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Leading with Focus: Elevating the Essentials for School and District Improvement
In his 2011 ASCD best-seller Elevating the Essentials to Radically Improve Student Learning, author Mike Schmoker described a fresh pproach to K-12 teaching built on three core a focused and coherent curriculum; clear, prioritized lessons; and purposeful reading and writing, or authentic literacy. Now, in Leading with Focus, he shows administrators, principals, and other education leaders how to apply his model to the work of running schools and districts. In this companion to his previous book, Schmoker offers
* An overview of the case for simple, focused school and district leadership—demonstrating its power for vastly improving the work of teachers and leaders.
* Examples of real schools and districts that have embraced focused leadership—and the incredible results for student learning.
* A practical, flexible, and easy-to-follow implementation guide for ensuring focused leadership in schools and districts.
All students deserve to learn in schools where educators eschew distractions and superfluous activities to concentrate on what's most important. To that end, this book is an essential resource for leaders ready to streamline their practice and focus their efforts on radically improving student learning.
* An overview of the case for simple, focused school and district leadership—demonstrating its power for vastly improving the work of teachers and leaders.
* Examples of real schools and districts that have embraced focused leadership—and the incredible results for student learning.
* A practical, flexible, and easy-to-follow implementation guide for ensuring focused leadership in schools and districts.
All students deserve to learn in schools where educators eschew distractions and superfluous activities to concentrate on what's most important. To that end, this book is an essential resource for leaders ready to streamline their practice and focus their efforts on radically improving student learning.
148 pages, Paperback
Published January 20, 2016
36 people are currently reading
114 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
September 23, 2016
A nice companion book for leaders. In a way, the message here is to "trim the fat" and do what matters: Focus on a viable curriculum, great teaching, and professional learning communities.
January 9, 2022
A top-five education book for practicing teachers and school leaders.
Companion to Focus: Elevating the Essentials to Radically Improve Student Learning with an intended audience of school and district leaders.
Perhaps no other writer on education more closely captures my own thinking about where our current problems and solutions lie. Focus and Leading with Focus are the two titles I would recommend to just about any teacher or school leader interested in improving her class or her school.
In summary, Schmoker argues that success is as much a function of what we don't do as much as it is of what we do. Success in school improvement requires focus: the ability to attend to what matters, what is important, not simply what is urgent, or even worse, what is popular.
Schmoker challenges school leaders to identify two or three key areas for school improvement that if improved, would dramatically improve student learning. He argues for making those three areas
1) Sound Curriculum
2) Reading, writing, and Discussion practices
3) Effective Teaching
He offers specific details on what getting each of these right might look like, including examples from specific schools that have made one or more of these areas their area of focus.
The question Schmoker seems to be asking, is "What are the two or three things, that if you got them right, would allow most other problems to take care of themselves." At least that's how I applied the ideas in his first Focus book in my ELA classroom. I think the same works on a school level.
The one area Schmoker does not attend to, but should, one area that I think demands improvement, and if improved would allow many other school problems to take care of themselves, is character. But since we don't seem willing to talk much about character in education, "Behavior" might be the next closest thing.
If we could get behaviors - student, staff, and parent behaviors - right, a huge number of our challenges in education would fall away. All of the curriculum, literacy, and pedagogy proposals Schmoker offers assumes that the behaviors of the people in the building allow these to become the focus. It's easy to imagine - or see - schools where behaviors must be addressed before these instructional reforms can take root.
Therefore I would modify Schmoker's "big three" by replacing literacy with behavior:
1) Behaviors
2) Curriculum
3) Pedagogy
You get those three things right, your school is going to work. If those three things aren't right, your school is going to struggle.
Companion to Focus: Elevating the Essentials to Radically Improve Student Learning with an intended audience of school and district leaders.
Perhaps no other writer on education more closely captures my own thinking about where our current problems and solutions lie. Focus and Leading with Focus are the two titles I would recommend to just about any teacher or school leader interested in improving her class or her school.
In summary, Schmoker argues that success is as much a function of what we don't do as much as it is of what we do. Success in school improvement requires focus: the ability to attend to what matters, what is important, not simply what is urgent, or even worse, what is popular.
Schmoker challenges school leaders to identify two or three key areas for school improvement that if improved, would dramatically improve student learning. He argues for making those three areas
1) Sound Curriculum
2) Reading, writing, and Discussion practices
3) Effective Teaching
He offers specific details on what getting each of these right might look like, including examples from specific schools that have made one or more of these areas their area of focus.
The question Schmoker seems to be asking, is "What are the two or three things, that if you got them right, would allow most other problems to take care of themselves." At least that's how I applied the ideas in his first Focus book in my ELA classroom. I think the same works on a school level.
