Free Resources:

• Building Racial Justice and Equity
  Access free resources to help you as we collectively do the work to dismantle racism at every level—individual, institutional, structural—and educate ourselves to do and be better.

• Webinar: The Innocent Classroom
  Alexs Pate, creator of the Innocent Classroom and author of The Innocent Classroom, will help educators understand key Innocent Classroom concepts and how to apply those concepts to undermine racial bias in their classrooms and schools.

• Culture, Class, and Race: Constructive Conversations That Unite and Energize Your School and Community 
  Authors Brenda CampbellJones, Shannon Keeny, and Franklin CampbellJones, experts in research and equitable practices, guide you through a meaningful framework for thinking about, preparing for, and having critical conversations about emotionally charged subjects, including race, class, and culture.

• The Innocent Classroom: Dismantling Racial Bias to Support Students of Color 
  Readers will embark on a relationship "construction project," in which they will deepen their understanding of how children of color are burdened with guilt; discover students' "good," or the motivation behind their behaviors, and develop strategic responses to that good; and nurture, protect, and advocate for students' innocence.

• Cultural Competence Now: 56 Exercises to Help Educators Understand and Challenge Bias, Racism, and Privilege
  Cultural Competence Now provides a structure to begin meaningful conversations about race, culture, bias, privilege, and power within the time constraints of an ordinary school. The 56 exercises include activities, discussions, and readings in which to engage during each of the four quarters of the school year.

• Becoming the Educator They Need: Strategies, Mindsets, and Beliefs for Supporting Male Black and Latino Students
  Former professional athlete turned educator Robert Jackson reminds teachers and administrators that although "a great majority of all the stories in the news about Black and Latino males are negative," these young men need you to work through any biases you may have and internalize and employ the core beliefs and mindsets necessary to best serve your Black and Latino male students.

• Excellence Through Equity: Five Principles of Courageous Leadership to Guide Achievement for Every Student
  Blankstein and Noguera frame the book with five guiding principles of Courageous Leadership along with an inspiring look at how real-world educators are creating schools where all students are able to thrive.

Join us for this virtual event on December 9 as we dive into what educators need to know to help early elementary students develop the academic and social-emotional skills they need to thrive.

Featuring Actor, Author, and Philanthropist LeVar Burton

In 2012, Burton and his team created Skybrary and Skybrary School, a carefully curated, ever-expanding, and interactive library of digital books and video explorations hosted by everyone's favorite storyteller: LeVar Burton himself. It is the go-to, award-winning digital library for parents and teachers to engage young readers and foster a lifelong love of learning. In 2019, Burton donated the Skybrary service to the leading literacy nonprofit organization, Reading Is Fundamental, in hopes of bringing books to millions of more kids.

Register to Join Live or Watch On-Demand

• Student Learning Communities: A Springboard for Academic and Social-Emotional Development
  With the right planning and support, dynamic collaborative learning can thrive everywhere. In this book, educators Douglas Fisher, Nancy Frey, and John Almarode explain how to create and sustain student learning communities.

• The Instructional Playbook: The Missing Link for Translating Research into Practice
  This book helps instructional coaches create playbooks that produce a common language about high-impact teaching strategies, deepen everyone’s understanding of what instructional coaches do, and support teachers and students in classrooms.

• Principles and Practices for Effective Blended Learning
  In this laminated guide, Kristina J. Doubet and Eric M. Carbaugh share a purposeful and systematic way to combine traditional face-to-face schooling with online instruction to help learners achieve a variety of outcomes.          

• Improving Student Learning One Teacher at a Time, 2nd Edition
  In this book, Jane E. Pollock explains how making the right adjustments in four crucial areas of practice—curriculum, instruction, assessment, and feedback—can help any teacher improve student learning significantly.

• Engaging Students in Reading All Types of Text
  In this quick reference guide, Pam Allyn and Monica Burns provide tips and tools you can use to help K–12 students read widely, critically, deeply, closely, and socially.

Free resource:

• 6 Non-Negotiables of Curriculum Design
  Curriculum leadership involves collaboration across schools, a district vision, communication, reflection, specific learning goals and a method for measuring student understanding. Here are six key considerations.

Books for purchase:

• Improving Student Learning One Teacher at a Time, 2nd Edition
  Jane E. Pollock and Laura J. Tolone combine updated research and real-world stories to demonstrate how it takes only one teacher to make a difference in student performance. 
  
