Every principal and instructional leader—no matter what level—needs a playbook for instructional excellence. Josh Mclaurin, an instructional and educational leader with decades of experience at various levels, explains how instructional leadership impacts student learning in this handbook for instructional excellence. Learn how to: • increase student achievement; • execute a turnaround at a struggling school; • teach the right things in the right ways; • change teaching methods based on learning styles. The author also highlights how to teach children in a virtual environment, which has become increasingly important amid COVID-19; ways to motivate unmotivated students; and tips on hiring and retaining great teachers. Other topics include working with instructional leadership teams, increasing student engagement, and making constant improvement a priority. Great coaches have a playbook that details every play in the offense or defense. The Principal’s Playbook on Instructional Leadership: 23 Things That Matter Most for Improving Student Achievement provides the playbook for instructional excellence.

Sharpen your instructional leadership skills and guide your school toward equity and excellence for all. Just think about how great schools could be if every instructional leader exercised their influence to create change—maximizing the efforts of others and mobilizing those efforts to work toward a shared goal. How Leadership Works: A Playbook for Instructional Leaders walks educators through the processes of clarifying, articulating, and actualizing instructional leadership goals with the aim of delivering on the promise of equity and excellence for all. Grounded in Visible Learning® research, the exercises in this easy-to-use playbook illuminate the essential mindframes necessary for effective instructional leadership and prompt veteran, new, and aspiring educators to identify challenges and determine next steps. It includes: Ten essential mindframes for leaders, together with the leadership practices that illustrate each mindframe in action Teaching practices, such as teacher clarity or student engagement in learning, that support teachers in delivering quality instruction, along with tools to document the impact of those practices on learning Strategies for leading learning, including establishing school culture, utilizing feedback, and supporting professional learning communities as a pathway to building collective teacher efficacy. Tools for applying the principles of change, conducting an initiative inventory, and implementing and de-implementing initiatives Exercise-by-exercise, educators and front office staff will deepen their knowledge, frame their priorities and practices, and gain new tools for supporting the instructional focus and initiatives designed to support learning at your school.

This how-to resource provides leaders with a concrete framework for a strategic improvement plan, helping educators link the "principles" to "processes" of planning. Packed with key takeaways and additional resources, this book provides the concrete tools to design a strong strategy for improvement and enables educational leaders to think constructively about why we plan, what an effective strategic plan should contain, and how to create meaningful dialogue to support plan development, implementation, and monitoring for continuous improvement. The Strategy Playbook for Educational Leaders provides superintendents, central office staff, principals, and teacher leaders with the opportunity to reframe the process of their strategic planning and breathe new life into the activity.

Teachers deal with change on a regular basis, but there are some principles at the core of teaching that remain constant and that have the biggest impact on student achievement. In this inspiring book from Danny Steele, creator of the popular Steele Thoughts blog, and Todd Whitaker, bestselling author and speaker, you’ll learn how to focus on the most important things in the classroom, not just the "current" things. The authors reveal essential truths that will make you a more effective educator in areas such as student relationships, classroom management, and classroom culture. The strategies are presented in digestible chunks, perfect for book studies, in-service sessions, mentorship meetings, and other learning formats. With the inspiring anecdotes and insights in this book, you’ll be reminded of your greater purpose – making a difference in students’ lives.

Effective school leadership is effective leadership, regardless of where it occurs In March 2020, there was no manual for leading schools and school systems during a pandemic. School leaders had to figure things out as the crisis unfolded. But starting now, leaders have the opportunity to prepare for leading schools through distance learning with purpose and intent—using what works best to accelerate students’ learning all the while maintaining an indelible focus on equity. Harnessing the insights and experience of renowned educators Douglas Fisher, Nancy Frey, and John Hattie, The Distance Learning Playbook for School Leaders applies the wisdom and evidence of the VISIBLE LEARNING® research to understand what works best. Spanning topics from school climate at a distance, leader credibility, care for self and colleagues, instructional leadership teams, stakeholder advisory groups, and virtual visibility, this comprehensive playbook details the research- and evidence-based strategies school leaders can mobilize to lead the delivery of high-impact learning in an online, virtual, and distributed environment. This powerful guide includes: Actionable insights and hands-on steps for each module to help school leaders realize the evidence-based leadership practices that result in meaningful learning in a distance environment Discussion of equity challenges associated with distance learning, along with examples of how leaders can work to ensure that equity gains that have been realized are not lost. Analysis of the mindsets that empower leaders to manage change, rather than technology Space to write and reflect on current practices and plan future leadership strategies The mindframes for distance learning that serve leaders well in any instructional setting and will position schools after the pandemic to come back better than they were before The Distance Learning Playbook for School Leaders is the essential hands-on guide to leading school and school systems from a distance and delivering on the promise of equitable, quality learning experiences for students.

