Finding joy by getting back to the essence of teaching.
Based on research in schools, Leading Together describes the gritty optimism of schools and leaders who are doing the hard work of improving outcomes for their students. Collective leadership for improved student outcomes is our best hope for the schools we need.
Joe Murphy, educational leadership expert, says this books is "the best guidance we have to date about how to collaboratively dismantle the wall that has stood between teachers and school administrators for over a century. A marvelously accessible book in which collective leadership is discovered through the eyes and voices of teachers and principals."
Joseph F. Murphy, Frank W. Mayborn Chair and associate dean
Peabody College of Education
Vanderbilt University
Nashville, TN
This refreshing book is upbeat in tone, practical in nature, and noble in approach. Principals and teacher leaders will be able to follow Eckert’s advice with confidence and assuredly reap the benefits.
James W. Guthrie, Professor Emeritus
Peabody College of Education
Vanderbilt University
Nashville, TN
In his latest book, Leading Together, teacher educator Jon Eckert does us a great dual service. On the one hand, he helps impale the myth of the superhero educator (principal or teacher) who single-handedly defends students and defeats all problems facing modern schools. At the same time, he thoughtfully examines a spectrum of collaborative leadership styles. The highlight for many readers will be the realization that effective leadership does not have to be (and increasingly, cannot be) uniform or solitary.
Renee Moore, English teacher
Mississippi Delta Community College
Cleveland, MS
Leading Together re-introduces us to the solution that was there all the time: every teacher and administrator needs to engage fully with leadership and they need to do it together. The brilliance of this book is that it models the same strategies it promotes; it is underpinned by rigorous research and draws on deep professional experience developed in collaboration with others. We can finally put to rest the expectation that every school principal lead like Winston Churchill and encourage administrators and teachers to share the opportunities of leadership.
Beth Green, Program Director Education
Regional Editor Canada
International Journal of Christianity and Education
Hamilton, ON Canada
In Leading Together, Jon Eckert embeds his study in the practical – poignant questions for self-reflection, examples of real leaders doing this difficult work in real schools – and grounds all of it in his own rich leadership experiences. Above all, this book aims to do what all such literature should: support the adults across our education system in best serving all of our students.
Jocelyn Pickford, Designer of the Teaching Ambassador Fellowship at the U.S. Department of Education
As a discipline, leadership is one of the most researched, but least understood, concepts in education. From my vantage point as a superintendent, teacher leadership is critically important in improving the quality of the student experience in our schools. This book brought clarity to the role teachers and administrators can play working in partnership to improve schools. Through this work, Dr. Eckert empowers teacher leaders to recognize opportunities to improve their craft and bring about meaningful and sustained school improvement.
Jeff Schuler, Superintendent of Schools
Community Unit School District 200
Wheaton, IL
Leading Together is the best book I have read about how teachers and administrators can work together to create the classrooms our students deserve. It provides pragmatic and inspiring best practices for how to take excellence to scale. Grounded in the stories of teachers, students, and administrators in settings that range from urban to rural to suburban, this book makes a simple but compelling argument: Transforming education in American requires collective leadership.
Justin Minkel, Second-Grade Teacher and 2007 Arkansas Teacher of the Year, Jones Elementary, Springdale, AR
Leading Together includes rich research-based stories, reflective activities to spark action, and optimistic evidence about what this needed shift in school hierarchies means for improving student outcomes. Don’t just read this; adopt it as your guidebook to become an even more influential leader.
P. Ann Byrd, COO & Partner
Center for Teaching Quality
Carrboro, NC
In this powerful resource Eckert argues that school transformation depends on the systematic development of collective leadership. Through vivid, well-constructed stories, Eckert provides a guide that readers can use to cultivate effective school leadership in their own setting.
Mark A. Smylie, Professor Emeritus
Department of Educational Policy Studies
College of Education
University of Illinois at Chicago
Chicago, IL
This book has been a transformational dive into what it means to have genuine and powerful leadership in our education system. If you're looking for ways to take leadership in your classroom, school, district, this book will take you on a path to deepen your understanding of what it means to be an real leader. Leading Together will help open up dialogue around issues and topics that are paramount to system success. Although these topics are messy and complex, Dr. Eckert tackles them head on and with grace, understanding, and an authentic perspective that will have you wanting to take on the tough job of transforming our schools to better serve our ultimate client, students. As an instructor of preservice educators, this will go on my syllabus as a must read.
Tammie J. Schrader, Computer Science and Science Coordinator
Northeast Washington Education Service District 101
Spokane, WA
Once again, Jon Eckert offers his straightforward, no nonsense thinking to busy practitioners. In Leading Together, he implores readers to think beyond the typical roles and boundaries of leadership in order to improve results for students. His authentic knowledge of everyday life in schools coupled with a thoughtful framework informs every chapter in this book. There are elements of his model that can be used right away...big shifts or little tweaks! His stories and humor make it readable (and meaningful!) for those of us seeking creative and collaborative ways to lead schools and districts.