  
• Ensuring High-Quality Curriculum: How to Design, Revise, or Adopt Curriculum Aligned to Student Success
  Drawing from her work with teachers and administrators to facilitate curriculum development, author Angela Di Michele Lalor offers targeted advice and real-life examples, as well as field-tested rubrics, protocols, and other tools to design, revise, or adopt curriculum aligned to student success.
  
  
• Rise to the Challenge: Designing Rigorous Learning That Maximizes Student Success
  In this follow-up to The Highly Effective Teacher: 7 Classroom-Tested Practices That Foster Student Success, Jeff Marshall provides teachers with a blueprint for introducing more rigor to the classroom.
  
  
• What We Say and How We Say It Matter: Teacher Talk That Improves Student Learning and Behavior
  Mike Anderson digs into the nuances of language in the classroom. This book’s many examples will help teachers examine their language habits and intentionally improve their classroom practice so their language matches and supports their goals.
  
  
• Project Based Teaching: How to Create Rigorous and Engaging Learning Experiences
  In this book, Suzie Boss and John Larmer build on the framework for gold standard PBL originally presented in Setting the Standard for Project Based Learning and explore the seven practices integral to project-based teaching.
  
  
• Understanding by Design, Expanded 2nd Edition
  
  This expanded edition of ASCD's breakthrough Understanding by Design® framework provides an improved template and a bigger, better toolbox for results-oriented kindergarten through college educators.

Free resource:

• Effective School Leadership During a Global Pandemic and Social Unrest
  In this webinar, Principal Kafele provides strategies for maintaining leadership effectiveness during what will likely be the greatest challenge that educators will ever encounter in their leadership careers.

Books for purchase:

• What If I’m Wrong? And Other Key Questions for Decisive School Leadership
  This book guides you past the pitfalls of split-second instinct, groupthink, prejudice, and the rush to judgment.
  
  
• The Principal Reboot: 8 Ways to Revitalize Your School Leadership
  This book provides specific advice on how to reignite passion in addressing the many aspects of the principalship.
  
  
• Is My School a Better School Because I Lead It?
  This book offers those seeking to improve the quality of instruction in their institutions hard-won wisdom on such critical issues as ensuring an optimal culture and climate, engaging in parent and community outreach, confirming emergency preparedness, rallying staff, and much more.
  
  
• The Learning Leader: How to Focus School Improvement for Better Results, 2nd Edition
  This book provides the Leadership for Learning Framework, which helps leaders identify and distinguish among four different types of educators and provide more effective, tailored support.

Free Resource:

• ASCD Social and Emotional Resource Page
  Access an array of virtual events, books, and articles to help students set and achieve goals.

Books for Purchase:

• Relationship, Responsibility, and Regulation: Trauma-Invested Practices for Fostering Resilient Learners 
  Educators have a unique opportunity to influence students' learning, attitudes, and futures. This book will invigorate your practice and equip you to empower those you serve—whatever their personal histories.
  
  
• Fostering Resilient Learners: Strategies for Creating a Trauma-Sensitive Classroom 
  In this book for all educators, Kristin Souers and Pete Hall explore an urgent and growing issue—childhood trauma—and its profound effect on learning and teaching.
  
  
• Creating a Trauma-Sensitive Classroom
  This quick reference guide presents 12 practical, easy-to-implement strategies to help students living with trauma thrive in the classroom.
  
  
• Social-Emotional Learning and the Brain: Strategies to Help Your Students Thrive
  Spurred by her personal experience and extensive exploration of brain-based learning, author Marilee Sprenger explains how brain science can be applied to social-emotional learning.
  
  
• Taking Social-Emotional Learning Schoolwide: The Formative Five Success Skills for Students and Staff 
  In this practical book, Thomas R. Hoerr shows teachers, administrators, and other school staff how to integrate the Formative Five success skills—empathy, integrity, self-control, embracing diversity, and grit—with school culture essentials.
  
  
• Integrating SEL into Everyday Instruction
  This quick reference guide introduces a new approach to SEL that shifts it from a standalone curriculum to its natural place as an essential part of learning.
  
  
• All Learning is Social and Emotional: Helping Students Develop Essential Skills for the Classroom and Beyond
  Use this book's integrated SEL approach to help your students build essential skills that will serve them in the classroom and throughout their lives.

The December 2020 / January 2021 issue of Educational Leadership® highlights ideas and programs for promoting teacher well-being and mental health and explore ways schools can provide better supports to help stave off burnout, depression, and anxiety.

Educator mental health need not be the "elephant in the classroom" any longer!

