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Redefining Student Success
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Redefining Student Success
Building a New Vision to Transform Leading, Teaching, and Learning

First Edition

Foreword by Tony Wagner

Additional resources:


October 2021 | 248 pages | Corwin

Be the leader of a fresh, bold, enduring vision of education for your district or school. 

The future of learning has arrived, and it requires bold educational leadership and a dramatic redefinition of what it means to be a successful student today. 

Redefining Student Success invites you to lead this transformation with audacity. It engages leaders with the concepts and actions needed to reimagine schools, address inequities, and help today’s students develop the skills they need for personal, economic, and civic success. This vital guide supports transformative leadership with 

  • Concrete guidance on how to create a Portrait of a Graduate and Portrait of an Educator which will help ensure teachers have a unified vision for professional growth and student success.
  • Reflection prompts that help you recognize your strengths, spark discussion among stakeholders, and identify next steps for inspired action.
  • Compelling examples of students already engaged in creative, self-directed problem-solving around issues that matter to them and their communities, together with stories that illustrate how districts and schools have arrived at their own vision of what education must become. 
  • Companion guides to 21st century learning for parents and students available online. 

The time is now to reset educational outcomes, sync schools with the demands of 21st century society, and meet the needs of every learner, in every community. 

 
 
Foreword by Tony Wagner
 
Preface
 
Gratitudes
 
About the Authors
 
INTRODUCTION
Preparing for Challenges and Opportunities

 
How We Got Here

 
Redefining Student Success to Address Equity

 
The Time Is Now

 
 
PART I: EMBRACING YOUR VISION
 
CHAPTER 1: BE THE LEADER OF A BOLD VISION
To Construct a Bold Vision, Focus on the Readiness Gap

 
Adopting Your Portrait of a Graduate

 
Embrace a Broad and Bold Conversation

 
Focus on Equity

 
Resources for Your Equity Work

 
Final Reflections

 
Resources for Implementation

 
Action Steps

 
 
CHAPTER 2: BE THE LEADER OF A GREEN LIGHT CULTURE
Culture During Crisis

 
Know When to Reset Your Organization’s Culture

 
Final Reflections

 
Resources for Implementation

 
Action Steps

 
 
PART II: VISITING YOUR VISION
 
CHAPTER 3: BE THE LEADER OF CREATIVE PROBLEM SOLVERS
Recognize Opportunities for Creative Problem Solving

 
Sustainability in Action

 
Innovation, Invention, and Entrepreneurship in Action

 
The Creativity, Innovation, Invention, and Entrepreneurship Challenge

 
Creative Problem Solving and Your POG

 
Final Reflections

 
Action Steps

 
 
CHAPTER 4: BE THE LEADER OF ENGAGED CITIZENS
Ending the Civics Slide

 
Get Your Community on Board

 
Commit to Tackling Society’s Biggest Challenges

 
Set a Bold Civics Challenge

 
Final Reflections

 
Resources for Implementation

 
Action Steps

 
 
CHAPTER 5: BE THE LEADER OF SELF-DIRECTED YOUNG PEOPLE
Take It Seriously

 
Take It Deep

 
Take It Wide

 
Students as Change Agents

 
Final Reflections

 
Resources for Implementation

 
Action Steps

 
 
PART III: BUILDING YOUR VISION
 
CHAPTER 6: BE THE LEADER OF BOLD LEARNING
Design Backward From Your POG

 
Set an Instructional Challenge

 
Focus on Assessment

 
Competency-Based Learning

 
Final Reflections

 
Resources for Implementation

 
Action Steps

 
 
CHAPTER 7: BE THE LEADER OF STRONG PARTNERSHIPS
Partner With Families

 
Enlist Business and Community Allies

 
Leverage Networks

 
Final Reflections

 
Resources for Implementation

 
Action Steps

 
 
CHAPTER 8: YOUR NEXT STEPS AS A BOLD LEADER
Focus on Your Students

 
Focus on Your Community

 
Focus on Your Green Light Culture

 
Your Six Next Steps as a Bold Leader

 
Momentum Is Growing

 
Final Reflections

 
 
Appendix A: Discussion Guide
 
Appendix B: Help Students Develop Their Competencies
 
Appendix C: Engage Parents as Partners
 
Appendix D: List of Interviewees
 
References

Supplements

Fasten your seatbelt! This book brings clarity and insight to education priorities that prepare students for their futures, and pragmatic guidance for how schools can fulfill this promise. Grounded in decades of field expertise, the authors offer a powerful education North Star of immense value to educators, parents, and concerned citizens around the globe.

