Fearless Conversations School Leaders Have to Have

This book is anchored in established research focusing primarily on the factors and skills that are required for strong and powerful leadership (Marzano); Tomlinson’s research on Differentiation; McTighe and Wiggins’ work on goal setting and feedback; and Ferguson’s research on building strong learning cultures. One of the unique features of this book is how the authors applied lessons from the findings about improving students’ achievement, to improving the work and job satisfaction of the adults who are responsible for student learning. The chapter titles are frequently inspired and adapted from student achievement research and the authors’ experiences and their continuing insights and growth as school leaders. This book will provide doable, practical ideas and strategies that can be put to use right away in a user friendly format to address individual and collective needs of district leaders, school leaders, both students and adults, and community leaders. The authors share vignettes and examples from a variety of experiences that will be relevant to other school leaders and that provide additional ideas that facilitate greater achievement for all students. We will discuss strategies that move school leaders from traditional to transformational leaders of leaning. We will also include vignettes, interviews and case studies’ summaries to illustrate effective practices.