In UDL Playbook for School and District Leaders, the authors lay out a step-by-step process to remake your leadership skills and methods through the inclusive principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL). Creating multitiered systems of support, delivering effective and inspiring feedback, embedding the UDL principles throughout your culture and curriculum-these are just some of the topics covered by two veteran school leaders.

Eliminate school discipline and classroom management problems with schoolwide restorative justice

Washington Post bestseller Hacking School Discipline brought restorative practice to classrooms around the world. The sequel, Hacking School Discipline TOGETHER, is helping all stakeholders--teachers, students, counselors, principals, superintendents, and parents--create a schoolwide restorative justice system that can change the culture of schools around the world.

We may feel powerless to have a positive impact on our students and not trust the other adults to do the right thing, rather than confidently addressing student behaviors in ways that help them learn new skills, build better relationships, and learn to be accountable.

Enter the Hacking School Discipline sequel Hacking School Discipline TOGETHER, featuring all new content from 40-year teacher, school leader, and restorative justice expert Jeffrey Benson, who provides a roadmap for schoolwide staff unity, compassion, consistency, and restorative practices that do far more than send students to detention and suspension.

Hacking School Discipline TOGETHER shows you how to:

• Fix the chronic structural flaws in routines and practices that make it harder for students to do the right thing.
• Take positive actions when working with a student who is struggling to behave well.
• Clarify the role administrators must play in addressing significant misbehaviors.
• Take the critical steps for integrating a student back into the classroom.
• Prevent misbehaviors rather than react to them.
• Understand how important it is for all staff to be pulling in the same direction and how to make that happen.

This book uniquely speaks to administrators guiding a school to a culture of restorative practice, to staff members longing to help all students learn from their impulsive decisions, and to teachers creating classrooms that foster responsibility, forgiveness, and accountability.

How is What Makes a Great Principal unique, and what sets it apart from other leadership books?

Many leadership books outline the what of effective leadership without delving into the how. What sets What Makes a Great Principal apart from others are three key elements: a clear emphasis on what truly matters, narratives and strategies directly sourced from teachers and students, and a diverse range of perspectives that collectively paint a comprehensive picture of impactful school leadership.

Our book distinctly identifies the five pillars essential to great principals, providing a framework that enables school leaders to prioritize daily tasks and establish long-term objectives. Drawing from a blend of research, personal experiences, and external expertise, we crafted these pillars understanding the constant demands on principals' attention. Recognizing the need for support in prioritization, our book equips school leaders with tools and strategies to implement these pillars effectively.

Crucially, the means to put these pillars into action are shared by those directly under the principal's leadership-teachers and students. What Makes a Great Principal showcases poignant stories and specific practices from educators and learners, offering insights into what inspired and supported them in achieving their best work. By presenting school leadership through the lens of those most impacted by the principal, this book redefines the essence of effective leadership in education.

Transformational leadership begins with willing individuals. Individuals who are ready to set aside their personal comfort for the needs and unity of the collective team. In education, now more than ever, we need individuals who are willing to lead in a time of transformation. But from where are we leaving and to where are we headed? Which direction should we take, as leaders of learning, in our classrooms, schools, and communities? How do we avoid change for change's sake, and rather--shift the conversation altogether? How do we clarify the vision of learning? Simplify the impact of highly effective teaching in our classrooms? Create collaborative, empowered space for our teachers and students?

Educational leaders and authors, Sarah Henry and Carrie Rosebrock, explore these questions and offer experiential and research-driven answers in their book, Arrows: A Systems-Based Approach to School Leadership. Arrows is the personal story of a decade's worth of growth and alignment within the Brownsburg Community School District in Brownsburg, Indiana. Unlike other educational leadership books, Arrows is the story of what happens when, not one school--but an entire district--simplifies its vision, clarifies its goals, and truly aligns its arrows.

