Andrea Cortes, Transformation Coach, Network for College Success; Jazmin Fermin, Transformation Coach, Network for College Success; and Sarah Howard, Director of Professional Learning, Network for College Success.
May 5, 2025
In our fast-paced world of education, it’s easy to rush from task to task without pausing to ask ourselves a critical question: What are we learning from our experiences? In our April community of practice session, we explored how intentional reflection can be a powerful driver of growth for ourselves, our teams, and ultimately our students.
As you continue your work to improve outcomes for students, consider these takeaways from our session:
1. Reflection Isn’t Just Looking Back—It’s Learning Forward
We define reflection as “the intentional practice of pausing to think deeply about our experiences, beliefs, and actions in order to learn and grow.” It’s not merely about dwelling on the past; instead, it’s about making sense of what has happened, recognizing patterns, questioning assumptions, and moving forward with greater clarity and purpose.
Without reflection, we risk repeating the same actions without understanding what truly works and why. Reflection helps surface the complexities of our work, reduces feelings of overwhelm and burnout, and allows us to lead and collaborate with our whole selves.
2. Behaviors and Attitudes Can Build a Culture of Reflection
Building reflection into our leadership and collaboration takes more than just good intentions. It requires specific behaviors and attitudes, including:
- Aligning agendas to schoolwide priorities, and protecting time for reflection instead of letting it get squeezed out
- Using tools and protocols to balance between being too rigid or too open-ended.
- Modeling vulnerability by sharing our own reflections and learning from mistakes, which creates psychological safety for others to do the same
- Being willing to slow down. Reflection isn’t a break from the work, it is the work. Slowing down helps us move forward more thoughtfully and effectively.
When we lead with these behaviors, we create the same culture we want for our students: one that celebrates reflection, curiosity, and growth.
3. Move from Reflection to Action with “Adopt, Adapt, or Abandon”
Reflection becomes even more powerful when paired with clear next steps. During the community of practice session, we practiced applying the Adopt, Adapt, Abandon framework to real-world examples.
- Adopt actions that worked well and are scalable.
- Adapt actions that showed promise but need tweaking.
- Abandon actions that didn’t produce the desired results after thoughtful testing.
By engaging in data-supported reflection, teams can make informed decisions about what to carry forward, what to adjust, and what to let go, all while fostering a culture of inquiry over impulsive reactivity.
4. Applying It to Your Own Context
Imagine a leadership team that reflects to improve, and where discussing data, student supports, and adult practices feels safe, intentional, and focused on growth. The reflection and action cycle we practiced can be adapted for team meetings, professional learning communities, leadership discussions, and more.
Ask yourself:
- How can we make reflection a regular, protected part of our leadership routines?
- How can we foster an environment where mistakes are seen as opportunities and slowing down is seen as a strength?
- How can we move from reflection to action?
When reflection is integrated into our systems instead of being treated as an add-on, we foster the conditions for deeper learning, stronger teams, and better outcomes for students.
We hope you have the opportunity to reflect on this year’s work, celebrate successes, and enjoy a rejuvenating summer.