Radically Excellent School Improvement: Keeping Students at the Center of It All

Six Steps to Improving Outcomes for Every Student When gaps keep ambitious instruction and engaging learning experiences out of reach of every student, including students with disabilities, those learning English, and others who tend to be left out of school improvement plans, it's time for radical excellence! Radically Excellent School Improvement presents a model for ambitious improvement and tireless focus that ensures every student grows, thrives, and achieves to their fullest potential. It provides district and school leaders with a bold blueprint for designing, implementing, and monitoring a comprehensive school improvement process for radical excellence. Inside, you'll find: A six-step school improvement process that ensures all students have access to high-quality instruction Ways for districts and schools to ensure they meet legal and ethical standards Figures, examples, case studies, end-of-chapter summaries, and appendices Written by a transformational leader with years of experience leading districts and states toward equitable, integrated, and inclusive services for all, this resource is a must-read for education leaders who aspire to create a learning environment focused on providing every student the opportunity to achieve.

Table of Contents:
Chapter One: The School Improvement Process Unpacked Chapter Two: The Higher Standard Chapter Three: The Double Helix System of Support Chapter Four: The Pareto Principle Chapter Five: Coaching Is the Connecting Fiber of Improvement Chapter Six: Students are at the Center of It All Chapter Seven: An IEP is the Vehicle for FAPE Chapter Eight: Alignment is a Force Multiplier Chapter Nine: Be The Flow

About the Author :
Kate Anderson Foley is a transformational leader with significant experience leading public school districts and states toward equitable and integrated services for all learners. Her work is grounded in social justice and breaking down the barriers for children who have historically been marginalized. She leads organizational change utilizing a strategic framework that ensures guaranteed and rigorous learning leading to college and career readiness for all students. Kate began her career as a special education teacher pioneering inclusive practices for students at-risk and those with disabilities. Her work focused on creating conditions that fostered high expectations of adults for students and innovation which led to equitable opportunities for all learners. Kate′s deep commitment to creating nimble and responsive systems that supported the whole child led her into administration, where she advocated for local, state, and federal reform. That experience led to improved academic and social-emotional outcomes for students, fair school funding, innovative healthcare models, and efficient operations. As the founder and CEO of The Education Policy & Practice Group, Kate partners with local, state, and national organizations, education agencies, and various industries providing her expertise with the improvement process, professional learning communities, strategic planning, asset-based education policies, practices, special education, and consulting. Kate teaches a graduate-level Special Education Law course to aspiring principals and superintendents through the lens of equity and the higher standard. Kate works closely with senior leadership across various sectors providing executive coaching aimed at creating growth-minded organizational cultures. Kate is the author of numerous articles and books. Her latest contribution is the book, Fearless Coaching (2023).

Review :
"In this immensely practical book, Dr. Kate Anderson Foley provides a blueprint for equity at the classroom, school, and district level. The appendices provide specific tools that can be used to conduct an equity audit and, more importantly, to take specific steps to address inequities. Anderson Foley makes the starling claim that when schools get equity right, it helps not only students with special needs, but all students in the system. Therefore, this book is not just for those with responsibility for special education, but for all teachers and leaders who have a commitment to equity. With compelling evidence and insights from her roles in state and district leadership, the author takes equity out of the realm of rhetoric into the domain of fact-based leadership and practice."   "When you read Radical Excellence, you immediately see how to aim and plan for a quality educational system. Dr, Foley′s experience is powerful, and her expertise in special education is second to none. Too many educators and school leaders are caught up in the hamster wheel of a process designed to meet the needs of a process designed to meet the needs of a few students. Kate Anderson Foley has built a resource that truly leads to school improvement happen. A must read for all who claim to be passionate about education."