Content-specific DI guidance from the best minds in education

The Best of Corwin series showcases key chapters from critically acclaimed Corwin publications for a powerful compilation of perspectives on important education issues and topics. In this collection, current research on the most effective differentiation practices for teaching students at all levels of proficiency in literacy, mathematics, and science is brought alive through the many strategies and classroom examples from prominent authors Topics covered include:

• Reading and writing: A comprehensive array of models for differentiating reading instruction, an approach to gradual release of responsibility to accelerate progress, and multi-tiered writing instruction

• Mathematics: Support for both low- and high-achieving students, including interventions and challenges, and the implementation of RTI in math instruction

• Science: Models and methods for increasing student achievement through differentiated science inquiry

From the differentiation of content to the differentiation of instructional methods to the pacing of material to meet different students' needs, everything you need to begin and master differentiated instruction is right here!

"This book will challenge, enlighten, and transform. The authors invite us to re-examine our core values as educational leaders, reconsider our priorities, and place the humanity of children at the center of our work."
—Nancy Skerritt, Assistant Superintendent,Tahoma School District, Maple Valley, WA

"By their analysis, Lumby and English expose the power of language to shape meaning. By their skill, they illustrate the power of language to engage and enrich. Their work is an important contribution to how we understand and practice leadership in all fields."
—Steven R. Thompson, Coordinator, School Leadership Program, Miami University

An imaginative approach to rethinking and revitalizing your leadership practice!

Research has shown that metaphors inspire leaders to reflect on their mind-sets, behaviors, practices, and approaches, leading to new perspectives on their roles. Using such thought-provoking and unexpected metaphors as "leadership as war" and "leadership as lunacy," the authors draw readers through historical perspectives and cognitive possibilities that inspire, resolve, confuse, and provoke reflection on the state of leadership in education. This book examines the current discourse on educational leadership models, behaviors, and roles, and helps school and district leaders:

• Understand the power of metaphor and how metaphors have been used to define leadership
• Develop a deeper connection to their roles and their approaches
• Initiate change in themselves and in others

By inspiring creative thinking and critical reflection, Leadership as Lunacy helps leaders achieve personal and professional growth and invigorate their professional relationships!

"Applying the natural human learning process described in the book transformed my students' ability to learn. No teacher, new or experienced, should enter any classroom without a copy of this book."
—Patricia Jamie Lee, Educational Consultant
Many Kites Press, St. Paul, MN

Teach students to take responsibility for their own success!

This updated edition of the bestselling book on the brain's natural learning process brings new research results and applications in a power-packed teacher tool kit. Rita Smilkstein shows teachers how to create and deliver curricula that help students become the motivated, successful, and natural learners they were born to be. Updated features include:

• Guidelines for using the six-step Natural Human Learning Process (NHLP) for lesson planning and test preparation
• New information on how technology and Internet research affect student learning
• Practical methods for giving all students the tools they need to achieve

The author translates her unique research on students' critical and creative thinking into classroom strategies and sample lesson plans that will help to create a successful learning environment. Building on the content that earned the author an Educator's Award of the Year from the Delta Kappa Gamma International Society, We're Born to Learn provides teachers with practical methods for giving all students the metacognitive, motivational, and technological tools they need to take responsibility for their own achievement.

"This book makes the reader think deeply about the role of curriculum planning and its connection to assessment in this age of accountability."
—J. Jeannette Lovern, Associate Professor of Curriculum and Instruction
Eastern Kentucky University

"For educators who want students and schools to be successful, this book provides a clear and proven process to accomplish this goal. It is succinct, yet packed with what's really important to create, develop, assess, and lead curriculum."
—Jane McDonald, Education Consultant in Leadership Development

The classic book on curriculum alignment—with new guidance for today's educational leaders!

The issue of balancing testing, curriculum design, and teaching practices is a pressing one for today's schools. Now in its third edition, this influential book on developing and aligning curriculum is updated with new insights on providing effective curriculum leadership, increasing student success, and closing the achievement gap.

