This book was borne out of urgency. We face the consequences of a raging pandemic, coupled with an unprecedented call to end racial injustice. COVID-19 has exposed longstanding structural inequities, while at the same time offering a rare "breakthrough" opportunity to dismantle inequitable systems that have harmed our most marginalized students for generations.
Breakthrough Leadership is rooted in moral courage and calls us to act upon a new discovery, or epiphany about a fundamental truth that challenges previous beliefs.
While this book offers examples of schools that were "beating the odds" pre-COVID-19 as well as strategies for changing those odds in the future. Breakthrough Leadership also spotlights professionals now leveraging crises like this to shape local and national priorities toward a more equitable and healthy society for our children in order to:
• Create and sustain Equitable Learning Communities (ELCs) that are grounded in relational trust • Establish comprehensive systems to ensure that all students thrive • Implement cutting-edge principles of effective curriculum, instruction, and assessment including culturally responsive teaching, trauma-informed practice, and blended learning • Meaningfully engage families and community
Leadership from the classroom to the boardroom is needed to advance an agenda of equitable and successful outcomes for our students. The facts stakes couldn't be starker. Good leadership saves lives both in pandemics, and in our profession.
