When Lesson Planning Lives Everywhere, Leadership Can't See Anywhere

Problem

• Plans lived in Google Docs and shared folders—so leaders spent time hunting for files instead of seeing instruction.
• Too many clicks: Reviewing meant opening doc after doc (and chasing access/links).
• Inconsistent collaboration: SPED/ESL partners weren’t always planning from the same place.
• Low visibility: It was hard to know what was happening across classrooms.

Solution

Cresthaven centralized planning in Common Planner and aligned around a consistent structure.

• One shared system: A predictable place (and format) for every plan.
• Co-planning built in: Gen ed + SPED/ESL partners can work together in the plan.
• Coaching over compliance: Visibility supports deeper review and better feedback.

Problem: “It was just incredibly frustrating as a principal.”

For many school leaders, the hardest part of instructional leadership isn’t effort — it’s visibility. Teachers are planning. Students are learning. But lesson plans often live in folders, formats, and files that make it nearly impossible to see what’s actually happening across classrooms.

That was the reality at Cresthaven Charter School. Plans were submitted, but reviewing them felt fragmented and time-consuming. Collaboration between general education teachers and special education or ESL partners was harder than it needed to be.

As Chief School Administrator Damion Frye put it plainly, trying to manage planning through shared documents had become “a nightmare.”

• Too many clicks to review: Leaders had to open individual documents just to see what teachers were planning.
• Too many failure points: Sharing, permissions, and links created friction and wasted time.
• Too hard to collaborate: Partners weren’t consistently building and revising one shared plan.

Solution: A single shared system for planning + collaboration

Frye had seen a better way before. “I’ve been a huge fan of Common Curriculum since 2012,” he said. “I was searching for a way in which teachers could easily collaborate with their special education partners on the lesson plans.”

Cresthaven centralized planning in Common Planner so teachers and partners could collaborate in one place—and leaders could review consistently without chasing documents.

• One shared system: Plans live in a predictable place and format.
• Collaboration in the plan: Gen ed + SPED/ESL partners can co-plan without version chaos.
• Clear expectations: Everyone knows what belongs in a plan and where to find it.

Impact: “It’s not time-saving. It’s time readjustment.”

For Frye, the biggest impact wasn’t speed — it was quality.

“I don’t want to call it time-saving,” he said. “It’s time readjustment.”

Instead of quickly checking whether plans existed, leaders could review them deeply and across time. “We require teachers to put student groupings in,” Frye explained. “Now I can see if they haven’t changed those groupings in three weeks and make a comment about it.”

That visibility created accountability — not just for teachers, but for administrators. “I can hold the administration more accountable to the quality of the review,” he said. “You have the ability to really see this across time.”

What made it stick:

• Prescriptive rollout: “We had to be very prescriptive about what goes on the cards.”
• Champions → 100% implementation: Year one built buy-in, year two reached 100% implementation, and by year three it was part of the instructional culture.
• Predictable plans: “Now everybody knows what to include, and we know what we’re going to get when we open a plan.”

And it didn’t stop with staff—parents can see it too

This year, Cresthaven also took another step forward by making lesson plans public.

“If you go to our website and click on a teacher, it takes you to their plans,” Frye said. Parents can see agendas, worksheets, and homework — all within clearly defined sections. “That’s how our parents are able to track what’s going on in the class,” he said. “It’s been a process getting there, but we’re in a good place.”

• Deeper coaching conversations: Leaders see patterns over time and give higher-quality feedback.
• Accountability for review quality: Visibility applies to administrative follow-through, too.
• Parent-facing transparency: Families can see what’s happening in class and stay aligned.