Addressing the fundamentals of curriculum design in the context of a standards-based environment, Fenwick W. English focuses on how administrators and teachers can best collaborate to create a high-quality curriculum for all students. Readers will find:

• Guidance on curriculum mapping and other user-friendly tools
• New information on differentiating teaching, learning, and assessment to meet the needs of special education students, English language learners, and others
• Additional content on addressing cultural differences in curriculum content and assessment practices
• A new chapter on the challenges educators face in their roles as curriculum leaders

"Long overdue. Teachers and the professors who teach them will greatly benefit from a seminal work that focuses on the teacher leader and gives those teachers the courage to stay where they are most needed."
—From the Foreword by Rosemary Papa

"Should be required reading in teacher preparation programs across the country."
—Bill Crabtree Jr., Supervisor of Teacher Certification, Texas A&M University-Commerce

"Authentic school reform cannot take place without the support and genuine involvement of classroom teachers. Wilmore's book recognizes the necessity of equipping teachers with the concepts and skills crucial to practicing leadership within the classroom and throughout the learning community."
—David Barbosa, Superintendent, Grand Prairie Independent School District, TX

A visionary model of leadership that acknowledges a master teacher's power to make a difference.

Leadership development has traditionally focused on administrators' responsibility for promoting and enhancing school improvement efforts. Today, there are a growing number of educators who believe leadership in the classroom plays an equally significant role in building a strong school culture. In Teacher Leadership, highly regarded education expert Elaine L. Wilmore offers a global perspective on classroom teachers' participation as leaders of students and focuses on increasing classroom leadership capacity. The author speaks directly to teachers, providing them with the leadership skills necessary to maximize their capabilities while remaining inside the classroom.

Based on ISLLC standards, this readable and insightful text:

• Integrates leadership and school reform research with strategies for improvement from inside classrooms
• Gives teachers the tools to improve teaching, student learning, and job satisfaction
• Shows how teachers can create change, grow as professionals, and become true leaders to other teachers, their schools, and their communities

Writing in an informative and inspiring yet practical style, Wilmore empowers all teachers to become leaders from inside their classrooms.

"Makes a distinct contribution to the field and will be a very useful resource for universities and school districts."
—Susan Villani, Senior Program/Research Associate, Learning Innovations
Author, Mentoring and Induction Programs That Support New Principals

"Will improve the training and practice of future school administrators and the learning of students across the country."
—Jim Lentz, Superintendent, Augusta Public Schools, KS

Blend theory with real-world practices to develop and sustain effective leadership!

University preparation programs for educational leaders are continually criticized for lack of connectedness to the real world, while school and district leaders face mounting pressure to adopt the latest research-based best practices. Closing the Leadership Gap demonstrates what happens when universities and districts work together to shape and support superior leadership that harnesses the qualities of excellence in both practice and research. The authors, experts in school-university partnerships for leadership development, help close the gap between academic training and day-to-day issues with a program that incorporates collaborative partnerships between university faculty and inservice administrators.

Filled with lessons learned, school leader voices, and reflections throughout, this book illustrates how to cultivate and sustain ethical, effective leadership. Readers will find:

• Field-tested tools, templates, and forms
• Research-based strategies to apply in any leadership development endeavor
• Performance assessment and documentation methods

This resource is ideal for staff developers, leadership coaches, university preparation programs, and prospective or practicing administrators committed to a strong leadership preparation curriculum that inspires leaders to remain in education and have a lasting, positive impact upon student achievement.

• Practical strategies for scaffolding language, concepts, and academic literacy in your daily lessons
• Differentiation guides for personalizing instruction to students’ assets and learning priorities 
• Effective teaching routines to strengthen student conversations, close reading, and rigorous writing.
• The Six Essentials framework to help teachers, co-teachers, and teams deepen their impact with MLs and all students.

