors.

“I am very excited to work more closely with such a professional group.  Inside the School understands exactly the kinds of training that schools want,” Tingley said.

Inside the School Consulting Group is thrilled to add Tingley to its team.

“We could not be happier that Suzanne Tingley has agreed to join us. Tingley’s experience, skills, work ethic, passion and personal touch are a really difficult combination to find. Schools will be very fortunate to have the opportunity to work with Suzanne – just like we are.” Inside the School Editorial Director Diane Trim said.

“Everyone at Inside the School is excited about Suzanne Tingley. We’ve had a great relationship over the last few years and she always gets results. We expect the same thing from her as a consultant,” Inside the School President Bill Haight said.

“This is a great fit for me, “Tingley said.  “I’m interested in the real work that goes on in schools, not just theory.  And that’s what Inside the Schools is all about.”

Tingley’s consulting focus will be in the areas of teacher evaluation, school turnaround/transformation and school climate. She earned her MS degree from SUNY Oswego (N.Y) and her B.A from The Ohio State University.

Inside the School has been developing K-12 professional development resources in the form of training CDs and online seminars since 2008. In April 2011 Inside the School began offering consulting services in six categories.

Those categories are:

• Teacher evaluation, Value-added assessment
• College Readiness, Common Core State Standards
• School turnaround/transformation
• Charter school development
• SROI/efficiency
• School climate

“These are all key areas for schools today, and many will be looking for outside expertise to help faculty and staff address new developments in education.  I am really looking forward to working with faculty and staff, focusing on their own particular needs,” Tingley said.

In 2007 Tingley received the honor of Woman of Distinction from the New York state senate. She is the author of over 60 published articles and wrote the book How to Handle Difficult Parents: A Teachers Survival Guide, Cottonwood Press, 2006, revised for Pufrock Press for publication in 2012.

To view the Inside the School Consulting Group’s consulting offerings, visit www.InsideTheSchool.com.

###

“I am very excited about joining Inside the School as a consultant.  In this role, I will continue to be able to support other educators in our efforts to provide the best possible education for our kids,” Blake said.  “I feel fortunate to be an educator at this time with so much credible research about leading, learning and teaching that is available to use to strengthen all aspects of school operations.”

As a former middle and high school principal, Blake brings real world experience to her consulting engagements. She served schools in Va. for over three decades and received the Virginia Middle School Principal of the Year Award by VASSP/NASSP for the 2000-2001 school year.

Diane Trim, Inside the School’s editorial director, said that Blake’s work ethic, professionalism and experience make working with Blake a pleasure.

“I’ve worked with Vera Blake on online presentations and proposals over the past couple of years, so I know how tuned in Blake is,” Trim said. “She’s one of my go-to people when I need advice about a topic or I need to get a job done.”

Blake is enthusiastic about consulting with K12 school leaders and having the opportunity to give back to the country and schools.

“It is a special blessing to be able to use gifts, ideas and experiences that have been given to me, to help make schools better places to learn for all stakeholders.  By joining Inside the School as a consultant to share lessons I’ve learned, and continue to learn from colleagues, is an incredible opportunity to give back and to serve my country,” Blake said.  “I believe that helping to provide a good education to every child by supporting and strengthening the skills and growth of every educator, is another sincere form of patriotism and service to our collective future.”

Inside the School has been developing K-12 professional development resources in the form of training CDs and online seminars since 2008. In April 2011 Inside the School began offering consulting services in six service areas.

Those service areas are:

• Teacher evaluation, Value-added assessment
• College Readiness, Common Core State Standards
• School turnaround/transformation
• Charter school development
• SROI/efficiency
• School climate

Blake received her Ed.D. in administration and supervision from Vanderbilt University, her M.Ed. in administration and supervision from the University of Virginia and her B.S from Saint Paul’s College (Va.).

Blake is looking forward to working with other consultants giving schools the tools they need to succeed.

“What I am looking forward to most is the chance to learn and share more about good schooling from new colleagues and seeing positive results in schools and districts because we were there, Blake said. “I am confident that whatever improvements that occur, will only get better and stronger after we leave – solid capacity building.  I feel compelled – some would say driven – to leave everything better than it was when I arrived.”

Blake has won several awards for her dedication to the education field. They include the Washington Post Distinguished Educational Leadership Award (1999-2000) and the Fairfax County Public Schools Principal of the Year Award (1999-2000).

To view the Inside the School Consulting Group’s consulting offerings, visit www.InsideTheSchool.com.

