The 100 Percent Principal Podcast

Robyn Jackson
  • 4.6 (117)
  • Education
  • Updated Weekly

Tired of school change efforts that stall, or worse, never get off the ground? If you're a principal, assistant principal, or instructional coach who is ready have a transformative impact on the teachers you serve then School Leadership Reimagined is for you. Each week, Robyn Jackson will share counterintuitive strategies to help you dramatically improve instruction. You'll discover how to motivate your teachers, help them be accountable, overcome toxic cultures, and transform your school. No more pulling teeth with resistant teachers. No more constantly fighting fires. No more running out of steam mid-year. Regain your time, Reignite your passion, and Rethink what's possible. Stop settling for status quo. It's time to reimagine school leadership. Visit SchoolLeadershipReimagined.com to download the free resources that come with each episode

  1. 1d ago

    Your Teachers Don't Need More PD. They Need Implementation.

    A principal brought her beginning-of-the-year PD plan to BU Office Hours recently. Earlier in the summer, she had introduced her teachers to our Rigorous Unit Planning Process. The session had gone beautifully. The teachers understood it. They were excited about it. She had even shared the idea with parents, who loved the thought of their children learning to think—not simply complete assignments. Still, she was worried. Her teachers would soon be expected to use the process for their own unit planning. What if they weren't ready? Did she need to provide more training? It was a perfectly reasonable question. But as we talked, I realized that another round of training might actually postpone the very thing she wanted to produce. That conversation stayed with me because principals everywhere are planning PD right now—and many are working very hard to create engaging sessions that still leave teachers with the hardest part to complete on their own. I call it great PD with implied homework. In this week's episode, I explore why even excellent professional development so often fails to survive contact with real classrooms—and what to do instead. If you're planning PD for your teachers this fall, this one may change what you put on the agenda.

  2. Aug 12

    The Budget Changed. Your Vision Didn't.

    Principals are constantly told to "do more with less." But doing the same work with fewer people, less money, less time, and less support is not resourcefulness. It's making bricks without straw. In this episode, I break down why shrinking budgets are quietly shrinking schools' visions—and how Builders keep pursuing 100% without pretending that resources don't matter. THIS EPISODE IS SPONSORED BY THE SUPPORTING STRUGGLING STUDENTS IMPLEMENTATION KIT Strengthen Tier 1 Support by helping your staff  create SUCCESS Plans that make better use of the intervention capacity you still have: https://buildershipuniversity.com/implementation-kit/  WHAT YOU'LL DISCOVER: • What new RAND research reveals about the shift from school improvement to financial survival • Why "maintaining our gains" can become a respectable-sounding way to lower expectations • How eliminated positions create invisible transfers of work to principals • The difference between being resourced and being resourceful • Why programs, positions, and purchases cannot become the anchor for your vision • How a principles-based ONE Plan helps you pivot without diminishing the result • How to identify what your school should stop, redesign, or request when resources shrink • The five questions in a one-page Priority Protection Plan Budget cuts don't merely reduce what is available. They reveal which gains were truly built into the school—and which were being propped up by programs, positions, and purchases that worked only while the funding lasted. A smaller budget may require a different pathway. It does not require a smaller vision. SUBSCRIBE TO THE 100% PRINCIPAL WEEKLY Get the complete newsletter delivered every Friday: https://100percentprincipal.com

  3. Aug 5

    Your Staff Doesn't Have to Agree to Be Aligned

    If every staff disagreement eventually lands in your office, you may not have a staff-conflict problem. You may have a home-base problem. In this episode, Robyn Jackson explains why trying to get everyone to agree makes the principal personally responsible for holding the entire faculty together. Drawing on patterns from the Staff Alignment Bootcamp and findings from the 2026 Edelman Trust Barometer, she examines how growing social divisions are already showing up in schools—and why harmony is not the same as alignment. You'll discover: Why the principal becomes home base when the school's purpose is not How principals were trained to mistake agreement and visible harmony for a healthy culture Why resistant teachers often gain concessions but never experience real power How a 100% Vision, mission, and core values help a faculty navigate disagreement How to return a divided staff to home base without forcing consensus or manufacturing compliance Your staff does not have to share the same politics, personalities, experiences, or preferred strategies. They need a purpose strong enough to hold their disagreements—and a way to align their behavior with what they have collectively promised students. Get one practical Buildership idea you can take straight into Monday. Subscribe free to The 100% Principal Weekly: https://100percentprincipal.com

