Dominique Smith – författare

Effective school leadership is effective leadership, regardless of where it occurs In March 2020, there was no manual for leading schools and school systems during a pandemic. School leaders had to figure things out as the crisis unfolded. But starting now, leaders have the opportunity to prepare for leading schools through distance learning with purpose and intent—using what works best to accelerate students’ learning all the while maintaining an indelible focus on equity. Harnessing the insights and experience of renowned educators Douglas Fisher, Nancy Frey, and John Hattie, The Distance Learning Playbook for School Leaders applies the wisdom and evidence of the VISIBLE LEARNING® research to understand what works best. Spanning topics from school climate at a distance, leader credibility, care for self and colleagues, instructional leadership teams, stakeholder advisory groups, and virtual visibility, this comprehensive playbook details the research- and evidence-based strategies school leaders can mobilize to lead the delivery of high-impact learning in an online, virtual, and distributed environment. This powerful guide includes:

The Distance Learning Playbook for School Leaders is the essential hands-on guide to leading school and school systems from a distance and delivering on the promise of equitable, quality learning experiences for students.

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:

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.

Utilize restorative practices to create a safe, accepting, and equitable school climate where learning can flourish.

When students have unfinished learning, educators create opportunities for students to learn. Unfortunately, this role seems to end when it comes to behavior. How can we turn behavior into a teachable moment?

The Restorative Practices Playbook details a set of practices designed to teach prosocial behaviors based on strong relationships and a commitment to the well-being of others. Implementing restorative practices establishes a positive academic and social-emotional learning environment while building students’ capacity to self-regulate, make decisions, and self-govern—the very skills students need to achieve. In this eye-opening, essential playbook, renowned educators Dominique Smith, Douglas Fisher, and Nancy Frey support educators with the reflection prompts, tools, examples, and strategies needed to create restorative practices around several key concepts:

By becoming adept in the skillful use of restorative practices, educators will foster equitable discipline that reduces exclusion and creates a school community driven by relationships and respect.

This interactive playbook provides the language, moves, and evidence-based advice you need to nurture social and emotional learning in yourself, your students, and your school.

The essentials for creating a supportive and inclusive space for all

Learning is hard work and the latest education research shows that a sense of psychological safety is a must if we want students to successfully progress along their education journey.

In Mindframes for Belonging, Identities, and Equity, you'll discover 10 unique mindframes backed by extensive education research and real-life scenarios. Through self-reflection and powerful vignettes, you'll learn how to apply these core principles in your daily life to foster a more inclusive and understanding learning environment. Inside, the authors explore the five critical themes behind these mindframes, including

Harnessing the power of these mindframes is not just about improving education--it's about fostering an environment where every student feels valued, safe, and able to learn without fear.

The curiosity-stirring, can-do handbook for building inclusive cultures

With one click we can make our camera lens switch from portrait to landscape, so why can’t we find a simple way to broaden our perspectives on equity? Because human beings are wildly complex, for one thing. But this potent guide simplifies, providing concrete techniques for becoming expansive educators capable of engaging every student. Chapter assets include:

Social justice work is not “other;” it’s not extra. It’s student agency work. It’s what keeps so many of us educators up at night, worried about why some of our learners aren’t engaged. With this book, they will be engaged, because they will know you believe in their abilities, and now know how to show that every day.

Inspire trust, raise engagement, and advance learning outcomes with teacher credibility

Why do some instructional strategies work better for certain teachers than others? Given the same materials, time and effort, these teachers seem to possess the secret to success when it comes to high-impact teaching. No secrets here—the key to increasing student learning outcomes is teacher credibility.

The Illustrated Guide to Teacher Credibility dives into one of the most impactful aspects of teaching, helping educators understand how trust, competence, dynamism, and immediacy shape students’ perceptions and influence their motivation to learn. By focusing on the relationship between teacher credibility and its influence on learning, this book delivers the goods for educators to overcome barriers, establish meaningful connections, and achieve high-impact teaching. With practical insights and strategies and a research-backed Visible Learning effect size of 1.09, the authors demonstrate how credibility is not just a concept but a fundamental driver for student success with:

This essential resource is for every educator whose aim is to inspire trust, raise engagement, and advance learning outcomes. By focusing on credibility, you’ll empower your students and create an environment where they can thrive academically and socially.

