Equity, from the Boardroom to the Classroom discusses the need for districts to become Professional Learning Organizations (PLOs) which links the board’s role to Professional Learning Communities. In order to promote equity, it is vital that school boards build a culture in which all stakeholders contribute individually and collectively to accomplish district objectives. To foster a collaborative culture, boards must display “thermostat leadership” as opposed to “thermometer leadership.” “Thermostat leadership” is practiced when the board is actively involved in setting, maintaining, or adjusting district culture in order to ensure alignment with district priorities which PLOs promote. Comparatively, “thermometer leadership” is used when a board governs by a laissez-faire approach and seeks to mandate a specificculture without becomingly actively involved. The latter approach enable boards to be misinformed about its strategic initiatives. Research is clear: No school reform aimed at improving student learning will be successful without strong leadership and support from the school board. PLOs are a must for districts that desire to build a positive culture and seek to increase student achievement by way of a systemic process grounded in collaboration. Without leadership, support, and collaboration led by the school board, it is doubtful that any school reform will be successful regardless of how effective the reform may appear to be.

Turn ideas into goals—and goals into impact The road to school improvement and student achievement is paved with good intentions—so why does the destination seem so far away? If you’re like most educators, the answer is a pothole known as the implementation gap. This book provides a road map to bypassing that gap in your school or district, offering a carefully researched, field-tested methodology that takes leadership teams, professional learning communities, and educators all the way from good ideas to systematic impact. Following the five Ds, you’ll: Discover goals worth pursuing and problems worth addressing Design instruments and actions that generate deep impact Deliver interventions and collect data Double-back to monitor your progress and evaluate the impact Double-up to enhance, sustain, and scale your success You became an educator to make a difference in students’ lives. With this playbook, you’ll transform research and ideas into achievable actions—and make maximum impact.

Urban school superintendents face unprecedented challenges. They must ensure that all students achieve a high level of performance despite a lack of resources, the intractable problems of race and poverty, a chaotic governance structure, and the often conflicting demands of teachers, parents, unions, and the community. This important book, edited by the co-directors of the prestigious Harvard Urban Superintendents Program (USP), explores the ways in which superintendents can make a difference in the lives of each child, every day, by being knowledgeable about and driven by what happens in the classroom. The editors and distinguished contributors cover a wide range of vital topics that superintendents face from the day they are hired to the day they retire, such as how superintendents can most effectively communicate their vision, plan strategically, institute instructional reform, engage the community, and allocate resources. The book is filled with illustrative examples of well-known superintendents who are trailblazing new means to achieve educational fairness for all children and are changing the landscape of urban school systems today. In addition, Every Child, Every Classroom, Every Day highlights the Urban Superintendents Program's Leadership Framework, which is designed to aid administrators and educators in decision making and achieving equity. An ancillary CD containing teaching notes and exhibits is also included (in the print edition only) as an aid to teachers who wish to scaffold material discussed in the text. Note: CD-ROM/DVD and other supplementary materials are not included as part of eBook file. These materials will be made available for download upon purchase of the digital edition Co-published with Education Week and the American Association of School Administrators.

The current socio-political moment—rife with racial tensions and overt bigotry—has exacerbated longstanding racial inequities in higher education. While educational scholars have developed conceptual tools and offered data-informed recommendations for rooting out racism in campus policies and practices, this work is largely inaccessible to the public. At the same time, practitioners and policymakers are increasingly called on to implement quick solutions to what are, in fact, profound, structural problems. Racial Equity on College Campuses bridges this gap, marshaling the expertise of nineteen scholars and practitioners to translate research-based findings into actionable recommendations in three key areas: university leadership, teaching and learning, and student and campus life. The strategies gathered here will prove useful to institutional actors engaged in both real-time and long-term decision-making across contexts—from the classroom to the boardroom.

Because equity and instruction are inextricably bound Why are equity visits such a critical first step to increasing opportunity and access for our under-served students? Because they take instructional rounds to a new level, providing a powerful lens for investigating the intersections of equity and instruction. After all, how can we possibly deliver equitable learning experiences, opportunities, and outcomes for our students, without first pinpointing problems of practice? That’s where Equity Visits will prove absolutely indispensable to district and school administrators. It details how to combine a strong focus on instruction with explicit, intentional efforts to address systemic inequities. Inside you’ll find A range of data collection activities and tools to target central issues of equity in your school Clear guidelines on how to investigate the ways instructional practices, structures, and beliefs lead to inequitable educational experiences—and how these are often masked in the day-to-day life of schools and districts A frank discussion of how to make race and racism an explicit part of investigating and addressing educational inequities Voices of school and district leaders who have taken crucial first steps to become "equity warriors" Recommendations on how to develop policies, initiatives, and practices to confront those inequities Few dispute that instructional improvement must be a central focus of educational leadership, but for too long achieving educational equity has been absent from the conversation. Here is your opportunity to ensure equity occupy a central spot in data collection and analysis, and be explicitly discussed at all levels of your school or district organization. In short, essential reading and doing for all administrators!

This compelling book takes you inside a teacher’s journey to explore the question of gender in education. Jason Ablin uses his background in math teaching, school leadership, and neuroscience to present expert interviews, research, and anecdotes about gender bias in schools and how it impacts our best efforts to educate children. He provides practical takeaways on how teachers and leaders can do better for students. There is also a handy Appendix with step-by-step guides for facilitating faculty-wide conversations around gender; writing learning reports without gender bias; using student assessments to check gendered attitudes about learning; evaluating learning spaces; and creating an inquiry map of your classroom. As a teacher, administrator, DEI director, or homeschooling parent, with the strategies and stories in this book, you’ll be ready to embark upon your own journey to balance the gender equation and create greater equity for all of your students.

Ensure your school district is doing the right work, the right way, for the right reasons. With this resource as your guide, you will learn how to align the work of every PLC team districtwide--from the boardroom to the classroom. Each chapter focuses on one of four types of teams and provides practices and tools for working together to foster a districtwide culture of continuous improvement. Use this resource to align your district's work in a top-down, bottom-up cyclical process: Learn the leadership role the district office plays in supporting successful PLC at Work implementation and school-improvement efforts. Observe how collaborative teams at every level align their work districtwide to ensure high levels of learning in professional learning communities. Study real-life examples and artifacts of best practices in action. Receive protocols and templates, such as the Team Analysis of Common Assessment (TACA) form, to move student learning forward. Review a process for establishing a guaranteed and viable curriculum, and discover strategies for analyzing student learning and making data-informed decisions. Contents: Introduction Chapter 1: Starting at the Top--The School Board and the Superintendent Team Chapter 2: Setting the Stage--The District-Level and Principal Teams Chapter 3: Effective Leadership Matters--The School-Level Principal and Grade-Level or Content Team Leaders Chapter 4: The Key to Improving Learning--Grade Level and Content Teams Chapter 5: Imagine This School District

Proven strategies for launching, sustaining, and monitoring a reform that will offer all students access to the best curriculum, raise achievement across the board, and close the achievement gap.

In this sequel to Total Instructional Alignment, the author peels back complex layers of the change process to reveal the five big ideas at the core of successful schools. Focus on these foundational ideas to simplify decision making and eliminate distractions from your efforts to promote effective teaching and learning. Teachers and administrators alike will appreciate this straightforward approach to solid leadership for school improvement.

This powerful third edition offers fresh approaches that enable school leaders to engage in effective interactions with students, educators, and the communities they serve.