This is a story of leadership in action. Of a relentless desire to support and reach all students, from all backgrounds, from all experiences. An honest account of the impact of diligent collaboration and processes. It is a story of both systems and service; of both belonging and access.

Arrows is a study in action--the story of what can happen when leadership alignment creates a sustainable system of support, clarity, love, and belonging.

In Arrows, Rosebrock and Henry provide an inspiring account of how schools can achieve exceptional results--when everyone in the system focuses, unswervingly, on the improvement of curriculum and instruction.

Mike Schmoker, author of Focus: Elevating the Essentials to Radically Improve Student Learning.

Rosebrock and Henry have done a nice job hitting all the bases in Arrows. They have not only provided a thorough review of DuFour's Four Essential Questions but have also stressed the importance of PLCs using protocols to guide and structure the work of PLCs. Their text is conversationally readable; a sure bet for schools floundering in their school improvement work.

--- Daniel R. Venables

Education Consultant & Author

Founder of the Grapple Institutes

Can I in good conscience refer to myself as an instructional leader in my school?

Bestselling author and award-winning educator Baruti K. Kafele is known for his insight into leadership practices and his focus on deep reflection as a way to become a more effective school leader. In this thought-provoking book, he turns his attention to instructional leadership-a crucial, complex, and sometimes neglected facet of leading a school.

Kafele contends that the primary purpose of supervising teachers is to help them continue to improve in the classroom so that all students have the support and skills they need to succeed. For principals and assistant principals, in particular, it is easy to be so inundated by the noninstructional aspects of the work that the instructional side-including instructional coaching-suffers. This has an adverse effect on the entire school. Just as the quality of teaching directly affects student outcomes, there is also a direct correlation between instructional leadership and student achievement and well-being.

Kafele structures the book around 10 self-reflection prompts to help the reader answer the question that the title poses: What is my value instructionally to the teachers I supervise? This powerful resource offers illuminating stories about and practical strategies for focusing on the instructional side of leadership to improve teacher pedagogy and enable student achievement to soar.

School leadership is messy, but coaching conversations offer an opportunity to step back from the demands of everyday work and focus on developing leadership capabilities.

Although every coaching conversation is personalized and every context is unique, many school leaders face similar issues. In Embracing MESSY Leadership, Alyssa Gallagher and Rosie Connor--directors of global educational leadership nonprofit BTS Spark--synthesize the experience gained from coaching more than 20,000 school leaders around the world and highlight the universal challenges.

Here, the authors unpack the key traits and mindsets of the MESSY leadership model, which embraces the human side of school leadership and provides practical strategies and tools that strengthen leadership capabilities. Coaching conversations that encourage leaders to adopt these specific mindsets will make it easier for them to lead in a complex world:

- Meaning Making: Create a shared vision and engage others by collaborating more effectively.
- Emotional Connection: Build deeper, more trusting relationships to give feedback and hold difficult conversations.
- Sensing the Future: Think creatively and tackle entrenched school improvement problems through experimentation and innovation.
- Seizing Momentum: Be proactive, gain control of how you prioritize your time, and embrace new ways of working.
- Your Presence: Build confidence by identifying the barriers that hold you back and learning how to overcome them.

Intentional coaching conversations tap into the potential power of school leaders and develop them to their fullest. Let Embracing MESSY Leadership structure those conversations and create school leaders that matter.

The EQ Way is a reflection tool for leaders navigating difficult times--and difficult emotions--in their schools.

In education, challenges surround you every day, but they don't have to define you. When the negative, frightful, or unknown happens--when you're confused because you aren't sure where things are headed--that's when you want to focus on EQ, or emotional intelligence: self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skills.

