Leading Impact Teams

Book excerpt: Learn how to promote teacher, student, and collective efficacy Teachers are a school’s greatest resource. Excellent teachers make excellent schools. Leading Impact Teams taps into the scheduled team planning time every school already has, and repurposes it in a model that provides the processes needed to build teacher expertise and increase student learning. The model combines two existing practices, formative assessment and collaborative inquiry, and promotes a school culture in which teachers and students are partners in learning. Readers will learn how to: Build a culture of efficacy Take collective action Embed student-centered assessment in the classroom culture Clarify learning goals and criteria for success Leverage progressions of learning for "just right" instruction Utilize evidence-based feedback Maximize peer and self-assessment in classroom practice Presented in an easy-to-read, practical format, this book will help teachers build upon their strengths to create conditions where innovation and creativity thrive and where students can develop the belief in their capacity to learn. "Leading Impact Teams offers a great blend of rationale, research, and doable application. What’s unique and noteworthy in this book is its powerful set of collaborative protocols focused on evidence, analysis, and action that puts students at the center of the teaching and learning process." Larry Ainsworth, Author of Common Formative Assessments 2.0: How Teacher Teams Intentionally Align Standards, Instruction, and Assessments "Leading Impact Teams offers one of the most thoughtful, powerful, and purposeful books in a long time that holds the potential to both catalyze and transform educational systems. Through an immensely enjoyable read, Bloomberg and Pitchford provide an easy-to-follow roadmap to the complex journey of building efficacy and teams. This book is a must-read for educators and policy makers who are committed to bringing out the best in systems, students, and communities." Alan J. Daly, Chair and Professor Department of Education Studies, University of California, San Diego