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Bridging the Gap: Leadership That Reaches Every Student
North Texas Association of Latino Administrators and Superintendents leaders are running districts where the gap between "what works" and "what reaches every student" is the daily job, not the conference topic. Proud to support the celebration, and the year-round work behind it. Thank you Dr. Rick Fernandez. Read more
May 29


From Exception to Norm: Inside the California Distinguished Schools Awards
Alyssa Mathewson, NovoDia's Director of Partnerships, spent Friday at the California Distinguished Schools Awards Ceremony - a room of more than 1,000 educators, schools closing gaps, and teachers being recognized for the work that's moving student outcomes. She also sat in on a literacy session with the California Department of Education, where one data point stood out: growth is trending in the right direction, but at the current pace, getting every student where they need
Apr 28


Curriculum Infrastructure Comes to South Texas: First Training with ESC 20 and Poteet ISD
This week, NovoDia and ESC 20 took a step forward in a collaborative project to bring curriculum infrastructure to districts across the region. Thank you to Lindsey Vela, Ph.D. (ESC 20), Sheryl Mills, and Donisha Miller (Poteet ISD) for hosting the first of many teacher training sessions. The session marked the start of what we expect to be a long and fruitful partnership - one focused on giving teachers a coherent, aligned instructional system rather than another disconnecte
Mar 27


Three Days on the Bay: NovoDia at RTM Business Group K-12 San Diego
Alyssa Mathewson and Bryan McCorkle represented NovoDia at this month's RTM Business Group K-12 event in San Diego. The setting on the bay was hard to beat, but the conversations were what stood out: a thoughtful group of district leaders, a lot of candor, and the kind of unhurried exchanges that don't usually fit into a normal workweek. These rooms matter. They're where the gap between "what's working in pockets" and "what works at scale" gets discussed honestly, by the peop
Mar 23


Special Education That's Not Separate: Inside Marysville's Approach to Aligned Instruction
New Episode of "Beyond the Box" Dr. Ronald Taylor sits down with Rusty Gordon, Director of Pupil Services at Marysville Joint Unified School District in California, to explore how to integrate special education into a coherent districtwide instructional system. Rusty has spent years doing the unglamorous but essential work of connecting special education to core instruction - across schools, across teams, and across leadership cycles. The conversation gets practical fast: how
Mar 18


The Through-Line Problem: Field Notes from IEI Spring Summit San Antonio
This week, our team was in San Antonio for the Institute for Education Innovation Spring Summit - three days alongside superintendents and district leaders organized around one theme: Scaling with Intention. What we heard in the 1:1s reinforced something we see everywhere: the ambition is there. The gap is infrastructure. Districts with 18 sites struggling to keep curriculum coherent across buildings. Districts with 92 schools that have done the hard work of alignment, but ar
Mar 11


Systems Design, Not Compliance: Inside Eagle County's Approach to Exceptional Student Services
New Episode of "Beyond the Box" Dr. Ronald Taylor sits down with Troy Lange, Executive Director of Exceptional Student Services at Eagle County School District in Colorado, to answer it. Troy oversees special education, gifted & talented, and nursing services across a district serving students ages 3 to 21. The conversation gets into real operational terrain: moving from teacher-selected materials to a districtwide service delivery model, building intervention fidelity that
Mar 5


Scaling CTE with Purpose: Inside Aldine ISD’s $32M HEAL Initiative
New Episode of "Beyond the Box" Dr. Ronald Taylor sits down with Brooke Martin , Executive Director of CTE at Aldine ISD , to explore what it takes to lead Career and Technical Education at true scale. Serving more than 20,000 students across 45+ programs, Aldine is tackling challenges many districts face: aligning TEKS with fast-moving industry demands, building coherent pathways across programs, expanding access for multilingual and specialized student populations, and s
Feb 26


Designing Coherent, Standards-Aligned Learning Systems with Multimodal Approaches
On January 30, Yair Shapira , PhD, Founder & CEO of NovoDia , will join our Edtech Insiders webinar to discuss how multimodal approaches can support coherent, standards-aligned learning systems designed for real classroom use. Yair brings deep experience building curriculum infrastructure and supporting district-level implementation. Join live or receive the recording! Register here: https://lnkd.in/g9rDqDUg Read more
Jan 28


From Fragmented Supports to Coherent Systems: Rethinking Special Education at the District Level
Dr. Ronald Taylor sits down with Christopher Sanzeri from Elgin Area School District U-46 to explore how districts can move away from fragmented, supplement-heavy special education models toward coherent, aligned curriculum systems. The conversation covers U-46’s shift to resource-first curriculum design, the launch of the Multi Abilities Classroom (MAC) model, and how coherence, teacher autonomy, equity, and thoughtful use of AI can coexist in real district settings. A
Jan 28


