Leverage Leadership: A Practical Guide to Building Exceptional Schools by Paul Bambrick-Santoyo

Leverage Leadership: A Practical Guide to Building Exceptional Schools Reviews

• 
  Mark

  This is a book for principals to help them improve their schools. It comes from Uncommon Schools, an excellent charter network in the New York area.
  
  Things I Liked:
  1. Clear and easy-to-follow steps, especially on how to improve classroom practice,
  2. Focused on what matters most: student learning,
  3. Made me inspired to improve my coaching.
  
  Things I Didn't Like:
  1. Emphasis on testing. The author makes two solid counterarguments: (1) You don't have to assess by test, but you must begin with the assessment in mind, (2) Students must learn how to take assessments, (3) There aren't necessarily other good measures that currently exist.
  
  I agree with #1 and see the author's point on #3. For example, there may be other ways (besides tests) to assess reading, but so far, they don't really exist. (Some schools are trying out annotated texts.) Even if #2 is true, I'm not sure it's a good argument.
  
  2. Staff culture chapter. It was much less developed (and written by a different author) than the other chapters. This, of course, made me think that despite all the coaching, perhaps teachers (and teaching as a profession) isn't championed.
  
  3. The tone. I really like successful people, and I like confident people. But I also like calm and humility. This author seems very similar to the folks over at KIPP. In fact, there may be a philosophical divide between East Coast and West Coast charter networks.
• 
  Kate Schwarz

  Read in preparation for Board position--there were some helpful insights, such as the importance of principals guarding their time and using their time incredibly efficiently and wisely. Gained an appreciation of how difficult it is to pack in teacher observations, but also have integral observations are to a great school.
• 
  Rachel Ball

  A must read for any school leader
• 
  Ian

  If you are a school leader and you haven't read this, do it now! Your students can't wait for you to figure all this out on your own (or maybe not figure it out). Let's get ALL kids achieving the success they are capable of.
• 
  Anne

  Lots applicable for general workplace use. Lots of tips on building successful habits, delivering feedback / information in concrete, actionable ways, and how to build a calendar (as a leader/manager) that gives you the most leverage. Will probably come back to this.
• 
  Anthony Hibbert

  Great for time management and focusing on the most important elements for change and student achievement
• 
  Steph

  This book gives such insight into my work in recruiting leaders (especially since it's written by an Uncommon leader!), particularly around the superlevers for driving exceptional student results and the competencies that strong instructional leaders must possess.
• 
  Tenille Shade

  This is a book all educators should read, especially leaders. If we want to expedite the rate in which teachers improve, this book provides a clear path.
• 
  Alicia

  Practical advice for improving schools. Really good tips about calendars and time management. I got the feeling it'd be better to read the DDI book first.
• 
  James Centenera

  One of the best books about how to lead schools
• 
  Yari

  A must read for all in school leadership or aspiring to be.
• 
  Laina Shoemake

  Very informative. This book offers helpful advice on leadership in an easy to read format.
• 
  Matt

  Terrific stuff if you're interested in the nuts and bolts of what can make a school great. I didn't agree with the author on every last detail, but I agreed with a ton of it and there's a wealth of great advice and great materials. I was talking about this book with some friends and we agreed -- it's not so much that the book has a ton of revolutionary ideas (though the great insights about how you coach teachers are certainly not commonplace), but it does codify/organize a lot of what makes a school great. I'm certain I will return to this book again and again over the years.
• 
  Steve

  My big takeaway from this book is the calendar. I now put in teacher observations and debriefing meetings first, and then everything else. The interim assessment. system is not realistic in my district and state, nor is the 15 to 1 supervisor to teacher ratio for high schools. I am at 23 to 1, though other AP's at my school have as many as 40. Add student discipline to the list, and his calendar suggestions are impossible.
  
  Still, I agree with the levers in theory, and the extra focus on my calendar is paying off for me and my teachers.
• 
  Anthony

  Great! Now I have the language and focus and support of what to do. I have always espoused that there are many, many, good things to do in order to help students learn more and transform challenged, troubled, under performing schools. This text has given me a framework in which to operate to start the conversation and work at my school with the key levers for informational turnaround.
• 
  Andrea Erickson

  The How To for school leaders to bring high quality instruction and a positive school climate to life. There is a DVD with video clips, presentations and other resources ready to use. A reader may know what is shared yet the book will inspire you to implement or rethink current practices as each chapter ends with reflective questions. Definitely worth your time!
• 
  Drew

  Very insightful for school leaders, and possibly for managers or organizational leaders in general. Anecdotes are helpful in clarifying some concepts, and each chapter is broken down into a series of "big ideas" to establish the key takeaways. Not exactly brilliant or game-changing, but a lot of genuinely good ideas and strategies.
• 
  Nicole

  Lots of practical, easy to use and implement advice in this one. A bit far fetched in terms of what a principal's schedule would look like, but the focus on improving teachers as a way to boost student achievement is excellent. This has not been addressed in other leadership books I've read and is absolutely needed to improve our schools.
• 
  Teri

  I related to this book because it relates directly to my job. I also like that it takes traditional business books and applies the applicable parts to education. If you are in a leadership role at a school, you should read this book.
• 
  Cynthia Keedy

  Amazing book that makes me want to explore being an educational leader!
  
  I had to read this text for a grad class, but normally that means I skim the text. This was so good I read in depth a want to read the author's other works.
• 
  Michael DeCaprio

  
  
  excellent
• 
  David Hunter

  great companion piece to Driven by Data.
• 
  Dana

  This book "names" everything that the best educational leaders do INTENTIONALLY.
• 
  Coach Noreen

  Must read for educators!
• 
  Vicki

  Best thing about this is for planning. Doesn't get into type of assessments formative vs summarize. I go back to the research of Fisher and Frey!
• 
  Kimberly

  From a principals perspective Chapters 1, 2, and 5 were very helpful.
• 
  Rachael

  Excellent read for educators / principals / instructional leaders
• 
  Sarah

  Very clear focus on instructional leadership. Helpful information on envisioning a weekly schedule.