Dennis Sparks

Dennis Sparks is the emeritus executive director of NSDC. In July 2007, Dennis stepped down from the position of executive director, a position he held for more than 20 years. Listed on this page are several of Dennis's articles and columns for NSDC.

Annual Conference -- 2006

Notes from Distinguished Lecture: Cultivating Ourselves as Leaders (PDF), December 2006.

Columns

• Principals amplify teachers' outstanding practices, Results, May 2005.
• Principals serve schools as leaders of professional learning, Results, April 2005.
• Principals establish relationships that energize and foster teamwork, Results, March 2005.
• Information provides direction, inspires continuous improvement, Results, February 2005.
• Principals partner with supervisors, teacher leaders, Results, December/January 2005.
• Principals possess a vision of quality professional learning, Results, November 2004.
• Principals first change themselves, Results, October 2004.
• The principal's essential role as a learning leader, Results, September 2004.
• Set goals for learning with a sense of urgency, Results, May 2004.
• Professional development apartheid, Results, April 2004.
• Take action to bridge the knowing-doing gap, Results, March 2004.
• The intellectual and creative capacity of educators, Results, February 2004.
• Leadership is intensely interpersonal, Results, December 2003/January 2004.
• Leaders as creators of high-performance cultures, Results, November 2003.
• Significant change begins with leaders, Results, October 2003.
• NSDC's theory of change, Results, September 2003.
• Change begins within each of us, Results, May 2003.
• Advocate each day for powerful professional learning, Results, April 2003.
• Form strong partnerships to ensure quality professional learning, Results, March 2003.
• Together we can support school leaders, Results, February 2003.
• High-performing cultures increase teacher retention, Results, December 2002.
• Employ a 'people strategy' for school improvement, Results, November 2002.
• Dramatic improvement depends on powerful intention, action, Results, October 2002.
• Conversations that make the case for professional learning, Results, September 2002.
• The capacity of teachers and principals to create better schools, Results, May 2002.
• Amplifying positive deviance in schools, Results, April 2002.
• Wishful thinking and other barriers to improvement, Results, March 2002.
• Improved social relationships are fundamental, Results, February 2001.
• Align learning experiences for all educators, Results, December 2001.
• Time for professional learning serves student learning,, Results, November 2001.
• Reinventing the wheel, school by school, Results, October 2001.
• Fundamental choices determine quality of professional learning, Results, September 2001.
• NSDC Revises staff development standards, Results, May 2001.
• The real barrier to improved professional development, Results, April 2001.
• Advocating for powerful forms of professional development, Results, March 2001.
• Expect the impossible, Results, February 2001.
• Leadership development key to school improvement, Results, Dec/Jan 2001.
• Improve the quality of learning in high-poverty schools, Results, November 2000.
• NSDC adopts the code of ethics for staff development, Results, October 2000.
• Six ways to immediately improve professional development, Results, September 2000.
• Asking tough questions about electronic professional training, Results, May 2000.
• Make principal development a priority, Results, April 2000.
• Corporate lessons for evaluating staff development, Results, March 2000.
• A national plan for improving professional development, Results, February 2000.
• Winning schools demonstrate value of staff development, Results, Dec/Jan 2000.
• Using lesson study to improve teaching, Results, November 2000.
• The real reason we don’t invest in staff development, Results, October 1999.
• Staff development has a role in preventing school violence, Results, September 1999.
• What teachers should expect from staff development, Results, May 1999.
• Investments in teacher learning reap student achievement benefits, Results, April 1999.
• How can schools make time for teacher learning? Results, March 1999.
• Plugging educators into technology, Results, February 1999.
• High standards for principals bolster school performance, Results, Dec/Jan 1999.
• School leaders must be system designers, Results, November 1998.
• Meeting the reading challenge in low-income schools, Results, October 1998.
• Teachers must be staff development leaders, Results, September 1998.
• Staff development to Learning First’s mission, Results, May 1998.
• Teacher expertise linked to student learning, Results, April 1998.
• Learning from our critics, Results, March 1998.
• Professional learning at center of science reform, Results, February 1998.
• Improving student learning requires deep change, Results, Dec/Jan 1998.
• Ambitious student learning goals require powerful strategies, Results, November 1997.
• Are we getting the results we want?, Results, October 1997.
• What’s in a name?, Results, September 1997.

