Skip To Main Content

Quicklinks

Pitt County Schools

Publications by OSI Personnel

OSI staff members regularly author and submit articles for publication.  Links to selected publications articles are below, organized by theme and arranged sequentially by date, with the most recent publications listed first in each area.

Coaching & School Leadership

  • When Coaching Meets Leadership, Learning Culture Grows (2026) - In this article, published by Learning Forward in The Learning Professional, co-authors Dr. Thomas Feller, Jr. and Dr. Seth Brown argue that coaching and leadership aren't mutually exclusive but rather complimentary stances as part of a "coaching leader" model built on four skills (listening with empathy, pausing to process, inquiring purposefully, and delivering calibrated feedback) plus regular one-on-one meetings. This blended approach avoids the pitfalls of leaning too hard on either role alone and builds schools into genuine learning organizations for both staff and students.
  • Offer Corrective Feedback with Empathy (2025) - Published by the National Elementary School Principals Association in Principal, co-authors Dr. Seth Brown, Lauren Bowers, Elizabeth Myers, and Dr. Thomas Feller introduce the "TALK" protocol, developed to help principals deliver corrective feedback that balances high expectations with empathy. It pairs the active-listening skills of listening to understand, pausing to process, and responding intentionally through paraphrasing or deep inquiry with a structured conversation framework so feedback conversations build trust and lead to concrete next steps rather than feeling one-sided or punitive.
  • Preparing Tomorrow's Principals Today (2022) - Published by the National Association of Secondary School Principals in Principal Leadership, Drs. Feller and Brown share how PCS built an intentional principal pipeline by identifying 12 core competencies (grouped as virtuous leader, team builder, and responsible risk-taker) needed for first-year principals, then created the Academy for Transformational School Leaders (ATSL), an 18-month program combining group training, assessments, and individual coaching to develop assistant principals in both the "inner" and "outer" game. The program  exceeded its goal of promoting 50% of participants within two years, with alumni crediting it for stronger self-awareness, relationship-building, and leadership skills.

Teacher Leadership

  • Communities of practice empower teachers to tackle thorny problems (2022) - In this article in The Learning Professional, co-authors Dr. Thomas Feller, Elizabeth Myers, and Ashley Smith describe how Pitt County Schools built communities of practice where teacher leaders use humble inquiry (humility, trust, mutual respect, deep listening) combined with a structured data-driven cycle of inquiry to tackle difficult, sometimes divisive problems of practice, producing measurable gains in student and teacher performance while also boosting teacher engagement and leadership development.
  • Developing Self-Directed Teacher Leaders (2018) – This article was co-authored Thomas Feller, Seth Brown, and Lauren Bowers, and they describe both the use and alignment of the Habits of Mind in the Teacher Leadership Institute.  The article was posted on the website of the Institute for Habits of Mind.
  • Bringing Great Teachers into High-Needs Schools (2013) -  Published by ASCD in Educational Leadership, in this article Dr. Feller describes PCS Teacher Leader Cohort program, which recruited high-performing teachers into struggling schools with financial incentives, having them serve as full-time classroom teachers who also coach and mentor colleagues. Three years in, participating schools showed nearly double the district's average growth, and the district learned that leadership must extend beyond the classroom, money alone isn't enough to retain leaders, and teacher leaders need support networks beyond their own school, lessons that led to a refined three-tier framework for the program.

Teaching Practices

  • The Habits of Self-Directed Learners (2022) - Published by Educational Leadership, Drs. Brown and Feller profile four PCS teachers who used Costa and Kallick's 16 Habits of Mind to build self-directed learners, finding success by first practicing the habits themselves, aligning language across classrooms, narrowing focus to a few key habits, teaching them through mini-lessons, and modeling reflection with students. The result was students who took real ownership of goal-setting and accountability, and teachers who became more flexible, responsive, and self-directed in their own practice.