See how one school district made cultural proficiency real—and how you can too! This book tells the story of Ventura Unified School District's successful implementation of cultural proficiency, which opened long-closed doors for marginalized students and returned gains on every key success metric. Most importantly, it will empower you to do the same for your school or district. Resources include: A method for evaluating the impact of educational decisions on students' access to learning A clearly outlined three-year implementation plan for making your school culturally proficient A content-rich companion website that includes templates and forms for implementing the book’s suggestions

The transformative professional learning design that advances equity in your school! How do we make educational equity a reality, lesson by lesson? This compelling book is a call to action, focused on observation-based professional learning to elevate teaching practice. Learn how to bring team observation into the classroom to test, refine and transform instruction so that students of all backgrounds achieve. Ideal for classroom teachers, grade-level team facilitators, department chairs, and all education leaders, this guide shows how to: Create a culture of deep collaboration that closes opportunity gaps among students Effectively redesign instruction to reach culturally and linguistically diverse learners, using observation data and shared best practices Center instructional conversations on developing students’ skills for college and career success, including hard-to-assess skills Including video clips of actual teams, Tonya Ward Singer’s powerful and practical book promises to become a catalyst that will inspire educators as leaders of positive change. "This exceptionally valuable book provides a clear process I can use to engage with my colleagues around learning. I appreciated the ideas and practical information that will ensure that my professional learning group focuses on student learning as evidenced in real lessons. The tools that Tonya Singer provides are useful and relevant, not to mention tried and true." —Douglas Fisher, Professor San Diego State University, CA "I recommend this book without hesitation. . . Gone are the days for teachers to be working ‘behind closed doors’ . . . Go forth and TEACH like the world works––collaboratively with teams!" —Harriet Gould, Adjunct Professor Concordia University, Lincoln, NE

Organizations are only as productive as the interactions that take place between individuals, teams and divisions. This book is a short, engaging guide for dramatically improving the quality of these interactions. The four 'keys' that Judith Katz and Frederick Miller provide offer a framework and a common language for creating an open, honest and supportive workplace, one where people aren't afraid to speak up and where everyone feels respected. The four keys are: - Lean into Discomfort: Be willing to move beyond your comfort zone, and help create an environment where others feel the same way. - Listen as an Ally: Try to find ways you can support fellow employee's ideas. - Share Your Intent and Intensity: Make it crystal clear how committed you feel to any idea you raise. - Share Street Corners: Your perspective - your corner - is only one point of view. Actively encourage people from other ""corners' to offer their perspectives.

This powerful third edition offers fresh approaches that enable school leaders to engage in effective interactions with students, educators, and the communities they serve.

Opening the Doors is a wide-ranging account of the University of Alabama’s 1956 and 1963 desegregation attempts, as well as the little-known story of Tuscaloosa, Alabama’s, own civil rights movement. Whereas E. Culpepper Clark’s The Schoolhouse Door remains the standard history of the University of Alabama’s desegregation, in Opening the Doors B. J. Hollars focuses on Tuscaloosa’s purposeful divide between “town” and “gown,” providing a new contextual framework for this landmark period in civil rights history. The image of George Wallace’s stand in the schoolhouse door has long burned in American consciousness; however, just as interesting are the circumstances that led him there in the first place, a process that proved successful due to the concerted efforts of dedicated student leaders, a progressive university president, a steadfast administration, and secret negotiations between the U.S. Justice Department, the White House, and Alabama’s stubborn governor. In the months directly following Governor Wallace’s infamous stand, Tuscaloosa became home to a leader of a very different kind: twenty-eight-year-old African American reverend T. Y. Rogers, an up-and-comer in the civil rights movement, as well as the protégé of Martin Luther King Jr. After taking a post at Tuscaloosa’s First African Baptist Church, Rogers began laying the groundwork for the city’s own civil rights movement. In the summer of 1964, the struggle for equality in Tuscaloosa resulted in the integration of the city’s public facilities, a march on the county courthouse, a bloody battle between police and protesters, confrontations with the Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, a bus boycott, and the near-accidental-lynching of movie star Jack Palance. Relying heavily on new firsthand accounts and personal interviews, newspapers, previously classified documents, and archival research, Hollars’s in-depth reporting reveals the courage and conviction of a town, its university, and the people who call it home.

Winner of the 2002 Skystone Ryan Research Prize from the Association of Fundraising Professionals. Sponsored by the prestigious Council on Foundations, Opening Doors is a down-to-earth guide for fundraising practitioners who want to broaden their funding base and reach new donors or improve the diversity of their existing development programs. Based in solid research, Opening Doors provides information about the cultural and charitable practices of four broad groups: African Americans, Asian Americans, Latinos, and Native Americans. It is filled with illustrative personal stories, real-life examples, and proven strategies. In addition, this hands-on resource: Helps readers understand the rich philanthropic traditions in diverse American populations Shows how to encourage prospects to become donors through personal meetings, house parties, special events, and direct mail Presents practical ideas for seeking gifts from business owners of diverse cultural backgrounds Describes ap propriate and effective ways to encourage small donors to become large donors