JSD interviews by Dennis Sparks

• Changing the world, one student at a time: An interview with Dennis Littky, JSD, Summer 2005
• Explain, inspire, lead: An interview with Noel Tichy, JSD, Spring 2005
• Tempered radicals speak courageously to inspire change: Interview with Debra Meyerson, JSD, Winter 2005
• How to have conversations about race: An interview with Beverly Daniel Tatum, JSD, Fall 2004
• Look for ways to ignite the energy within: An interview with Jane E. Dutton, JSD, Summer 2004
• Broader purpose calls for higher understanding: An interview with Andy Hargreaves, JSD, Spring 2004
• From hunger aid to school reform: An interview with Jerry Sternin, JSD, Winter 2004
• We care, therefore they learn: An interview with Ronald F. Ferguson, JSD, Fall 2003 (PDF version)
• Honor the human heart: An interview with Parker Palmer, JSD, Summer 2003
• The answer to 'when?' is 'now.': An interview with Peter Block, JSD, Spring 2003
• Change agent: An interview with Michael Fullan, JSD, Winter 2003
• Conversations about race need to be fearless: An interview with Glenn Singleton, JSD, Fall 2002
• Inner conflicts, inner strengths: An interview with Robert Kegan and Lisa Lahey, JSD, Summer 2002
• Bringing the spirit of invention to leadership. An interview with Ron Heifetz, JSD, Spring 2002
• In Search of Heroes: An interview with Roland Barth, JSD, Winter 2002
• Change: It's a matter of life or slow death. An interview with Robert Quinn, JSD, Fall 2001
• Why change is so challenging for schools. An interview with Peter Senge JSD, Summer 2001.
• Follow the winners. An interview with Jim Lanich and Ross Santy, JSD, Spring, 2001.
• Your biggest game: An Interview with Dave Ellis, JSD, Winter 2001.
• It all comes down to the teacher: An Interview with Terry Dozier, JSD, Fall 2000.
• Low incomes, high hurdles: An Interview with Kati Haycock, JSD, Summer 2000.
• Issues at the table: An interview with Julia Koppich, JSD, Spring 2000.
• Results are the reason: An Interview with Mike Schmoker, JSD, Winter 2000.
• Real-life view: An Interview with Ann Lieberman, JSD, Fall 1999.
• Try on strategies to get a good fit: An Interview with Susan Loucks-Horsley, JSD, Summer 1999.
• Assessment without victims: An interview with Rick Stiggins, JSD, Spring 1999.
• The singular power of one goal: An Interview with Emily Calhoun, JSD, Winter 1999.
• Making assessment part of teacher learning: An interview with Bruce Joyce, JSD, Fall 1998.
• The educator, examined: An Interview with Phillip Schlechty, JSD, Summer 1998.
• When there’s a way, there’s a will: An Interview with Robert Slavin, JSD, Spring 1998.
• Using technology to improve teaching and staff development: An interview with Kathleen Fulton, JSD, Winter 1998.
• Reaching out to talk about educational issues: An interview with Public Agenda’s Deborah Wadsworth, JSD, Summer 1997.
• Maintaining the faith in teachers’ ability to grow: An Interview with Asa Hilliard, JSD, Spring 1997.
• An Interview with Linda Darling-Hammond, JSD, Winter 1997.
• Merging Content Knowledge and Pedagogy: An Interview with Lee Shulman, JSD, Winter 1992.

Additional articles in NSDC publications

• A call to creativity, JSD Winter 2004.
• Exploring the relationship between staff development and improvements in student learning, with Tom Guskey, JSD Fall 1996.
• A paradigm shift in staff development, JSD, Fall 1994.
• Five models of staff development, with Susan Loucks-Horsley, JSD, Fall 1989.

NSDC Reports

• A National Plan for Improving Professional Development (with Stephanie Hirsh), 1999.

Articles by Dennis Sparks in non-NSDC publications

• Taking personal responsibility for professional development that improves student learning, Professional Development Brief, a publication of the California Staff Development Council, October 2002.
• Being an informed consumer of electronic learning, The School Administrator, March 2001.
• Ensure high-quality teaching through powerful professional development, School Board News. Feb. 20, 2001.
• Strengthening professional development, with Stephanie Hirsh, Education Week, May 24, 2000.
• What teachers know and don't know matters, Harvard Education Letter, July/August 1999.