COLLEGE SUCCESS FOR STUDENTS OF COLOR: A CULTURALLY EMPOWERED ASSETS-BASED APPROACH

In College Success for Students of Color: A Culturally Empowered Assets-Based Approach (Teachers College Press), readers meet Anna, Josephine, Teew, Kieran, and Pancho, students whose stories showcase multiple pathways for success for students of color. The authors, Francisco A. Rios, Jaquelyn L. Bridgeman, Angela M. Jaime, Kevin C. Roxas, and Caskey Russell, a mix of college professors and administrators, wrote this book as a guide for Indigenous Students and Students of Color (ISOC) bound for a variety of postsecondary settings: four-year colleges, community colleges, and technical colleges. In navigating the challenges they may face along the way, from prejudice to economic uncertainty, the authors urge ISOC to maximize their own assets. “Rather than take a deficit-based approach to postsecondary education, we urge you to take an assets-based approach to understanding both yourself and your cultural communities…to value and affirm your sociocultural background as an essential tool for thriving in higher education.” For school leaders seeking ways to help ISOC succeed after high school, this book is a valuable resource to share with them.

—Todd Dain, EdD | Principal and NASSP Board Member
Shawnee Mission South High School, Overland Park, KS

WHAT MAKES A GREAT PRINCIPAL: THE FIVE PILLARS OF EFFECTIVE SCHOOL LEADERSHIP

“There is a huge difference between being valued and feeling valued.” This powerful quote comes from What Makes a Great Principal: The Five Pillars of Effective School Leadership (Impress) by George Couros and Allyson Apsey. Both authors are longtime educators who articulate a framework with five types of school leadership pillars: relationship builder, continuous learner, talent cultivator, resource maximizer, and visionary. These pillars provide an overall framework for being a great principal and are explored and then supported with stories from the field and examples from principals and school leaders at all levels. The book’s aspirational insights coupled with practical tips can help us add to the value we as educators bring to our schools. Specific action steps for each pillar and a set of reflection questions are also provided. These questions present a quasi-case study approach to thinking through the challenges facing both aspiring and current principals who strive to be great—not for themselves—but for those they serve.

—Eric Fox, EdD | Assistant Principal
Jenks High School, Jenks, OK

THE ANXIOUS GENERATION: HOW THE GREAT REWIRING OF CHILDHOOD IS CAUSING AN EPIDEMIC OF MENTAL ILLNESS

Author Jonathan Haidt writes that his book, The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness (Penguin Press), “is for anyone who wants to understand how the most rapid rewiring of human relationships and consciousness in human history has made it harder for all of us to think, focus, forget ourselves enough to care about others and build relationships.” As schools across the nation turn to no cell phone policies to curb distractions, improve mental wellness, and support social interactions among students, Haidt’s research-rich text outlines the significant changes in the generation of youth to undergo puberty during the greatest evolution in technology. A professor at New York University’s Stern School of Business, Haidt explains how the culture shift in the 1990s to greater safety for children in the outside world pushed them indoors and into the online world in the 2000s. His central claim is that studies have found phone-based childhood to be detrimental to children’s mental health and social development, resulting in “the great rewiring” and “the anxious generation.” He offers ways the collective community, government, and schools can begin to combat the negative effects and return to a healthier environment where executive functioning and social skills are the center of development.

—Anna Thoma, EdD | Assistant Principal and NASSP Board Member
Millard North Middle School, Omaha, NE

PREPARING EARLY CAREER TEACHERS TO THRIVE: SUSTAINING PURPOSE, NAVIGATING TENSIONS, AND CULTIVATING SELF-CARE

In 2023, the National Center for Educational Statistics found that 86% of K–12 schools in the United States had challenges hiring teachers for the 2023–24 school year. In Preparing Early Career Teachers to Thrive: Sustaining Purpose, Navigating Tensions, and Cultivating Self-Care (Teachers College Press), Kristina Marie Valtierra addresses the struggles of teacher retention and provides methods to address the personal and professional issues today’s teachers encounter. An associate professor and education department chair at Colorado College, and a former classroom teacher who faced burnout herself, Valtierra provides accounts from her own life as well as accounts from a study based on over 50 alumni of her workshop series, “Teach and Thrive Learning Circles,” which helps attendees to see through the contradictions in their professional lives and distinguish between perception and reality. School leaders will appreciate how the author not only addresses the potential causes of burnout and the increased need for support in dealing with conflict, but also how critical it is for policymakers to ensure teachers have the resources to help students succeed.

—Eric Basilo, EdD
Assistant Principal, Markham Woods Middle School, Lake Mary, FL