Every teacher wants engaged students. No student wants to be bored. So why isn’t every classroom teeming with discussion and purposeful activity centered on the day’s learning expectations?  Consistently finding a rhythm—where students progress through relevant and challenging content—isn’t easy. But not only is it possible, it can also seem effortless when teachers have the right design for genuinely engaging students.   Classroom dynamics are inherently complex, as multifaceted as the personalities in the room, so where should a teacher begin? Engagement by Design gives you a framework for making daily improvements and highlights the opportunities that will bring the greatest benefit in the least amount of time. You’ll learn about relationships, clarity, and challenge, including

Understanding engagement—and actively pursuing it—can make all the difference between forging a real connection with students and having a classroom that’s simply going through the motions. Engagement by Design puts you in control of managing your classroom’s success and increasing student learning, one motivated student at a time.

Disrupting the cycle starts with you. No matter how conscientious we are, we carry implicit bias… which quickly turns into assumptions and then labels. Labels define our interactions with and expectations of students. Labels contribute to student identity and agency. And labels can have a negative effect beyond the classroom. It’s crucial, then, that teachers remove labels and focus on students’ strengths—but this takes real work at an individual, classroom, and schoolwide scale.  Removing Labels urges you to take an active approach toward disrupting the negative effects of labels and assumptions that interfere with student learning. This book offers:

Removing Labels is more than a collection of teaching strategies—it’s a commitment to providing truly responsive education that serves all children. When you and your colleagues take action to prevent negative labels from taking hold, the whole community benefits.

Ready to transform your classroom into a place where every student can thrive?

Effective classroom management isn’t just about control—it’s about creating an environment where trust, fairness, and purpose guide every action. Instead of relying on quick fixes, this practical guide digs into proven strategies that go beyond simple compliance, helping you build real connections and engagement with your students.

This guide is fully illustrated, with visuals created to make complicated concepts easier to digest and remember. Whether you’re a visual learner or just want ideas to stick, the illustrations don’t just decorate the pages—they actually help bring strategies to life, making communication clearer and your own understanding stronger.

Inside, you’ll find:

By blending strong management with responsive discipline, you can help students feel safe, empowered, and ready to learn. Perfect for new and experienced educators alike, this guide is your companion for building a classroom culture where every kid has the chance to succeed.

Design learning environments where every student chooses to actively engage

Every teacher dreams of a classroom buzzing with curiosity, but creating genuine engagement is tough, especially alongside today’s endless distractions. If you've ever felt like you're pulling teeth to get a hand raised, you aren't alone! The Engagement by Design Playbook helps K-12 educators shift from demanding compliance to cultivating real curiosity.

Rather than treating engagement as a switch that’s simply “on” or “off,” this hands-on guide shows you how to intentionally design environments where students feel they truly belong. Douglas Fisher, Nancy Frey, Dominique Smith, and James Marshall explore building authentic teacher-student relationships, fostering clarity, introducing productive challenge, empowering student agency, and more.

Designed to be applied immediately, this playbook features:

By making these intentional shifts, you’ll learn to build an inviting classroom culture rooted in trust. Ultimately, your students will benefit by shifting from passive observers into confident contributors to their own learning journey.

Create classrooms where every student knows they belong

Belonging is an instinctual feeling that serves as the ultimate gatekeeper for learning. There's a difference between fitting in and belonging, and the cost of energy expended to "fit in" comes at the cost of disconnection. As an educator, you know the struggle of trying to reach students who feel unseen or undervalued. This updated, easy-to-use playbook tackles this urgent challenge by exploring the 11 dimensions of belonging. Dominique Smith, Douglas Fisher, and Nancy Frey guide you through crafting inclusive environments where students can safely bring their whole, authentic selves to the classroom every single day.

Readers will find:

Uncover the strategies you need to build a truly welcoming school culture. When you make room for every student, you'll see them grow both personally and academically.