Educational psychologist and school leader Ignacio Lopez explores how you can lead from a place of calm clarity and strength. Lopez relies on his own experience to guide you through enacting EQ strategies in your school or district, no matter what kinds of challenges you face. You can learn to control your reactions and keep emotional intelligence central to your work by

* Recognizing and improving your own emotional intelligence.
* Continually assessing the clarity of your vision and communication.
* Enforcing accountability across the school community.
* Refining, communicating, and monitoring school values.
* Deliberately engaging with external stakeholders.
* Finding ways to work with and stand up to naysayers and resisters.
* Sustaining the emotional intelligence of the school community.

The key to successfully navigating your school through difficult times and managing high-conflict situations is being an emotionally intelligent leader.The EQ Way helps you be that leader.

Teacher burnout demands systemic solutions, not self-care. Learn what leaders can do to actively reduce frustration and provide real, sustaining support for all staff.

With teachers across the board assuming additional responsibilities, stress and job dissatisfaction are more prevalent than ever. Widespread staff shortages, which further increase workloads, and budget directives that require everyone to do more with less continue to demotivate and erode morale. It's no wonder so many teachers choose to leave the profession--or that many who remain feel overworked and unappreciated.

The proper response from principals and other school leaders is not to encourage so-called self-care but rather to take a systemic approach that focuses on the factors they can control: time, effort, and resources. To increase teacher retention and alleviate the compounded effects of teacher burnout, leaders need to ask less of their staff and offer them more.

In What Can I Take Off Your Plate?, veteran educators Jill Handley and Lara Donnelly detail both the immediate steps you can take to triage your staff's emotional exhaustion and the big-picture structural changes you can make to reduce frustration, increase motivation, and support the whole teacher. You'll learn useful ways to

* Reduce initiative fatigue.
* Give the gift of time.
* Support from within the classroom.
* Foster and support a healthy work-life balance.
* Demonstrate appreciation.
* Infuse fun in the workplace.

This book is for school leaders who are ready to treat burnout like the complicated challenge it is--and meet it with both focused action and the lasting, sustainable solutions it demands.

Unlocking Academic Achievement: A Principal's Guide to Improved Measurable Results uncovers the mindsets, approaches, strategies and structures that strong school administrators instill across classrooms to lead students to high levels of standards mastery - and schools to high rates of academic performance. Hallmarked by practical, step-by-step guidance in pedagogy and instructional leadership, the book describes actionable steps and practical methods for both immediate and lasting academic success. Principals will learn about the Trunk of the Tree - core systems for unit and lesson design that anchor the school's instructional approach, leave space for teacher creativity, and unlock the potential of other academic initiatives. They will also learn to maximize the talent of superstar teachers, establish academic guarantees that parents and students will love, showcase the power of instructional congruence, and much more.

Principals that use the systems described in Unlocking Academic Achievement: A Principal's Guide to Improved Measurable Results report:

• Higher levels of student achievement, as evidenced by classroom, school, state, and national assessments
• Empowered teachers and staff
• Renewed motivation for instructional leadership
• More active student engagement and fewer behavior referrals
• Increased percentage of students receiving scholarships, as well as increased scholarship award amounts
• Improved graduation and college acceptance rates
• Greater family and community support
• District-wide collaboration, cooperation, and success

Are You a Treasure Seeker?

Pirates are on a constant quest for riches, but PIRATE Leaders seek even greater rewards: amazing schools, engaged students, and empowered educators who know they are making a difference.

In Lead Like a PIRATE, education leaders Shelley Burgess and Beth Houf map out the character traits necessary to captain a school or district. You'll learn where to find the treasure that's already in your classrooms and schools--and how to bring out the very best in your educators.

What does it take to be a PIRATE Leader?

Passion--both professional and personal

A willingness to Immerse yourself in your work

Good Rapport with your staff, students and community

The courage to Ask questions and Analyze what is and isn't working

The determination to seek positive Transformation

And the kind of Enthusiasm that gets others excited about education

The ultimate goal for any education leader is to create schools and districts where students and staff are knocking down the doors to get in rather than out. This book will equip and encourage you to be relentless in your quest to make school amazing for your students, staff, parents, and communities.