Joan Dabrowski, Assistant Superintendent for Teaching and Learning
Wellesley Public Schools
Wellesley, MA
True to his classroom teacher roots, Jon Eckert puts the reflective (and always time-pressed!) educator at the center of “Leading Together,” providing a balanced mix of anecdote, learned truths, and prompts that can be used to ‘get the work done.’ The book is accessible, relatable, and resonant—a terrific resource and set of frameworks to help educators lead together.
James Liou, NBCT
Program Officer- Education
William Penn Foundation
This is the first book that I have read that provides an adaptable solution to building leadership capacity in schools. Readers will be empowered to capture back the profession through shared leadership. Dr. Eckert provides a perfect blend of research, resources, reflective questions, and real-school examples that grabs the readers’ interest. If you want to invest in human capital and improve leadership in your school or district this is the perfect book!
Chris Silagi, Principal
Whittier School
Wheaton, IL
There are few books that promote uplifting the teaching profession like this one. If we desire to improve outcomes for all students and society as a whole, all educators must work together as they develop their leadership side by side and promote the work within the system.
Nancy Veatch, Teacher and Principal
Bend Elementary School
Cottonwood, CA
Joe Murphy, educational leadership expert, says this books is "the best guidance we have to date about how to collaboratively dismantle the wall that has stood between teachers and school administrators for over a century. A marvelously accessible book in which collective leadership is discovered through the eyes and voices of teachers and principals."
Joseph F. Murphy, Frank W. Mayborn Chair and associate dean
Peabody College of Education
Vanderbilt University
Nashville, TN
This refreshing book is upbeat in tone, practical in nature, and noble in approach. Principals and teacher leaders will be able to follow Eckert’s advice with confidence and assuredly reap the benefits.
James W. Guthrie, Professor Emeritus
Peabody College of Education
Vanderbilt University
Nashville, TN
In his latest book, Leading Together, teacher educator Jon Eckert does us a great dual service. On the one hand, he helps impale the myth of the superhero educator (principal or teacher) who single-handedly defends students and defeats all problems facing modern schools. At the same time, he thoughtfully examines a spectrum of collaborative leadership styles. The highlight for many readers will be the realization that effective leadership does not have to be (and increasingly, cannot be) uniform or solitary.
Renee Moore, English teacher
Mississippi Delta Community College
Cleveland, MS
Leading Together re-introduces us to the solution that was there all the time: every teacher and administrator needs to engage fully with leadership and they need to do it together. The brilliance of this book is that it models the same strategies it promotes; it is underpinned by rigorous research and draws on deep professional experience developed in collaboration with others. We can finally put to rest the expectation that every school principal lead like Winston Churchill and encourage administrators and teachers to share the opportunities of leadership.
Beth Green, Program Director Education
Regional Editor Canada
International Journal of Christianity and Education
Hamilton, ON Canada
In Leading Together, Jon Eckert embeds his study in the practical – poignant questions for self-reflection, examples of real leaders doing this difficult work in real schools – and grounds all of it in his own rich leadership experiences. Above all, this book aims to do what all such literature should: support the adults across our education system in best serving all of our students.
Jocelyn Pickford, Designer of the Teaching Ambassador Fellowship at the U.S. Department of Education
As a discipline, leadership is one of the most researched, but least understood, concepts in education. From my vantage point as a superintendent, teacher leadership is critically important in improving the quality of the student experience in our schools. This book brought clarity to the role teachers and administrators can play working in partnership to improve schools. Through this work, Dr. Eckert empowers teacher leaders to recognize opportunities to improve their craft and bring about meaningful and sustained school improvement.
Jeff Schuler, Superintendent of Schools
Community Unit School District 200
Wheaton, IL
Leading Together is the best book I have read about how teachers and administrators can work together to create the classrooms our students deserve. It provides pragmatic and inspiring best practices for how to take excellence to scale. Grounded in the stories of teachers, students, and administrators in settings that range from urban to rural to suburban, this book makes a simple but compelling argument: Transforming education in American requires collective leadership.
Justin Minkel, Second-Grade Teacher and 2007 Arkansas Teacher of the Year, Jones Elementary, Springdale, AR
Leading Together includes rich research-based stories, reflective activities to spark action, and optimistic evidence about what this needed shift in school hierarchies means for improving student outcomes. Don’t just read this; adopt it as your guidebook to become an even more influential leader.
P. Ann Byrd, COO & Partner
Center for Teaching Quality
Carrboro, NC
In this powerful resource Eckert argues that school transformation depends on the systematic development of collective leadership. Through vivid, well-constructed stories, Eckert provides a guide that readers can use to cultivate effective school leadership in their own setting.
Mark A. Smylie, Professor Emeritus
Department of Educational Policy Studies
College of Education
University of Illinois at Chicago
Chicago, IL
This book has been a transformational dive into what it means to have genuine and powerful leadership in our education system. If you're looking for ways to take leadership in your classroom, school, district, this book will take you on a path to deepen your understanding of what it means to be an real leader. Leading Together will help open up dialogue around issues and topics that are paramount to system success. Although these topics are messy and complex, Dr. Eckert tackles them head on and with grace, understanding, and an authentic perspective that will have you wanting to take on the tough job of transforming our schools to better serve our ultimate client, students. As an instructor of preservice educators, this will go on my syllabus as a must read.
