Cathy J. Lassiter – författare

Sharpen your instructional leadership skills and guide your school toward equity and excellence for all.

Just think about how great schools could be if every instructional leader exercised their influence to create change—maximizing the efforts of others and mobilizing those efforts to work toward a shared goal.

How Leadership Works: A Playbook for Instructional Leaders walks educators through the processes of clarifying, articulating, and actualizing instructional leadership goals with the aim of delivering on the promise of equity and excellence for all. Grounded in Visible Learning® research, the exercises in this easy-to-use playbook illuminate the essential mindframes necessary for effective instructional leadership and prompt veteran, new, and aspiring educators to identify challenges and determine next steps. It includes:

Ten essential mindframes for leaders, together with the leadership practices that illustrate each mindframe in action Teaching practices, such as teacher clarity or student engagement in learning, that support teachers in delivering quality instruction, along with tools to document the impact of those practices on learning Strategies for leading learning, including establishing school culture, utilizing feedback, and supporting professional learning communities as a pathway to building collective teacher efficacy. Tools for applying the principles of change, conducting an initiative inventory, and implementing and de-implementing initiatives

Exercise-by-exercise, educators and front office staff will deepen their knowledge, frame their priorities and practices, and gain new tools for supporting the instructional focus and initiatives designed to support learning at your school.

Passion, vision, relatability—can we ever quantify the facets of successful leadership? Is there sufficient “there-there” behind these feel-good words to transform a school into a culture of learning and bold hope? Yes, and yes!  Inspired by John Hattie’s impressive research, Fisher, Frey, Lassiter, and Smith bring their trademark clarity to turn aspiration into energized action. For each of the five components that all effective leaders possess—trustworthiness, competence, dynamism, immediacy, and forward-thinking—leaders learn the first steps and bold leaps to mentor others.  Each chapter abounds with professional development tools, including:  Self-assessments so you know your baseline Pause and ponder questions to envision change REAL features to lead with alacrity Checklists to stay focused and strategic Relevant research to assimilate and share Now more than ever, schools need to be places where openness and trust are baked into every hallway hello and every meeting, so collective talents can take us farther than we ever imagined. Let Leader Credibility be your guide to steering others to that greatness. 

Foster Trust, Accountability and Engagement in Your Teams

Creating strong, cohesive teams is an art, and How Teams Work: A Playbook for Distributing Leadership is the essential guide for school leaders looking to master this craft. This interactive playbook doesn't just advise but actively equips leaders with the tools they need to foster trust, accountability, and engagement in their teams.

School leaders today face a critical mandate: to empower, engage, and work in concert with their teams to foster a positive and productive school environment. How Teams Work doesn't offer mere platitudes—it offers practical strategies and tools, with concept maps, learning intentions, team challenges, reflection prompts and more. Information is organized into six modules exploring:

The foundational role leaders play in team dynamicsStrategies to bring together and mobilize effective leadership teamsMethods to forge and maintain team unity and collaborationHow to build and maintain trust and respect within teamsPractical tools for maximizing team productivity and decision-makingGuidelines on reflective leadership to assess and improve team performance

How Teams Work isn't only a resource; it's a roadmap to sustainable success, illuminating the path to nurturing leadership at every level. In an age where the turnover of educators is high and the need for sustained, collective school improvement efforts is urgent, leveraging the power of teams isn't just advantageous—it's essential.

Lead lasting change for your entire learning community

School leadership requires more than good intentions—it demands consequential actions that produce positive and meaningful outcomes for students, teachers, and the whole school community. Consequential Leadership is a practical, illustrated guide for busy educational leaders that will help you move beyond compliance to meaningful transformation—efficiently and effectively.

Drawing from extensive research and real-world experience, the authors present five essential leadership imperatives that combine theoretical insights with actionable strategies, all delivered alongside engaging illustrations that make complex concepts accessible and memorable.

The book explores crucial areas that define effective educational leadership:

Five leadership imperatives that include courage and accountability, motivation and collective purpose, evidence-based decision making, professional learning design, and performance conversationsPractical tools and assessments like self-evaluation rubrics, reflection prompts, and a personalized leadership journey mapReal-world applications that bridge research and practice, helping you to implement strategies that drive student achievement and teacher effectivenessA visual framework that presents leadership concepts through illustrations, charts, and diagrams designed to enhance understanding and retention

Embracing consequential leadership principles will allow you to develop the skills and competencies to create learning environments where students grow academically and personally, teachers thrive professionally, and school communities flourish through collective purpose and shared accountability.