Are you ready to set sail?

Planning for continuous improvement is often seen as a stressful task in schools. Complex and ineffective models have been the accepted standard for years. However, it doesn't have to be that way. If you are ready to simplify the way your school develops plans to increase student learning, then this book is for you.

When we simplify planning, we increase the time available to delve into the complex issues of student learning. Lesli Laughter clarifies the continuous improvement planning cycle, breathing new life into each phase. She teaches you how to analyze data efficiently with the right stakeholders and incorporate planning as a core function of your school's operations. You'll learn to create a plan that moves beyond compliance and focuses on impactful strategies. Say goodbye to convoluted spreadsheets and confusing jargon. Ensure that the plan's goals and strategies are aligned with the needs assessment. This book is packed with tools and ideas to help you nurture a continuous improvement culture.

Schools that embrace a shared vision and mission are more likely to develop a culture focused on learning and growth. This culture encourages school leaders to aim high and make innovative decisions. By implementing the elements of continuous improvement, your school is ready to meet the individual learning needs of students. Every student deserves to have school leaders who are performing at their best. Strengthen your planning processes with Continuous Improvement without Continuous Stress.

In The Coach Approach to School Leadership, Jessica Johnson, Shira Leibowitz, and Kathy Perret address a dilemma faced by many principals: how to function as learning leaders while fulfilling their evaluative and management duties. The answer? Incorporating instructional coaching techniques as an integral part of serious school improvement. The authors explain how principals can Master the skill of switching hats between the nonjudgmental coach role and the evaluative supervisor role. Expand their classroom visits and combine coaching with evaluation requirements. Nurture relationships with teachers and build a positive school culture. Provide high-quality feedback to support the development of both teachers and students. Empower teachers to lead their own professional learning and work together as a team. Drawing from the authors' work with schools as well as their conversations with educators across the globe, this thought-provoking book speaks to the unique needs of principals as instructional leaders, providing solutions to challenges in every aspect of this complex endeavor. The role of the principal is changing at a rapid pace. Let this resource guide you in improving your own practice while helping teachers master the high-quality instruction that leads to student success.

One of the most important books on education to come along in years. -- New York Times Book Review

A New York Times Notable Book - A Best Book of the Year, the Washington Post, the Atlantic, The New Yorker, and Publishers Weekly - A Best History Book of 2015, Amazon - Finalist for the J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize - Finalist for the Bernstein Award - Winner of the New Jersey Studies Academic Alliance Authors Award?

Impeccably researched . . . Russakoff pulls readers in with richly drawn real-world characters. -- Atlantic

Stunning . . . Russakoff's narrative is rich with details and anecdotes that showcase the quality of her writing and bring Newark to life. -- Chicago Tribune

When Mark Zuckerberg announced his $100 million pledge to transform the Newark schools and create an education model that could be applied to any city in the nation, it looked like a huge win for New Jersey politicians Cory Booker and Chris Christie. But their plan met the opposition of Newark's key education players, who were fiercely protective of their billion-dollar-a-year system -- a prize that, for generations, had enriched seemingly everyone, except Newark's students. With deeply drawn portraits of everyone from the philanthropists throwing millions at a haphazard plan, to the teachers fighting to reach students damaged by extreme poverty and violence, The Prize is a riveting account of the complexities and challenges that face all of America's failing schools.

Russakoff provides insights that should prove useful both to contemporary school reformers and to citizens hoping to understand their efforts. -- Washington Post

A moving and thought-provoking book . . . Invaluable. -- New York Times

What Can Leaders Do for Teachers?

Amid the growing teacher shortage crisis and the extra demands placed on teachers during the COVID-19 pandemic, if there's anything we've learned as educational leaders, it's that some things are out of our control. But we do have agency in ensuring that our teachers are well supported and that we're meeting their needs, and when teachers are nurtured, they are better able to nurture their students. As Allyson Apsey illustrates in her groundbreaking new book, every teacher brings their whole self to school: their dreams, their personal challenges, their hopes and fears, and their desire to be valued, to be connected, and to learn and grow. As school leaders, we have a duty to create an environment that can support every part of a teacher, that can help them stay connected to their why, and that can fulfill their servant hearts.

