Fearless Schools

What does it take to have fearless schools? It starts with psychological safety-students, teachers, and leaders who know that mistakes are the source of learning, not shame or embarrassment. In order for great learning to take place, we first must build the trust and resilience needed to produce fearless students, teachers, and leaders-and ultimately create fearless schools. "If we are truly going to make schools inviting places for all students to come to and flourish, then the status quo, the 'normal, ' is not good enough. To build the trust, the collegiality, the aspirational expectations among educators for this to happen-we need to be fearless. Doug Reeves outlines the conditions for such fearlessness: not tolerating mediocrity, confronting reality over wishful thinking, listening and candor, and resilience and learning together from errors. Written with passion, this book invites you to develop the courage to create schools that are fearless such that all (educators and students) are improving, aspiring, and are part of a learning organization." -John Hattie, Emeritus Laureate Professor, Melbourne Graduate School of Education; Chair, Board of the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership "In Fearless Schools, Dr. Reeves tackles an urgent issue facing our children and the staff members who work with them. Fear of the virus, fear of change, and even fear of interacting with others will create a critical need to address these fears, reduce anxiety, and generally tend to the social and emotional health of children and staff." -Chris Lee Nicastro, PhD, former Commissioner of Education, State of Missouri

This book identifies the six fearless decisions that school leaders need to make to be successful. The author analyzes the top fears that impede effective leadership and lower student achievement, then provides a step by step antidote that will change fear into intention, increase confidence, and produce positive results in your school. In this book, you’ll learn how to: • approach difficult classrooms and solve the problem of low-performing teachers • gain the strength to accept judgment when making controversial decisions during the change process • offer trust and gain it from your staff • use reflection questions and techniques to align thoughts with your best intentions • "re-wire" your thinking as you examine the risks that come with change • take action on standardized test results to improve student learning • feel comfortable making and implementing tough decisions Learn how to change fear into intention so you are able to act with confidence and get the results you really want.

Conquer the most essential adaptation to the knowledge economy The Fearless Organization: Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace for Learning, Innovation, and Growth offers practical guidance for teams and organizations who are serious about success in the modern economy. With so much riding on innovation, creativity, and spark, it is essential to attract and retain quality talent—but what good does this talent do if no one is able to speak their mind? The traditional culture of “fitting in” and “going along” spells doom in the knowledge economy. Success requires a continuous influx of new ideas, new challenges, and critical thought, and the interpersonal climate must not suppress, silence, ridicule or intimidate. Not every idea is good, and yes there are stupid questions, and yes dissent can slow things down, but talking through these things is an essential part of the creative process. People must be allowed to voice half-finished thoughts, ask questions from left field, and brainstorm out loud; it creates a culture in which a minor flub or momentary lapse is no big deal, and where actual mistakes are owned and corrected, and where the next left-field idea could be the next big thing. This book explores this culture of psychological safety, and provides a blueprint for bringing it to life. The road is sometimes bumpy, but succinct and informative scenario-based explanations provide a clear path forward to constant learning and healthy innovation. Explore the link between psychological safety and high performance Create a culture where it’s “safe” to express ideas, ask questions, and admit mistakes Nurture the level of engagement and candor required in today’s knowledge economy Follow a step-by-step framework for establishing psychological safety in your team or organization Shed the “yes-men” approach and step into real performance. Fertilize creativity, clarify goals, achieve accountability, redefine leadership, and much more. The Fearless Organization helps you bring about this most critical transformation.