Free articles:

• Coping with Change and Uncertainty by Phyllis L. Fagell
  How educators can regain a sense of control during these tumultuous times.
  
  

• Opening Up About Mental Illness by Sydney Chaffee
  A Teacher of the Year’s struggle with anxiety opened her eyes to the stigma around educators’ mental health issues.
  
  

• Teaching While Black: An Open Letter to School Leaders by Sharif El-Mekki
  To better support Black educators, schools need a stronger grasp of their realities.
  
  

Subscribe to Educational Leadership

• Creating a Trauma-Sensitive Classroom
  Based on the best-selling, award-winning book Fostering Resilient Learners, this quick reference guide will give every educator the tools needed to ensure every child is healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged in school.
  
  
• Better Than Carrots or Sticks: Restorative Practices for Positive Classroom Management
  This book will prepare teachers at all levels to ensure that their classrooms are welcoming, enriching, and constructive environments built on collective respect and focused on student achievement.
  
  
• Cultural Competence Now: 56 Exercises to Help Educators Understand and Challenge Bias, Racism, and Privilege.
  This book responds to the urgent need to build the cultural competency of educators—for the sake of children and in the interest of supporting and retaining all educators.
  
  
• All Learning Is Social and Emotional: Helping Students Develop Essential Skills for the Classroom and Beyond
  If you teach kids rather than standards, and if you want all kids to get what they need to thrive, Nancy Frey, Douglas Fisher, and Dominique Smith offer a solution: a comprehensive, five-part model of SEL that’s easy to integrate into everyday content instruction, no matter what subject or grade level you teach.
  
  
• Social-Emotional Learning and the Brain: Strategies to Help Your Students Thrive
  Offering clear, easy-to-understand explanations of brain activity and dozens of specific strategies for all grade levels, this is an essential guide to creating supportive classroom environments and improving outcomes for all our students.
  
  
• The Burnout Cure: Learning to Love Teaching Again
  Learn how to energize yourself to maintain or regain a positive outlook and love of teaching.
  
  
• The Innocent Classroom: Dismantling Racial Bias to Support Students of Color
  Help students reclaim their innocence and begin to make choices that will lead to their success.
  
  
• Culture, Class, and Race: Constructive Conversations That Unite and Energize Your School and Community
  The book's field-tested approach enables every educator to grow professionally by using the power of conversation to develop trust, ask powerful questions, really hear the answers—and learn together in ways that strengthen and invigorate the school and community.
  
  
• Fostering Resilient Learners: Strategies for Creating a Trauma-Sensitive Classroom
  Let this book be your guide to seeking solutions, rather than dwelling on problems, and building relationships that allow students to grow, thrive, and—most assuredly—learn at high levels.
  
  
• The Assistant Principal 50: Critical Questions for Meaningful Leadership and Professional Growth
  This book presents reflective questions that encompass the breadth and depth of the assistant principalship—from finding your leadership "lane" to thriving and being an asset to your principal.

Free resources:

• Distance Learning Resources
  Access resources to harness and effectively implement remote or distance learning. When done well, distance learning can be used to create and facilitate deeper connections and deeper learning.
  
  
• Educational Leadership: Getting Remote Learning Right
  A special report featuring resources for navigating the new reality of hybrid learning.

Resources for purchase: 

• Distance Learning Essentials 
  In this laminated quick reference guide, Monica Burns walks teachers of grades 4–12 through the five essentials of distance learning in synchronous and asynchronous environments.
  
  
• Classroom Technology Tips 
  In this quick reference guide, Monica Burns provides expert advice to help teachers take full advantage of EdTech’s potential.
  
  
• Demonstrating Mastery with Digital Badges and Portfolios
  In this book, David Niguidula shows how students can meet standards and express their individuality through digital badges and portfolios.
   
• Tasks Before Apps
  Educator and technology consultant Monica Burns shares strategies, tools, and insights that teachers can use, regardless of subject or grade level, to effectively incorporate technology in the classroom. 

At ASCD, we know that you want to be a life-changing educator and leader. In order to do that, you need a trusted and supportive community of educators and a source for classroom and leadership content. The problem is that teaching and leading presents new challenges every day, which makes you feel overwhelmed and frustrated. We believe you shouldn’t have to figure it out alone.​

We’re in this together, and here’s where you can start:

1. Connect with a community, ​
2. Explore the content you need, and ​
3. Grow as a professional to become the educator your students need.​

So, join now and avoid feeling isolated and overwhelmed trying to find the solutions you need and instead be part of a community that helps you reach your potential so that your students reach theirs.