Since 2008 Inside the School has produced, developed and marketed online seminars geared toward helping school teachers and administrators from across the country solve problems in practical ways and receive training on various topics.

In late 2010 Inside the School saw a huge opportunity that was a natural fit.
“The online seminar presenters we are working with are being offered consulting engagements from schools that discovered them through Inside the School so we thought what a perfect opportunity,” says company president Bill Haight. “There is definitely a need for consultants and we already have most of the pieces in place.”

Inside the School will begin by working with consultants who have experience in six categories. Those categories are:

• Teacher evaluation, Value-added assessment
• College Readiness, Common Core State Standards
• School turnaround/transformation
• Charter school development
• SROI/efficiency
• School climate

“We wanted to focus our resources in areas that are the most in demand and we can supply the best consultants for,” says Haight. “With federal and state governments offering improvement grants and state standards being tightened there is a need now more than ever for consultants.”

Seminole School Board in Florida approved over $260,000 on consultants in one night in August 2010. In December the Dallas school board sought to spend one million dollars on outside consultants. With the Obama administration’s Race to the Top program, schools are hustling to find help.

The education industry has faced budget cuts and uncertainty just like the rest of the country over the past few years, but that can be good news for education consultants.
“Schools have to be more careful than ever before with their budgets,” says Haight. “But it means funds are being allocated to the most qualified consultants. We’re confident we will provide the best consultants and service.”

With an increasing achievement gap and test scores on a continual downward spiral, schools must take drastic steps to turn things around.

“We see the situations schools are in and they need help. The schools simply need help to get better and we want to do that,” says Haight. “We want to help teachers become more effective, administrators to be able to lead during tough times, and we want school districts to improve. Our consulting service and products will help schools do that.”

Bertram Gallant said it’s not always just the students that cheat either.

"Parents, too, seem willing to cross the line to help their children succeed, even going as far as writing their students’ papers for them," she said.

Bertram Gallant and her co-presenter Karen O. Clifford addressed the most important question about cheating, why do students cheat?

"Let’s face it, grades have currency in our society, and they help us move up through the social structures, since student cheating is a byproduct of the system of education, hence the term cheating or gaming the system," Bertram Gallant said.

"Students with impulsive tendencies and those who are more motivated by grades or other extrinsic rewards, [are] doing whatever it takes to get into a top-tier college, are more likely to cheat than those students who are motivated to learn," Clifford said. "Everyone is doing it."

"Although cheating is endemic, it has changed over the years. Cheating seems more widespread. In other words, students today seem to not automatically associate their academic shortcuts with an ethical or unethical personal character," Bertram Gallant said. "Why has this change occurred? Even though students have always cheated, why is it becoming now merely morally disagreeable rather than morally reprehensible? It could be partly because we cease teaching students about ethics and ethical conduct. We have allowed technology to take over our school processes without adequately addressing the ethical implications for teaching and learning, and so cheating is becoming normative for students, parents, and, yes, teachers."

"If the school message is that test scores are the bottom line rather than learning. Cheating can be expected," Clifford said.

Clifford said the best ways to hinder or stop cheating are to offer small class sizes and improve school ethics.

Clifford and Beltram Gallant said that what schools need to do, is first off, recognize that cheating is a problem, how will integrity be reinforced, encouraged, and rewarded? How will cheating be handled when it is detected? Involve students and parents in the discussions from the very beginning.

"[Parents and students] need to be told what the academic standards are for your school. You need to have school board discussions and parent teacher conferences about success, redefining success," Bertram Gallant said.

"One possible institutional response is to develop an academic integrity program or an honor code that is student led," Clifford said.

Cheating continues into college and many students at the university level express a desire that they had been talked to more about with academic integrity, that they had heard more about it, that they had been taught what it was.

"[Cheating] has become so acceptable and normalized that parents and teachers and school administrators and university administrators are, at best, ignoring it and, at worst, engaging in it with the students," Beltram Gallant said. "Cheating is not a new problem. It has always existed, and likely it always will."

Karen O. Clifford, Ph.D. and Tricia Bertram Gallant seminar Cheating Part1: Changing School Culture can be purchased here.

The first year of teaching can be described as trial by fire, sink-or-swim experience, where a teacher learns so much, even more than student teaching, even more than in all of those classes they took in college.

Clement said the very first thing is to over-prepare for that first day of class. Teachers only get one chance to make a first impression on the students.