Asset-Based Language and Literacy equips educators with confidence and tools to create high-challenge, high-support learning environments to ensure all students thrive. With a focus on practical research-based strategies, this is your go-to guide for building collective efficacy for every teacher to be an ML teacher!

Proven practices to rescue struggling education initiatives... or prevent a crisis before it starts.

Insufficient planning, unclear outcomes, missing data--for leaders overseeing education initiatives, it can often seem like there's a crisis around every corner. Drawing on decades of experience in assessment, evaluation, and data-driven decision-making, author and Professor of Educational Leadership James Marshall offers a combination of evidence-based practices and real-life experiences that provide practical solutions to the diverse challenges school leaders encounter as they implement new initiatives.

Exploring oft-encountered challenges such as poor outcomes, waning interest or support from leadership, public relations issues, scaling and sustainability roadblocks, and other implementation-related obstacles--the book identifies six types of crises confronted by education leaders and offers valuable insights and solutions for each. Features include:

• Guidance to recognize the six types of education initiative crises and strategies for resolution tailored to each type
• 24 unique tools to positively impact challenges, such as the “Triage Tool” to prioritize crisis intervention and the “Don’t Swamp the Boat” tool to explore the complement of initiatives in your school
• Two case studies and real world examples illustrating the application of selected tools across a range of crisis types

Whether you’re an education leader dealing with a program or initiative in crisis or proactively looking to prevent a crisis, Fixing Education Initiatives in Crisis provides practical solutions to navigate troubled initiatives and guidance for the design and implementation of healthy initiatives that yield predictable results.

See beyond content standards to the broader context of life-changing skills.

The standards-based learning and grading movement of the past twenty years has ushered in a critical shift in assessment that demands clarity in both what is being measured and how well students are learning. Seeing the value in this evolution, a wave of schools has invested enormous effort to institutionalize the policy and practices of the movement. In doing so, many focused their initial efforts squarely on grading and fell short of the more important work–classroom assessment. There are important lessons in these missteps and failures.

This groundbreaking, “next generation” approach to classroom assessment challenges educators to reflect on the connections between growth, mastery, and student self-efficacy and to prioritize the transferable skills of metacognition and self-regulation in assessments. A powerful call-to-action, this guide includes: 

• A conceptual framework that guides the questions and order of assessment reform
• An approach to assessment, grading, and reporting that prioritizes student growth over a standard definition of success for everyone 
• Strategies to develop metacognition and catalyze motivation in students
• Orientation to each chapter with learning intentions with success criteria 
• Vivid case stories and prompts to power deep reflection

Underscoring the importance of learning environments that work for the full range of learning profiles, this book calls for a revolution in the narrative around assessment and grading, emphasizing the ultimate goal of nurturing students who are metacognitive, expert learners, motivated by the joy of learning.

Master the Age of Complexity through innovative growth.

From far-reaching impacts of COVID-19 to environmental and economic concerns, we’re living in the Age of Complexity that will likely be with us for generations to come. How then can schools and organizations change their learning environments to foster innovative thinking in students when the Age of Complexity is always at the forefront? Peter Gamwell and Jane Daly answer that question and more by demonstrating how to understand problems the world faces as living, changing systems.

Built on the philosophy that the prosperity of any organization is directly proportional to how it values its people, affords them autonomy, and gives them creative rein, this book provides resources including:

• A new way to define brilliance, and 10 specific ways you can shift your organization to prepare your school and community for the Age of Complexity
• Detailed case studies from schools excelling in the Age of Complexity
• Links to videos showcasing real-world students and educators in action
• Key takeaways highlighting each chapter’s critical content
• Reflective questions to facilitate the application of ideas into school and district settings
• Actionable strategies to use in classrooms and school communities

As the world continues to grow more complex, this resource provides timely direction on how to think big about innovative growth, even if the first step is small.