The Community Schools Model offers a transformative solution to the systemic challenges facing education. By addressing education inequities through four foundational pillars—Integrated Student Supports, Enhanced and Expanded Learning Time and Opportunities, Active Family and Community Partnership, and Collaborative Leadership and Practices—the model reimagines schools as equitable, inclusive, and holistic systems.

Complex change in schools is both necessary and challenging. Drawing on Mary Lippitt’s Integrated Change Management Model, this resource explores actionable strategies for managing complex change effectively in schools.

The Navigation Tool empowers community school leaders by providing clear, actionable guidance that translates Capacity Building Strategies—defining what needs to be done—into practical, step-by-step processes, showing how to effectively implement and sustain those strategies for transformative outcomes.

Your students’ stories are already unfolding in classrooms, sports fields, extracurricular activities, and the community. How can you collect and celebrate these stories to bring your school’s mission to life? Let their voices drive your shared vision of readiness—one story at a time.

Understanding the root cause of student behavior is essential for creating meaningful interventions. By focusing on function-based behavior, educators can uncover the purpose behind actions and respond with empathy. Examining patterns and providing targeted support empowers students to grow and thrive within a supportive school community.

Meetings that start and end with purpose don’t just feel better—they produce better outcomes. Openers and closers create a foundation of trust, engagement, and alignment, which leads to more innovative ideas, stronger relationships, and actionable results. When participants leave a meeting feeling inspired and connected, they carry that energy into their work, their relationships, and even their personal lives. It’s a ripple effect that starts with a simple but powerful choice: to invest in the moments that prime people to think differently, share openly, and connect authentically.

Building consensus as a school leader is crucial for fostering collaboration, trust, and shared ownership of decisions and direction. By involving stakeholders in the decision-making process, leaders create a sense of unity and alignment toward common goals, improving the chances of success for initiatives and fostering a positive, inclusive school culture.

It is critical for school leaders to understand the importance of consensus building within school communities, process feedback, and effectively communicate with stakeholders throughout the decision-making processes. This protocol is designed to gather warm, cool, and cold feedback from your school community, which can be used to “tune” or adapt the decisions and approaches you move forward with.

No matter our instructional, distributed, or transformational leadership strengths their value does not address the change agent’s mortal enemy, the status quo. Foot soldiers in the status quo army are the purveyors of “No!” No matter how promising an idea, the answer is always the same—no.

Open lines of communication to create brave spaces for your staff, students, and community to share their excitement, hesitations, and to crowdsource the genius in the room. These protocols support organic conversations as you navigate changes or challenges.

During our May Counterpart meetings, we asked folks to share what they have been engaging with recently. Below is a list of all the resources shared by our incredible community, offering a taste of the diverse and inspiring content they’re currently exploring. This list has something for everyone: from thought-provoking articles to captivating podcasts to must-watch documentaries. So, take a peek, pick your poison, and get ready to dive into something fantastic!

Most likely, you’ve heard or read about how employees don’t quit jobs, they quit bosses. One of the most fundamental aspects of leadership is hiring the best people and retaining them. But retention needs more than compensation, benefits, and rewards. Employees need to know and feel they are valued not only for what they bring to the team, but for who they are as people. Consider this Emotional Intelligence (EQ) Pyramid as it relates to employee retention to ensure you are a leader who not only hires talented people, but creates an inclusive and compassionate culture they want to remain a part of.

Words matter. What we say and how we say it affects those around us in powerful ways. And while even with the best of intentions and practice, miscommunication and negative effects can occur, being mindful and intentional with our language can help reduce those instances. And you might just be surprised by what a positive and profound effect small, everyday phrases can have on others. Consider these 12 statements that help foster psychological safety to begin creating a safe and inclusive workplace.

Much of what guides and shapes a leader is what they themselves believe to be their role and function as a leader. But how many times have you actually stopped to reflect on what you believe your job as a leader is? Consider these 5 Leadership “I Believe” Statements to begin shaping what kind of leader you want to be, what you believe your leadership should produce, and how your leadership can foster a more inclusive workplace.

Not all great leaders are the same or lead in the same way. Educational leaders, specifically, face many different responsibilities and challenges that other leaders may not. However, there are some core qualities that transcend the time, place, and nature of leadership work. Consider these 7 Great Leadership Qualities to strengthen your own leadership skills while fostering a more inclusive workplace.

The role of educator—and educational leader—takes heart. And courage. But did you know that courage isn’t one-size-fits-all? Not only are there different types of courage, but you can also develop your own personal levels of courage through reflection and practice. Consider these 6 Types of Courage for Inclusive Workplaces to strengthen your own resolve as a leader and help model a more confident and inclusive workplace.

This brief, yet powerful, closing activity not only offers a clear end to your gathering/meeting/training/activity/etc., but it provides participants the opportunity to reflect on their experience in ways they may not consciously be aware they need, but that they do nonetheless. This versatile closing activity is fantastic for students, staff, leadership teams, peer groups, etc.

Embedding social and emotional learning (SEL) into instruction is a powerful way to help students connect and engage in learning. Sharing with students the WHY behind SEL content, just as we do with academic content, is critical. Self-awareness and self-management exercises are great opportunities to explain why you are checking in.

These are some of the best writing games that require minimal or no setup time and are an excellent option for substitute teachers looking to quickly break the ice with students or English teachers just seeking fresh ideas to brighten up their lessons.

Continuous improvement should be embedded in day-to-day work, in a systemized, organic way. You can think of the cyclical process as a formative assessment of the ideas being tested.

The IB Primary Years Program (PYP) for children aged 3-12 nurtures and develops young students as caring, active participants in a lifelong journey of learning. PYP offers an inquiry-based, transdisciplinary curriculum framework that builds conceptual understanding. It is a student-centered approach reflecting the best of educational research, thought leadership and experience derived from IB World Schools.

The International Baccalaureate® (IB) Middle Years Program (MYP) is for students aged 11-16, and is a challenging framework that encourages students to make practical connections between their studies and the real world.

The International Baccalaureate® (IB) Diploma Program (DP) is for students aged 16-19. The program aims to develop students who have excellent breadth and depth of knowledge – students who flourish physically, intellectually, emotionally and ethically.