The one area Schmoker does not attend to, but should, one area that I think demands improvement, and if improved would allow many other school problems to take care of themselves, is character. But since we don't seem willing to talk much about character in education, "Behavior" might be the next closest thing.
If we could get behaviors - student, staff, and parent behaviors - right, a huge number of our challenges in education would fall away. All of the curriculum, literacy, and pedagogy proposals Schmoker offers assumes that the behaviors of the people in the building allow these to become the focus. It's easy to imagine - or see - schools where behaviors must be addressed before these instructional reforms can take root.
Therefore I would modify Schmoker's "big three" by replacing literacy with behavior:
1) Behaviors
2) Curriculum
3) Pedagogy
You get those three things right, your school is going to work. If those three things aren't right, your school is going to struggle.
October 28, 2024
The author presents a strong argument for leading with a focus on improving student achievement. The Elements of Effective Lessons are the heart to assure students reach proficiency or mastery in what they learn. An outline is given to organize school and district leadership in three areas of focus: curriculum, literacy, and instruction. Literacy is defined as the ability to read and write in analytical, explanatory, and argumentative mode. These apply to all subjects in school as essentially students acquire knowledge, thinking skills, and verbal skills for the workplace. This is more than learning how to read.
October 1, 2017
The message was pretty simple and straightforward: lead by being relentlessly simple and straightforward. Get rid of ideas, policies, and systems that detract from your overall mission and be unapologetic about staying clear of the shiny, distracting aspects of school leadership. I want to say the work suffered from frequent repetition of the same message, but I think that was truly the point. Schmoker didn’t want to waste time making new points when he could reiterate the one that mattered most: lead with focus and clarity.
December 26, 2018
Schmoker's theme of keeping it simple and embracing simplicity are what this book is all about. From chapter 1 (Focused Leadership, doing less and doing it better)on the author is very clear in his message: Focus on curriculum, literacy, and instruction and your school will improve. I enjoyed the simple straightforward approach Schmoker espouses. He encourages school leaders to disengage with curricular chaos, always keep the 3 shifts at the forefront and simplify and emphasize effective instruction. I enjoyed this book immensely.
June 15, 2021
Mike Schmoker never fails to impress. His formula for better schools, while seemingly simple, also seems to be unattainable -- if history is any indication. Everything he writes about the fundamentals of curriculum, instruction and and literacy just makes SENSE but we in public education still get so caught up in the details and distractions that focus becomes impossible.
June 11, 2017
Along the tune of Schmoker's other books, he encourages districts and schools to narrow their focus on what really matters when it comes to improvement. I picked it up because of the endorsements by Gallagher, Allington, and Jago!
April 4, 2020
Schmoker has a wonderful sense of empowering school administrators and teacher leaders to do better for student in school. He's positive, engaging, and doesn't talk down to groups about school reform.
June 11, 2022
Although I believe Schmoker presents valid suggestions and discourse surrounding school improvement through a general education lense. The advice is mostly lacking consideration for the nuances of other curricular areas like the arts.
October 20, 2024
A good companion to Schmoker's FOCUS; the primary work should be read prior to this addition for school/district leadership.
Recommended for those interested in educational leadership, curriculum development, and instructional practices.
Recommended for those interested in educational leadership, curriculum development, and instructional practices.
December 28, 2017
Short read with good information.
July 6, 2019
Plenty of citations, but not much data (makes for easier reading, I guess) - We'll see how this works in leading the Humanities team next year (I'll have to report back)
November 11, 2019
Great book to empower school leaders to focus on what matters most in their schools and to be empowered to throw off any distractions.
May 26, 2020
This book is full of great reminders about the importance of staying focused on effective lesson structures, clear and concise curriculum, and the importance of authentic literacy practices.
February 26, 2022
Favorite Quote: “We must learn to say, “No, thank you,” to anything that takes time away from our very limited focus. For schools today, this may be the hardest lesson of all.”
May 31, 2025
Easy read & I learned a lot!! Was inspired by my professor to read for grad school
March 21, 2017
A nice companion to Schmoker's excellent Focus. Perfect for the principal or superintendent looking to better understand why curriculum, literacy, and instruction are so critical for schoolwide success. I read it as part of a regional book study for school leaders.
June 25, 2016
Short enough to read in one day -- although perhaps not short enough still, since my major critique is I think it could have been an article rather than the point. I agree with the author's main tenets (a focus on clear curriculum, literacy, and focused alignment on these as the key to school improvement) but I wanted to read more about how to engage students in those as well. Loved the curriculum templates at the end.
December 20, 2016
It's a good book that tries to simplify the school improvement process but it feels like it forgets some of the real life that happens each and every day in the schools. Still, I took away some ideas that I will share with my Leadership Team in January.
January 24, 2021
The initiative to element initiatives and place efforts on time tested methods that work, is liberating for the educator. I appreciated Schmoker's less-is-more approach to leadership in education.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews