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From the Desk of the Superintendent

How to Start the School Year with a Winning Routine

The beginning of every new school year is actually a lot like the first day on a new job: new desks, new colleagues, new tools, and new rules, all mixed with excitement and anticipation for what this new opportunity might lead to.

While this fresh start can feel thrilling, so much newness can also feel intimidating for anyone who prefers the comfort of familiarity. So as our new 2026-2027 school year begins, one important practice that will help both excited and anxious students succeed is establishing a winning routine — and as parents, we have an outsized role to play in making this happen.

What does a winning routine look like? Although every student has different needs and goals, there are a few key components of a healthy routine that almost every student will benefit from. These include:

  • Good time management: We all know it’s easier to stay up-to-date than it is to deal with the pressure of catching up. If your kids have a big test or a complex project on the horizon, helping them break their work or studying down into smaller pieces that they can manage more easily will keep them on pace to meet their deadlines with less stress.
  • Early wins build momentum: Just like it’s easier to stay ahead in terms of time, it’s also much easier to shrug off a bad day, a bad grade, or a bad game if you already have some wins in your column. Celebrate your child’s early academic, artistic, or athletic wins this year to help them build their confidence, and then encourage them to try progressively harder challenges as their own belief in their ability to succeed starts to grow.
  • Practice, practice, practice: Knowledge doesn’t happen automatically; it’s a combination of learning, doing, making mistakes, and improving on what didn’t work before. If there’s a subject that your child needs extra help with, consider setting some daily time aside to review flash cards, practice math drills, read age-appropriate books together, or watch a video about science or history and then discuss what you both just learned. By taking an active interest in helping your child learn, you’ll also be helping them develop healthy habits that they can build on over time.

Most importantly, a good routine helps kids establish resilience, commitment, and the perseverance to push through when challenges arise, and a new school year is definitely a new challenge.

If you were starting a new job, you’d want to make a great first impression because it would help you begin the next chapter of your career with confidence. The same is true for our kids as they begin the 2026-2027 school year — they want to make new friends, master new subjects, and prove they’re up to the challenge — so let’s do everything we can to help them start this year off right!