"Students start evaluating you. They start deciding, is this someone that I really want for my teacher for the whole year? That’s why the importance of the first day simply cannot be overemphasized," Clement said.

Some tips to prepare for the first day of class Clement said are to count the desks, make a welcome sign for the door and  locate the adult and student restrooms because many of the students just won’t know where they are or what’s going on.

“No one else may be checking on these things. You have to check them yourself and work in your room,” Clement said. “There is no such thing as being over-prepared for that first day.”

When the students do arrive on the first day of class Clement said to greet them at the door, introduce yourself, have an assignment on the board and have a way for students to find their seats.

“Be businesslike. Hi, I’m Dr. Clement. Welcome to class. Please, go in and find your seat,” Clement said. “You may have to actually walk some of them to their desk or the table where they’ll be seated. But again, think about the first few minutes of the first day.”

Clement said beginning a dialogue to get to know the students early. She recommends having their students write down information about themselves on an interest inventory.

“You [should] ask about their interests. You ask about their goals, their hobbies, and that proverbial question, what did you do over your summer vacation,” Clement said. “What’s your favorite food? What’s your favorite candy? How do you learn best?”

Classroom management is one of the most important issues for new teachers to be prepared for. Clement said that by having procedures and rules clearly defined early in the school year teachers can save time throughout the year.

“You need to make these procedures become routines. And these procedures can start from the very first day of the school year,” Clement said. “Post these procedures, and refer to them.”

When developing rules and procedures Clement said you don’t need tons of rules.

“Sit down and ask yourself, what do I expect the students to do? Your expectations will become your rules. Make your expectations known with rules that are simple, observable, and enforceable,” Clement said.

One of the major issues that new teachers will begin to deal with will be the student’s parents.

“We know that parents should be our partners in the education of a child. One of the biggest hints I can give on opening lines of communication is this one. The first communication home should be positive,” Clement said. "You can build a lot of good rapport with a student if you call the parent and say something good about them.”

Once the relationships are formed, the new teachers are familiar with the school and a teacher’s confidence is established they can concentrate on teaching strategies. New teachers are confronted with deciding if they should teach a teacher-centered or a student-centered classroom. They must also decide whether they should act deductively or inductively with students.

“The right answer is there are times to be direct and to be teacher centered,” Clement said. “There are other times we can be very student centered even with our teaching approach. Sometimes discovery learning works great. There are times to be inductive and times to be deductive in our teaching.”

Clement said the key in deciding teaching strategies and discipline techniques is knowing your students.

“Know their academic backgrounds. Know what works. Know how they like to learn,” Clement said.

Clement said new teachers will be dealing with a lot of stress their first year so it’s important to manage it correctly. New teachers should eat right, get sleep and get plenty of exercise.

“Practice positive self-help and stress management. Research suggests that well-rounded individuals who balance life and work issues are actually more productive in the workforce,” Clement said. “Identify the stress, decide what you can do about it, and do it.”

“There will be some rough days in your teaching career. There may be some rough weeks in your teaching career, or dare I say, a rough semester or two,” Clement said. “What’s important when you have a rough day or week is to stop and think about why you do what you do.”

Clement said to remember that if new teachers have a plan, constantly improve themselves and manage their stress, the second year will go better.

Mary C. Clement’s seminar Ten Things That Successful New Teachers Do can be purchased here.

Donlin said that sexting is basically the 21st century version of you show me yours, and I’ll show you mine.

In his Inside The School online seminar he explained sexting involves young people creating, sending, and/or receiving sexually explicit, sexually provocative images and texts. Donlin said educators need to be prepared to handle these situations.

"Digital natives, the young folks that we have in our schools, are living in a world that has a new world culture, they’re in the process of establishing new social norms for themselves and for their peers, and they’re actively and very much participatory using the tools and toys that they have access to all day long, 24/7, and they don’t get a whole lot of input from us as adults.

So, why do kids take part in sexting?

"They’re kids. They have 24/7 access. They’re kids who don’t think things through very much. [Kids are] hormonal or pubescent. If you think of this as kind of virtual flirting," Donlin said. "On the negative side of things, though, more malicious reasons are peer pressure, revenge mean spiritedness’, coercion, and we have blackmail."

Donlin said because of these feelings and digital access is why educators need to be involved and prepared to handle sexting incidents and help victims.

"This is where the real, true cyber bullying comes in and is taken it to an extreme," Donlin said.
"The easy way out is to say if [sexting is] done off school, off grounds, we don’t need to do anything about it. So if it’s something that’s away from school, if there’s no connection to school, we don’t do anything about it. There’s nothing that we need to do to intervene."