Multimodal Learning: Designing for Reality, Not Just Possibility
Looking forward to this conversation. Learning is becoming increasingly multimodal, which raises important questions for how instruction is designed and sustained in real classrooms. Video, audio, AI, and interactive experiences open new possibilities, but they also introduce complexity for schools and districts. What I’m most interested in discussing is how multimodal learning can live inside curriculum systems that teachers can actually use and sustain, while ensuring rigor
Jan 21


District-Level Decisions That Drive Instructional Outcomes
A strong conversation with Dr. Ronald Taylor and Zeek Edmond , Assistant Superintendent of Teaching & Learning at Tacoma Public Schools , on what actually shapes outcomes at scale - early learning access, teacher retention systems, and the often-overlooked power of master scheduling. What stood out to me is how many equity gaps aren’t philosophical, but structural: access, minutes, coherence, and adult decisions embedded in systems. Proud for NovoDia to support Beyond t
Jan 20


Beyond the Box Ep. 2: Building Literacy-Rich Cultures and Career Pathways
🎙️ Beyond the Box - Episode 2 In this episode of Beyond the Box, Dr. Ronald Taylor sits down with Dixie Rosier, Assistant Superintendent of Learning & Instruction for HOBBS MUNICIPAL SCHOOLS , to discuss how districts can move beyond traditional instructional models to build literacy-rich cultures and meaningful career pathways. The conversation explores: - Making literacy joyful, visible, and community-centered - Investing in teacher excellence and National Board Certifi
Jan 12


Beyond the Box Ep. 1: Raising the Instructional Floor Through Coherent Curriculum
🎙️ Beyond the Box - Episode 1 We’re sharing the first episode of Beyond the Box, a conversation series hosted by Dr. Ronald Taylor and sponsored by NovoDia. 🎧 Audio and 🎥 full video links are available in the first comment. In this episode, Dr. Taylor speaks with Peter McWain , Executive Director of Curriculum and Instruction at Santa Fe Public Schools , about system-level instructional improvement - including growth vs. proficiency, curriculum quality, teacher capaci
Jan 12


When ‘Final’ Isn’t Final: The Hidden Chaos of Lesson Versions
"Lesson 12" “Lesson 12 - updated after PD.” “Lesson 12 - revised for clarity.” “Lesson 12 - NEW pacing.” “Lesson 12 - Final.” “Lesson 12 - Final (Real Final).” Every change makes sense on its own. A tweak to help a student. A clearer prompt. A better example found mid-unit. But add enough of these tiny, well-meaning edits, and something else emerges: Not coherence, but chaos built from good intentions. A patchwork of lesson versions that only the people who wrote them can fu
Dec 9, 2025


The Real Curriculum Is Written on Sunday Night
The real curriculum shows up on Sunday night. When teachers are patching gaps, rebuilding lessons, searching for examples that actually land at 8:03 on Monday morning. Sunday night is where coherence breaks. It’s where the hidden workload lives. If a curriculum needs rescuing every weekend, it’s not a curriculum. It’s a draft teachers are finishing alone. Read more
Dec 2, 2025


Innovation Only Works When It Matches the Human Clock
Every school system I’ve seen runs on two clocks: The fast innovation clock - tech, demos, fireworks. The human clock - teachers, routines, trust. Most “slow adoption” isn’t resistance. It’s friction. Innovation that doesn’t match the human clock. Workflows that add steps instead of removing them. Technology that asks for more energy than the day has left. Schools move faster not when people push harder, but when tools fit naturally into the way schools already think and work
Nov 26, 2025


Curriculum Coherence Lives on the Teacher’s Desk
If you want to see how coherent a curriculum really is, Don’t read the pacing guide. Look at a teacher’s desk. The stack of photocopies. The half-finished anchor chart. The browser with eight tabs open. That’s where coherence, or the lack of it, shows itself. Every teacher is quietly doing the work of alignment: bridging gaps between standards, lessons, and the students in front of them. Coherence isn’t about uniformity. It’s about everything pointing in the same direction. T
Nov 18, 2025


The Two Curricula Every District Really Has
Every district has two curricula: • The one written in units and pacing guides, • and the one written in habits, rituals, and hallway conversations. The first is designed. The second is lived. Real improvement happens when they start talking to each other. When the daily rhythm of teaching begins to shape, not just follow, the written plan. Read more
Nov 11, 2025


See You at the 2025 Supes’ Choice Summit!
We’re excited to share that NovoDia will be attending the 2025 Supes’ Choice Summit, hosted by the Institute for Education Innovation - November 9-11 in Santa Ana Pueblo, NM! This event brings together superintendents, educators, and partners who care deeply about what’s next for K-12 learning. It’s one of the best spaces to listen, connect, and share ideas about how districts are leading change in their classrooms. Our team - Bryan R. McCorkle , Gaby Lozano , and Alyssa
Nov 3, 2025
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