The Strategic School: Making the Most of People, Time, and Money
By Karen Hawley Miles and Stephen Frank (Corwin Press, AASA, & NASSP, 2008)
The authors studied high-performing schools and found that they share a similar approach to allocating resources. They focus their resources in three areas: teacher quality, meeting individual student needs, and emphasizing core academics. The authors help you develop a strategic resource plan to maximize your own school resources that includes: a staff and student grouping plan, a master schedule, and a plan to continuously improve teacher quality.

To learn more or purchase the book, go to: http://www.corwinpress.com/booksProdDesc.nav?prodId=Book226439&

Teaching Adolescent Writers
By Kelly Gallagher (Stenhouse Publishers, 2006)
We are simply NOT preparing students for one of the most important 21st century skills - writing! The majority of our students lack proficient writing skills and yet many schools do not do an effective job of teaching writing. Gallagher introduces six key writing principles to get schools on track. These can be used with any writing program or approach you currently use.

To learn more or purchase the book, go to: http://www.stenhouse.com/html/mainidea.htm?=mi0903

The Three-Minute Classroom Walk-Through:
Changing School Supervisory Practice One Teacher at a Time
by Carolyn J. Downey, Betty E. Steffy, Fenwick W. English, Larry E. Frase, and William K. Poston, Jr.  (Corwin Press, 2004)
By conducting shorter classroom visits, principals will be able to see more classrooms more frequently and will know more than they ever have about their teachers’ practices. The walk-through process has tremendous potential to help principals strengthen their skills as instructional leaders,
increase their visibility, add to their repertoire of instructional strategies, improve their ability to
identify areas for staff development, and alert them to teachers who might become marginal.

To learn more or purchase the book, go to: http://www.corwinpress.com/booksProdDesc.nav?prodId=Book225980&

Classroom Management Workshop
Two 60-minute workshops based on the ideas in the Wong book (above) to help newer teachers with classroom management.

Links:
            The Facilitator’s Agenda
            A Classroom Scenario
            A 4-page Resource Packet for Teachers

Formative Assessment Workshop
A 90-minute workshop on formative assessment based on the ideas in the book Classroom Assessment for Student Learning (above).

Links:
            The Facilitator’s Agenda
            A 3-page Resource Packet for Teachers

3 Simple Steps to Create Staff Book Study Groups
Teachers, principals, or other administrators can come together to study a book on their own with these three simple steps. The overview of books from The Main Idea will help the group know where to start.

Links:
            3 Simple Steps to Create a Staff Book Study Group

Workshop to Create a Year-Long Professional Development Plan
Conduct a workshop with your leadership team to help create a year-long PD plan. Assess your school’s top academic needs, create a PD plan, and then plan to evaluate and sustain that plan.

Links: The Facilitator’s Agenda
            What Some Experts Say About PD
            Leadership Team Agenda