Tammie J. Schrader, Computer Science and Science Coordinator
Northeast Washington Education Service District 101
Spokane, WA
Once again, Jon Eckert offers his straightforward, no nonsense thinking to busy practitioners. In Leading Together, he implores readers to think beyond the typical roles and boundaries of leadership in order to improve results for students. His authentic knowledge of everyday life in schools coupled with a thoughtful framework informs every chapter in this book. There are elements of his model that can be used right away...big shifts or little tweaks! His stories and humor make it readable (and meaningful!) for those of us seeking creative and collaborative ways to lead schools and districts.
Joan Dabrowski, Assistant Superintendent for Teaching and Learning
Wellesley Public Schools
Wellesley, MA
True to his classroom teacher roots, Jon Eckert puts the reflective (and always time-pressed!) educator at the center of “Leading Together,” providing a balanced mix of anecdote, learned truths, and prompts that can be used to ‘get the work done.’ The book is accessible, relatable, and resonant—a terrific resource and set of frameworks to help educators lead together.
James Liou, NBCT
Program Officer- Education
William Penn Foundation
This is the first book that I have read that provides an adaptable solution to building leadership capacity in schools. Readers will be empowered to capture back the profession through shared leadership. Dr. Eckert provides a perfect blend of research, resources, reflective questions, and real-school examples that grabs the readers’ interest. If you want to invest in human capital and improve leadership in your school or district this is the perfect book!
Chris Silagi, Principal
Whittier School
Wheaton, IL
There are few books that promote uplifting the teaching profession like this one. If we desire to improve outcomes for all students and society as a whole, all educators must work together as they develop their leadership side by side and promote the work within the system.
Nancy Veatch, Teacher and Principal
Bend Elementary School
Cottonwood, CA
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If you’re ready to laugh, cry, wince, sigh, and nod about classroom adventures (others and your own), this book is for you. The stories will resonate with any teacher who has had a “cringeworthy” classroom moment or two. As an experienced educator, I began reading Jon’s insightful analysis expecting to come away with a renewed reminder of the “novice” world; instead, I was schooled by a great teacher. We are ALL novices and should strive to stay in that space. It’s where lifelong learners hang out. Because we all begin something new each day, this book is not only for novice teachers—it’s for all teachers who want to get better.
— Ann Byrd, COO, Center for Teaching Quality I found myself laughing and taking notes throughout the book. Jon's ability to weave humor with proven, field-tested techniques will empower both new educators and veterans alike. — Mawi Asgedom, Founder and President, Mawi Learning The Novice Advantage empowers the hopefulness of education. It provides practical ways for beginning and veteran teachers to maintain their enthusiasm and wonder of teaching. This book covers, in a very clear, useful, and readable fashion, all the relevant and effective strategies of a successful teacher. This could very well be the only book an aspiring or veteran teacher would need to fill their instructional toolbox. The “Key Takeaways and Fearless Practices” section at the end of each chapter provide an quick resource of reminders to strategies that will bolster continued reflection and improvements. It is a must read for all educators. A powerful concept that is seldom considered is what Dr. Eckert refers to as, “getting better at getting better through honest reflection and transparent practice”. It’s the notion focusing on improvement rather than what was wrong and looking in the windshield instead of the rear view mirror. — Robert Rammer, Assistant Superintendent, Community Unit School District 200, Illinois The epitome of an "expert novice" himself, Eckert offers teachers at all stages of the profession clear, precise, and inspiring strategies for reaching students. And by recognizing the contributions educators make both inside and outside the classroom to shape great teaching, he elevates the teacher voice to its rightful position at the forefront of any discussion about the daily work of our schools. — Jocelyn Pickford, Founder, Teaching Ambassador Fellowship, U.S. Department of Education The Novice Advantage is an inspiring call to educators to make continuous learning and improvement central to their own teaching, as well as highlighting how important it is for teachers to participate in broader efforts to transform school and district structures to support continuous growth for all teachers and students. — Kristan Van Hook, Senior Vice President for Policy, National Institute for Excellence in Teaching Eckert's book belongs in the hands of aspiring teachers and master teachers alike. He brings a writer's touch and a teacher's insight into what it means for educators to be lifelong learners in the context of their career. — Brad Jupp, Senior Program Advisor, U.S. Department of Education So often we aspire to expertise with the false notion that experts are infallible. In The Novice Advantage, Jon Eckert paints a more realistic picture - that it's actually failures and rigorous reflective practice that breeds expertise. With deep case studies, practical strategies based in research, and amusing anecdotes, this book is a particularly useful addition to the tool belt of any professional, at any stage of their career. My recent shift from the classroom to teacher leader, then to non-profit leadership have forced me to rely on my Novice Advantage - I only wish the book was published while I was still in the classroom. — Nick Greer, Managing Director of Programs, Thread |