  4. Jul 29

    The Danger of Making Your Vision "More Realistic"

    This week on The 100% Principal Podcast, Robyn Jackson unpacks a pattern she caught in three separate conversations this week: school leaders quietly shrinking their vision because they've stopped believing their staff can rise to it. If you're a K12 principal or school leader heading into back-to-school planning, this episode names the hidden ceiling on your own vision — and the one sentence that can break it. Get the newsletter every Friday: 100percentprincipal.com

  5. Jul 22

    Everything's Sexy in August | Why Your Vision Keeps Fading By November

    A principal built a vision with her staff at Bootcamp. A year later, they could still recite it word for word — but nothing else about the school had changed. In this episode, I break down why the excitement you build in August isn't the same as the systems that carry a school through the whole year, and the three questions that tell you whether you're launching or building. Want a new episode like this every Friday? Subscribe to the newsletter at 100percentprincipal.com

  6. Jul 15

    Your Biggest Accountability Problem Isn't Your Staff

    Your accountability problem probably isn't your staff. It's every process you've built without asking one question: what is this actually teaching people? In this episode, I break down why tightening your systems doesn't fix accountability, the real reason your staff was gung-ho in August and checked out by October, and the one question you can run against any policy on your desk in fifteen minutes. Plus, what the Buildership model (Purpose, People, Process) actually requires, and how it connects to the Staff Alignment Bootcamp. Get the newsletter every Friday: 100percentprincipal.com  Join the Staff Alignment Bootcamp: BuildershipUniversity.com/bootcamp

  7. Jul 8

    But My Staff

    Do you have a vision for your school but secretly doubt your teachers will get there with you? You're not alone — and you're not wrong to feel it. But the doubt isn't about your teachers. It's about a belief nobody has ever directly addressed. In this episode, I share the realization that stopped me cold this spring: I've spent twenty years trying to convince principals to believe in 100% student success. And I've been arguing the wrong thing the entire time. Every principal I've ever worked with already believes every kid deserves to succeed. What they don't believe is that their staff can get there with them. And that one belief is costing them everything. If you've ever settled for compliance because alignment felt impossible, this episode is for you.

  8. Jul 1

    You're Trying to Fix Staff Problems With the Wrong Tools

    Are you beating yourself up because you just don't have enough time, bandwidth, or follow-through to finally get your staff aligned? What if the problem was never you? In this episode, I'm breaking down why every staff alignment tool you've been given — the culture retreats, the PLC protocols, the buy-in campaigns, the accountability conversations — was designed to produce compliance, not alignment. And compliance is not alignment's cheaper version. It's alignment's wrong destination. You've been using the tools correctly. You've been getting exactly what they were designed to give. The problem isn't your execution. The problem is that no compliance tool was ever built to get you to 100% staff alignment — and no amount of additional time, energy, or focus on your part will change that. By the end of this video you'll know: — Why your staff alignment problems keep coming back every August — Why the tools you've been given were designed for symptom relief, not a cure — What it actually takes to build real, lasting staff alignment in your school This is Issue #012 of the 100% Principal Newsletter. Every week I take one thing every principal is wrestling with, show you why it's so hard, and give you the 100% approach that will actually move your school forward. 📩 Get the full newsletter every Friday: https://100percentprincipal.com 🏗️ Ready to stop treating the symptoms and start building real staff alignment? The Staff Alignment Bootcamp is where that work happens: https://buildershipuniversity.com/bootcamp

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4.6
out of 5
117 Ratings

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Tired of school change efforts that stall, or worse, never get off the ground? If you're a principal, assistant principal, or instructional coach who is ready have a transformative impact on the teachers you serve then School Leadership Reimagined is for you. Each week, Robyn Jackson will share counterintuitive strategies to help you dramatically improve instruction. You'll discover how to motivate your teachers, help them be accountable, overcome toxic cultures, and transform your school. No more pulling teeth with resistant teachers. No more constantly fighting fires. No more running out of steam mid-year. Regain your time, Reignite your passion, and Rethink what's possible. Stop settling for status quo. It's time to reimagine school leadership. Visit SchoolLeadershipReimagined.com to download the free resources that come with each episode

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