Changing a school culture takes careful planning and it takes time, and leading the whole teacher calls for a deeper level of systematic change than typical teacher appreciation efforts. Let's dream for a moment about what school could be for teachers. How could school leaders create a school environment that nurtures the whole teacher? What impact could a school that sets teachers up for success have on student achievement? This book explores the six components of the whole teacher with strategies and ideas to create the environment that teachers need to thrive.

Endorsements

Recognizing the emotional and psychological needs of classroom educators, Allyson Apsey gives leaders essential insights on how to improve teacher effectiveness, engage their hearts, and regain their commitment to our profession. At a time when many teachers are burned out and traumatized, Apsey offers hope. -Douglas Reeves, author, Fearless Schools: Building Trust and Resilience for Learning, Teaching, and Leading

With deep credibility and an authentic voice, Leading the Whole Teacher will provide you a clear path to protecting the most important part of education-the people. This book will engage your heart and mind as you serve your staff and school in a manner that's meaningful to them.-Dr. Brad Gustafson, award-winning principal (MN), author, and speaker

As a service-oriented leader, Allyson has created a resource that is a necessary addition to the field. Leading the Whole Teacher is a book you will keep close to your desk and return to throughout the year.-Jessica Cabeen, principal of Austin Online Academy, author, and speaker

Break out of the traditional, narrow role of principal and transform your school for the better

In 2014 Michael Fullan set his sights on the daily needs of school leaders in his bestselling book The Principal. This updated edition shows how the principal's role continues to change--alongside our changing world--and how we can embrace the transformation in short order. As crucial in-school influencers of student learning, principals have an opportunity and an obligation to maximize student achievement. But how? In The Principal 2.0, Fullan explains why the answer lies neither in micro-managing instruction nor in autonomous entrepreneurialism. He shows a new way forward that allows principals to expand their roles without overstepping and contribute to the development of the whole school.

Even in difficult times of crisis, there's room for principals to take action. In The Principal 2.0, Fullan explains how to loosen focus on accountability and instead concentrate on capacity-building; focus less on technology and more on pedagogy; abandon fragmented strategies; and forgo individualistic solutions in favor of collaborative effort.

• Discover the three key roles that administrators must play in order to have the biggest impact
• Foster the professional capital of teachers and get more accomplished for all students
• Find action items to help implement this proven program effectively
• Adopt strategies that have been successfully field-tested in schools across the United States and Canada

Discover why The Principal is a bestseller in educational leadership, and strike out into the future with this new edition, updated for the changing role of today's principals.

We're defined by our failures only if we let ourselves be.

In today's stressful climate of education budget shortfalls, ever-evolving academic standards, and widespread cultural transformation, how can educators find the confidence to become the leaders they hope to be? Thrive through the Five helps school leaders navigate that challenging 5 percent of work (and life) when things are really, really hard. The goal of this book is to not just help readers survive through those moments, days, and seasons, but to lead through them and truly thrive.

The superintendent of Gunter ISD, a growing school district an hour north of Dallas, Dr. Siler offers a refreshingly honest account of the challenges and pitfalls of leadership. Coupled with her infectious optimism, her wisdom and insight invite educational professionals to take the next best step and move confidently--even through the toughest times.

