Leverage: Using PLCs to Promote Lasting Improvement in Schools

Discover high-impact leadership strategies for a thriving learning community! Faced with the growing demands of leadership in today’s schools, how can principals and teacher leaders ensure their actions will impact teaching and learning in positive ways? This compelling new book by Thomas Many and Susan Sparks-Many provides straightforward solutions for the complex challenges school leaders face. Discover how implementing a few specific high-leverage strategies, grounded in the core beliefs of Professional Learning Communities (PLCs), can promote lasting improvement in schools. This book’s concrete examples of high-leverage, evidence-based practices help you: Understand the essential role principals and teacher leaders play in leading PLCs Foster an understanding of how PLCs can support implementation of major instructional shifts such as the new     Common Core State Standards Apply high-leverage strategies across your own school and district to improve instruction and better serve the needs       of all students You’ll find invaluable self-assessment forms, templates, case studies, planning examples, and more. Use Leverage as your essential leadership tool to transform your school into a thriving learning community! "In Leverage, the authors craft a coherent and compelling argument for doing less but going deeper in support of school reform.  A thoughtful sense of the literature informs approaches that we all need help with—how to integrate and align our efforts in supporting student success and how to do that in sustainable ways." —Peter Dillon, Superintendent Berkshire Hills Regional School District, Stockbridge, MA "If you are wondering which items should be at the top of your priority list, read this book, after which you will truly know what is important and how to implement sustainable change in your school that will result in better student achievement." —Jim Anderson, Principal Andersen Jr. High School, Chandler, AZ "This book addresses PRECISELY the tension that so many of us feel. The whole concept of leverage crystallizes what we′ve been wrestling with in our building." —Ryan Giegling, Second-Grade Teacher Ganiard Elementary, Mt. Pleasant, MI

Table of Contents:
Foreword by Richard DuFour Preface Acknowledgments About the Authors Introduction Section I: The Principal 1. Leadership Matters Evidence of the Principal’s Impact on Student Learning How Do Principals Impact Student Learning? Different Forms of Leadership Impact Learning Differently Leadership Matters, But the Right Kind of Leadership Matters More 2. Examining the Complex Role of the Principal The Sheer Pandemonium of the Principalship Trends Shaping the Current Reality of the Principalship Creating a New Normal for Principals 3. Move the World: The Essence of Leverage Creating an Operational Definition of Leverage Where Can We Look for the Leverage Point? 4. Professional Learning Communities: The High-Leverage Strategy An Overview of the PLC Model Reflection Promotes Progress Toward Becoming a PLC: A Case Study Identifying Leverage Points in a PLC Section II: Practical Applications 5. The Secrete to Success: Leverage a Focus on Learning What Matters Most Creating an Operational Definition of What Is Essential The Balanced and Coherent System of Assessment: Providing a Steady Stream of Information The Need for SPEED: Criteria for Designing Effective Pyramids of Intervention The Secret to Success 6. Take Away the Traning Wheels: Leverage a Collaborative Culture A Rose by Any Other Name: What Is Important About Collaborative Teams? The Elephant in the Room: Making Time for Collaboration The Turning Point: Building Collective Capacity Package Couriers, Meter Readers, and Copier Repairmen: Leveraging Opportunities to Share Best Practices Take Away the Training Wheels: The Difference Between Monitoring and Micromanaging Teams 7. Reports From the Precinct Captains: Leverage a Results Orientation The Right Interpretation of a Results Orientation Three Rules for Using Data Protocols: A Powerful Prescription for Professional Learning It’s Not Pixie Dust; It’s Protocol SOAP Notes: A Tool to Promote Reflective Dialogue About Student Learning Reports From the Precinct Captains Applying a Results Orientation in Schools Tangible Benefits of Data Meetings A Results-Oriented Practice Transforms School Culture Section III: PLC Strategies 8. What’s on Your Refrigerator Door? Clear Away the Clutter to Clarify What’s Important in Your School A Thousand Conversations: The Power of Consistent, Clear Messages About What Matters Flying Kites: Understanding the Concept of Loose/Tight Leadership 9. Reboot the Principalship: Strategies to Rekindle, Reignite, Reenergize Your School Get Off Your “Buts”: Responding to Resistors in Your School Making Diamonds: Top-Down Pressure and Bottom-Up Support Reboot the Principalship: Strategies to Rekindle, Reignite, Reenergize Your School Bibliography Additional Readings Index

Review :
"In Leverage, the author Thomas Many crafts a coherent and compelling argument for doing less and going deeper in support of school reform.  A thoughtful sense of the literature informs approaches that we all need help with – how to integrate and align our efforts in supporting student success and how to do that in sustainable ways" "It seems like with each passing year the expectations and requirements of a principal become greater and greater.  If you are wondering which items should be at the top of your priority list read this book, after which you will truly know what is important and how to implement sustainable change in your school that will result in better student achievement."