For the safety of the students and the protection of the school district educators need to understand the do’s and don’ts of sexting.

"Students need to be listened to and talked to. Don’t over react. Stay calm. Don’t freak out. So listen to what they have to say, and don’t overreact. That’s what the kids are going to fear most. That’s why they’re least likely to come to you," Donlin said.

In the event of a sexting incident Donlin said to have a plan.

"Pull together your SIT teams, student intervention teams. This is administrators, counselors, nurses, prevention intervention staff, safety and security, other staff.
Investigate the situation. Number one, what are the laws, what are the policies, what are the things that are in place right now in the jurisdiction where you live that will impact what you do next? Not every jurisdiction, not every school, not every district has the same kinds of things in place, so prepare beforehand," Donlin said.
Where do you go for help? If there needs to be involvement of your legal office and of your local police, how are you going to do that?"

In any sexting or cyberullying situation it’s important to remember the first priority: protect that target.

Mike Donlin’s seminar The Sexting Problem and Possible Responses can be purchased here.

In his recent online seminar for Inside the School Boettger gave advice to help teachers help protect themselves, students, family, and friends from cyber-crime. Boettger said that cyber criminals are different then regular criminals and data theft can definitely happen to anyone.

"[Cyber] criminals are motivated to commit crimes using computers because it’s safer for them to do so, because it’s a less chance of them getting caught when they’re doing it online," Boettger said. "A successful cyber-criminal can make a lot of money, or boost their own ego, by committing crime on the Internet."

For whatever the reason cyber thieves target people it can really be a nightmare for the victim.

"Our private information, if it is stolen, it’s going to take us about 600 hours of time to recover from it. Plus, on average, it’s going to cost about 8,000 dollars if our identities are stolen for us to recover from it," Boettger said.

Boettger said it isn’t just the dollar amount teachers should be concerned with. The Internet can be a dangerous place.

"The other thing you need to be worried about is people that are mentally abusive online – criminals and cyber-bullies," Boettger said.

Educators play an important role in protecting students’ and parents’ computers. People don’t know how criminals are using computers to commit crime. Educators can be great influencers to those students and those parents when they’re using their computer. Not just on school computers, but teachers can help students use their computers at home as well.

Boettger said one of the common things that you want to do when you’re protecting your school’s computers is to know the way that cyber-criminals think.

"Passwords are one of the most favorite things that cyber-criminals are looking for," Boettger said.

Boettger said to protect any password a person has carefully. Passwords to your online banking, ATM transactions, alert system at your home and even a garage.

"Passwords are hard to remember and you should never write them down. One of our favorite recommendations is to use a password that’s a phrase," Boettger said. "What you can do is you can use different variations of that phrase to have special characters, like the exclamation point, upper case letters, like when you begin the phrase, you can begin the phrase in a capital letter. Instead of using vowels, you might substitute numbers for the vowels."

Boettger said the common rule of thumb is to never give out sensitive information to anyone, especially through electronic means or even by phone.

"Nobody should need your password, period," Boettger said. "If it seems suspicious, it probably is. So again, the best rule of thumb in using anything electronically, always verify it if you’re suspicious or if you think it’s odd that that a particular item is being sent electronically." Boettger said.

A favorite target of cyber criminals is unattended portable computers,  weak computer configurations,  email accounts and public computers. Teachers must be vigilant to keep their students’ information safe.

Boettger said some ways to tell if your computer has been compromised, if you start getting pop-ups from your browser, filenames are changing, grades and information is different, odd sounds coming from your computer and if your mouse starts moving on its own.

So when teachers want to protect their school’s data they need to find a curriculum that works for them in your classroom. Teachers can download cyber protection material and integrate it into their computer training program. They can take that curriculum and lesson plans to their administrative body,  talk to their IT administrators and ask for their help in building your lesson plan.

Boettger said schools should talk to other schools, law enforcement and attorneys because they can help with keeping school’s data safe.

"Young people don’t always think that things are going to happen to them, so they feel like they’re invincible, especially in cyber-safety, because it sounds kind of low risk. Cyber-criminals are creative. They are targeting [teachers], and they’re coming up with some incredible ways, through creativity, of things that they are doing to cause us harm. So we have to think like them as much as we can and stop them," Boettger said.

Larry Boettger’s seminar Electronic Data Safety for Teachers can be purchased here.