Thrive through the Five transforms challenges into positive opportunities and achievement. It's a must-read for school leaders. --Jon Gordon, New York Times best-selling author of The Energy Bus and The Power of Positive Leadership

In Thrive through the Five, Dr. Siler uses her own experiences and expertise to provide practical, relevant insights into how all school leaders can thrive in those difficult times. This should be required reading for anyone who dares to be a great leader. --Kevin Brown, EdD, executive director, Texas Association of School Administrators

Thrive through the Five is a great story of one leader's journey to find a way through the parts of our jobs that don't always bring us the most joy, but often take up the most time. The quotes will inspire and the process will clearly help you navigate the 5 percent that has such an impact on our world both emotionally and physically as leaders. --Joe Sanfelippo, PhD, superintendent, Fall Creek School District, and author of Hacking Leadership

Whether you want to make subtle changes to your instructional design or turn it on its head--Hacking Instructional Design provides a toolbox of options. Discover just-in-time tools to design, upgrade, or adapt your instructional practices. Curriculum design experts Michael and Elizabeth Fisher show you how to:

• Prioritize and break apart standards
• Set targets and demonstrations of learning
• Create valuable experiences for contemporary learners
• Organize instructional elements into action plans
• Maintain a thriving curriculum culture ecosystem

These strategies offer you the power and permission to be the designer, not the recipient, of a contemporary curriculum. Students and teachers will benefit for years to come when you apply these engaging tools starting tomorrow.

A call to action that promotes K-12 schools and students as key contributors to climate solutions

Laura A. Schifter and Jonathan Klein highlight the many ways in which K-12 schools and students have tremendous potential to advance solutions on environmental issues, and they provide frameworks for enacting change, in Students, Schools, and Our Climate Moment. Schifter and Klein demonstrate how the effects of climate change intersect with US public schools on multiple levels--for example, schools must prepare students to face the challenges of an uncertain future, accommodate disruptions brought about by extreme weather conditions, and evaluate their systems' energy consumption and carbon emissions.

Through rousing case studies of climate efforts in schools across the United States, Schifter and Klein show what it means to center children and young people in climate solutions and illustrate how educators and institutions can take comprehensive action. They share step-by-step plans for applying the lessons of these situations to future action, rooting their frameworks in the climate action plan of the Aspen Institute's K12 Climate Action Commission and the Coherence Framework developed by the Public Education Leadership Project at Harvard University.

The tools and key takeaways offered here can help raise climate literacy among students and also foster a climate collaboration mindset within districts, inspire community mobilization toward equity and sustainability, and enact policy change to shift society and mitigate the climate crisis.

As schools reopen their doors and students return to the classroom, what will the new normal of special education look like? The pandemic exposed educational inequities and areas of urgent need--and now, schools have a unique opportunity to press pause and reimagine their practices. This book helps K-12 school leaders and educators take the lessons of the COVID-19 era and turn them into action: by closely examining what worked during distance learning, letting go of practices that keep some students struggling, and planning new routines and environments that meet the needs of every learner.

A visionary call to action from inclusion experts Jenna Mancini Rufo and Julie Causton, Reimagining Special Education guides readers in creating more equitable schools and services, through practical strategies teachers can use right away and thought-provoking, big-picture questions for administrators to tackle. Readers will explore how inclusive educational practices can address each student's unique needs as schools reopen and bridge learning gaps for students who struggle. Throughout the book, vignettes and anecdotes spark lightbulb moments for educators and show what recommended practices look like in real classrooms.

Essential reading for administrators, classroom teachers, and other education professionals, this is the forward-thinking guide every school needs to reimagine the possibilities for special education, support authentic inclusion, and help learners with and without disabilities thrive in a changing world.

DISCOVER HOW TO:

• Re-story students by focusing on their gifts and strengths rather than their deficits
• Redesign instruction and assessment to be more flexible and better meet students' unique needs
• Restructure intervention frameworks to move away from sorting and labeling students and toward a flexible model that provides access to all
• Revitalize co-teaching with tools and strategies for serving students with and without disabilities
• Realign service delivery through inclusion facilitation and consultative supports
• Rethink equity by creating a culture of belonging, dismantling exclusionary programs, and tackling individual and institutional biases

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Reimagining Special Education: Creating Positive Change in Disruptive Times