Many urban educators live in fear: of their schools being labeled failures, of increasingly punitive sanctions, of loss of respect and livelihood. This fear pervades the entire school community, affecting the physical, mental, and emotional well-being of its members. The authors of this guide to transformation in urban schools are convinced that the key ingredient for school renewal is fearless leadership. Fearless leaders work in schools under-resourced and overburdened and serve disproportionately large numbers of children who live in poverty and face racism daily. They are ordinary educators committed to proving that demographics need not be destiny. This inspirational yet practical book will help you bridge the divide that separates urban students from their birthright of a high-quality education. You will learn how to * Adopt a leadership approach, consisting of affirmation, inspiration, and mediation (AIM), that will transform your school into a flourishing learning community. * Build a leadership team of important stakeholders--including students--that is committed to improvement. * Tap into the resources that already exist in your school and jettison institutional arrangements that prevent your school from becoming an enriching and creative community. * Create supports that enable teachers to nurture their students' potential to meet high standards and become self-actualized learners. Each chapter closes with reflections and activities that will help your leadership team produce its own roadmap for change. Succeeding in the tough landscape of urban schools requires more than just passion and a sense of urgency; it requires real skills. Aim High, Achieve More provides insights gleaned from real-world experiences that will enable you to create a successful, vibrant learning environment.

When grades are accurate and fair, students and teachers will see immediate improvements in academic performance, student behavior, and attendance. But when schools cling to toxic grading practices that are demonstrably inaccurate and unfair, then failures persist. Douglas Reeves, the author of more than forty books and 100 articles on leadership and education, believes the choice is clear – and in this book, he argues for grading systems and feedback that have an immediate and positive impact on the performance of students, teachers, and leaders. Get answers to questions such as: What are grading policies about beyond student performance? How can grading policies help teachers collaborate to improve student outcomes? Why do grading policies among teachers vary so much? The author observes that in the context of grading, you will routinely see classes in which student backgrounds are the same, but one class has a 50% failure rate and another class in the same grade and same subject has a 10% failure rate. Almost always, the difference is not in the performance of the students but in the grading policies of the teachers. Join the author and explore how to improve achievement, discipline, and culture through Fearless Grading.

When students are afraid, they cannot learn. In “Fearless Classrooms,” Dr. Douglas Reeves explains how teachers and school administrators can provide psychological safety for every student and staff member. In a fearless classroom, students can make mistakes and learn from those mistakes without being afraid of embarrassment and humiliation. Rather than toxic practices such as evaluating students based on mistakes made months in the past, fearless classrooms evaluate students based on their performance at the time the grade is awarded. Every mistake is not a disgrace, but an opportunity to learn. “Fearless Classrooms” provides a guide for every educator and school leader to create a safe environment for every student to learn and grow both intellectually and emotionally.

Step out of Your Comfort Zone and Really Help Kids To meet the needs of today's learners, fearless leadership is required to support and empower the adults who work with these learners. Written to help leaders build a culture of learning and improve academic achievement for all students, this guide to recognizing and using strategies will encourage staff to work at their full potential, build trust, and strengthen collegiality. Readers will find - interviews and case studies to illustrate effective practice - strategies to help them move from traditional methodologies toward stronger transformational leadership - examples to ignite additional thinking to facilitate achievement for all students

This is the moment when coaching—instructional coaching, leadership coaching, and team coaching—is more important than ever. Today, education faces its greatest crisis since the Civil Rights Movement. Teachers and school administrators are leaving the profession not for lack of dedication but because they are physically, emotionally, and psychologically exhausted. They face challenges in academic performance, student behavior, and the sheer lack of sufficient hours in the day to serve students in the manner they know is essential. In this important book, Douglas Reeves and his colleagues provide practical advice that enables coaches and their clients to collaborate effectively to achieve organizational success while also ensuring the professional and personal needs of teachers, leaders, and their families. If we learned anything during the pandemic and associated school closures, we know that burnout is not a sustainable strategy. Readers of Fearless Coaching will learn: • The compelling evidence behind Fearless Coaching • Why psychological safety is essential for student and adult learning • The eleven biggest coaching mistakes—and how to avoid them • The essentials of the coach-client relationship • How passion and vision create the energy for successful coaching • The power of focus and how to avoid initiative fatigue • How to know if the coaching process is successful—measuring what matters most