This is the blog post I have been waiting to make for 7 years.  I am crazy excited to announce that the Harvard Education Press is going to be publishing my first book, The Instructional Leadership Cycle, later this Fall!  This book and the framework for school improvement that I lay out are the culmination of two decades trying to bring about the instructional shifts and leadership practices that transform schools into equitable, student-centered places of joyful learning.  

The Instructional Leadership Cycle is a leadership framework that can guide K12 school and teacher leaders over the course of the school year towards instructional transformation across classrooms.  I walk readers through the major milestones of the annual school calendar, emphasizing the need to break the year down into smaller cycles of implementation, analysis, reflection, and improvement.  From the strategic planning work of the summer, to launching the school year with purpose and vision, to the conclusion of each improvement cycle with corresponding data analysis and adjustments, to finishing the school year strong, The Instructional Leadership Cycle provides the tools necessary to institutionalize ongoing organizational learning and improvement.  The book outlines both the genesis of the framework, as well as how it was taken to scale in one of the largest K12 school districts in California.  

The Instructional Leadership Cycle is rooted in the idea that as our modern society grows increasingly complex, students must develop ever more sophisticated analytical and problem-solving skills in order to succeed.  To meet this challenge, schools must improve and transform the learning experience of students.  To do this, schools must act as learning organizations that constantly analyze their own actions, identify gaps or problems of practice that impede instructional improvement, and outline and implement the theories of action that guide corresponding changes to enhance effectiveness.  Schools must therefore be in the business of learning – to adapt, to innovate, to prioritize, to problem-solve – if they are to survive.  In the context of schools, this improvement is measured by both student learning outcomes and students’ sense of belonging, which are largely dependent on improvements within a relatively specific set of relationships between students, teachers, and the content being learned.  Education researchers City, Elmore, Fiarman, and Teitel conceptualized these relationships as the Instructional Core, and posited that in order to improve, schools must develop the theories of action that will result in improvement within the instructional core.  The Instructional Leadership Cycle provides a systematic structure for continually engaging team members in testing and adjusting their theories of action in pursuit of measurable improvement.  

I wrote the book for aspiring and practicing school and teacher leaders in K12 schools who want to see instructional transformation, accelerated student learning outcomes, and improvements in students’ sense of well being across classrooms.  It does this by equipping readers with the analytical tools and implementation practices that have been shown to improve outcomes for our students.  

Of course I couldn’t share this post without a shameless plug for picking up a copy.  You can preorder a copy of the Instructional Leadership Cycle by clicking on this link.  I hope you will read it and then put into practice the leadership strategies I share as you continue in your journey to create incredible schools that make a positive difference in the lives of young people, their families, and our communities.