Ted Dintersmith
Founder, What School Could Be, Author, What School Could Be

With the demands of the workplace never greater, and the need for effective citizenship never more urgent, the world demands a new generation of self-directed creative problem solvers. Redefining Student Success is the guide every leader needs to build an education system worthy of the students they serve.

Daniel H. Pink
Author, When, Drive, and To Sell is Human, Washington, D.C.

We must reconsider what we’re working towards in education and reorient towards a purpose that’s relevant for today’s world, with all its challenges and opportunities. Redefining Student Success is an incredible gift—it’s a roadmap for educators and other stakeholders seeking to develop a shared vision of the capabilities students (and educators) need to develop so they can shape a better future.

Wendy Kopp
CEO & Co-founder, Teach For All, Founder, Teach For America

Let's face it: most people know our schools can be better but they are not sure where to start. Redefining Student Success brings the steps for school transformation to life with sound advice, practical strategies, and rich stories sharing the whys and hows.

Cindy Johanson
Executive Editor, Edutopia, San Rafael, CA

The global pandemic has created a cultural tipping point. Forced isolation has shone a spotlight on the critical need to accelerate our quest to improve the skills, knowledge, behaviors, and dispositions that will shape and prepare students for jobs, home, and societal responsibilities. With the imperative decisions school systems are making, Ken Kay and Suzie Boss provide a treasure trove of tools on behalf of district leaders who are working diligently to create bold, equity-focused, and futuristic initiatives in order to meet the growing demands of today’s public education landscape. All children, no matter their zip codes, deserve every opportunity to turn their dreams into reality. Redefining Student Success can serve as a ‘go-to’ resource to help ensure that education for all learners becomes equitable, engaging, and authentic.

Daniel A. Domenech
Executive Director, AASA, The School Superintendents Association

Ken Kay has long been a significant thought leader and contributor to advancing 21st century education. In this new book, Kay and Suzie Boss offer powerful stories of school system leaders engaged in 21st century, deeper learning and how the changes made have positively impacted young people. Their amazing examples of real work in districts across the country are inspiring!

Karen K. Garza
President and CEO, Battelle for Kids

What if you could design schools where students were passionately invested in the learning process and in the meaningful outcomes of that process? The good news is you can. With powerful examples, reflection, and action tools, Ken Kay and Suzie Boss show us how to engage parents, teachers, students, and leaders in a critically important conversation about what learning must look like now and for our future.

Aaron Spence
Superintendent, Virginia Beach City Public Schools, Virginia

Ken Kay and Suzie Boss bring home the point that leadership matters in promoting transformational change in school organizations. I love the ‘ask yourself’ sections of this book! They pose critical questions for reflection on the myriad ways in which education practitioners
have worked to implement change in our nation’s schools.

David W. James
Superintendent, Akron Public Schools, Ohio

Redefining Student Success makes the case for why every student deserves equal access to 21st century learning experiences and provides leaders with a set of tools and strategies to make this vision a reality.

Steven Holmes
Superintendent, Sunnyside Unified School District, Arizona

As we emerge from a global pandemic, we have the opportunity to ‘reopen the schools of the future.’ Ken Kay and Suzie Boss provide a clear path forward for educators to solidify the best we’ve learned about 21st century education. Brilliantly written and easy to navigate, let this book be your GPS for true educational transformation.

Michael R. McCormick
Superintendent, Val Verde Unified School District, California

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ISBN: 9781071831342
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