The authors lay out a step-by-step process to remake your leadership skills and methods with Universal Design for Learning (UDL). Topics include multitiered systems of support, effective feedback, and transforming culture and curriculum.

Small changes can lead to big results! Best-selling author Jim Knight presents the high-leverage strategies that make the biggest difference in student learning. Featuring checklists, numerous observation tools, and online videos of teachers implementing the practices, this revolutionary book focuses on the three areas of high-impact instruction: Content planning, including using guiding questions, learning maps, and formative assessment Instructional practices such as the use of thinking prompts, effective questions, challenging assignments, and experiential learning Community building, in which you shape a classroom culture that promotes well-being, creativity, learning, and high expectations

In our knowledge-based society, K?8 students need to develop increasingly sophisticated skills to read, write, and speak for a wide variety of purposes and audiences. Including an extended case example from a linguistically diverse school (nearly 75% English learners), this book guides school leaders to design and implement advanced literacy instruction through four key shifts: strengthening the instructional core, giving data a central role, using a shared curriculum, and providing supportive and tailored professional development. Reproducible forms and templates facilitate planning and implementation of schoolwide initiatives. Purchasers get access to a Web page where they can download and print the reproducible materials in a convenient 8 1/2" x 11" size.

A proven framework for whole-school improvement The School Leadership Playbook is a practical guide foreducation leaders looking to push their school's and students'achievement to the next level. Developed by renowned leadershippreparation program New Leaders, the Transformational LeadershipFramework focuses on the five categories that drive a school'ssuccess: Learning and Teaching, School Culture, Talent Management,Operations and Systems, and Personal Leadership. This bookillustrates how each of these factors contributes to breakthroughgains, and outlines a plan for implementing changes in your ownschool. You'll learn how to accurately diagnose the current stateof your school's academics and culture and create an action planfor the year ahead. The TLF is grounded in the latest research andcase studies of the highest-gaining turnaround schools, and showsyou the specific actions you can take to attract, retain, andsupport high-performing teachers; improve school culture;successfully involve parents and the community; and ultimatelydrive student success. New Leaders developed the UEF to pinpoint what schools achievingsignificant student academic gains were doing, and how they weredoing it. This book provides a practical breakdown of the frameworkto help you begin leading these changes in your own school. Ensure rigorous goal- and data-driven teaching andlearning Build and manage a high-performance faculty aligned to theschool's vision Implement effective and efficient operations and systems Model the tone you would like to see from students and teachersschool-wide By matching the needs of the school to effective principalactions and school practices, leaders can create a plan fortransformational change.

Your best resource for curriculum leadership post-NCLB and beyond! Put quality curriculum front and center with this classic toolkit to savvy curriculum leadership for the 21st Century. Newly revised and updated case studies, research, and state and national curriculum and leadership standards complement a completely new section focused on emerging technologies. New features include up-to-date information on: Professional Standards for Educational Leaders, ESSA, CCSS and more District-level curriculum mapping, planning, and integration Facilitating professional growth, learning-centered scheduling, and leadership time management State curriculum frameworks, online assessments, SBAC, PARCC, and adaptive testing Learn what it really takes to structure, align, integrate and evaluate quality curriculum in the post-NCLB, ESSA and Common Core era. This nuts and bolts guide will help you navigate the new curriculum landscape with ease! "As principals, we so often get caught up in the day-to-day management of our schools. We must quit putting out fires and instead focus our attention on leading, specifically as curriculum leaders. The Principal as Curriculum Leader provides a clear framework with a plan of action to put you and your school on a path to student success." —Stephen Baker, Principal Smithfield-Selma High School, NC "The Principal as Curriculum Leader is a blueprint for principals to use when implementing curriculum reform. It brings clarity to the many trends, mandates, and guidelines that masquerade as simple solutions to complex issues. This book should be read and owned by every principal and curriculum leader." —Dr. Jerry V. Congleton, Former Superintendent Weldon City Schools