What’s your school’s plan for getting better?
This book is an indispensable guide for school leaders seeking to navigate the maze of continuous improvement without losing sight of their true purpose: improving student learning.
If you are ready to simplify the way your school implements continuous improvement, then this book is for you.
For school leaders who want a collaborative and forward-thinking environment that learns and grows together
School Leaders
Learn how to simplify continuous improvement and effectively help your school grow.
District Administrators
Learn how to nurture a continuous improvement culture in your district without complexity.
All Stakeholders
Learn how everyone can use continuous improvement processes to enhance learning experiences for students.
Learn manageable steps for continuous improvement in your school
Continuous improvement is a core operating system and not a program or event. It urges educators to work smarter and get better every day so that students can achieve success.
A healthy school culture is critical for success, where teachers and principals build strong, trusting relationships. These schools demonstrate a growth mindset and celebrate each other’s courage, creativity, and success.
The plan of action which I label as the GPS (Goals, Performance objectives, and Strategies) must be clear, prioritized, and well-defined.
Monitoring impact is the key to continuous growth and improvement. Consistent status checks increase the school’s opportunities for success.
A thorough evaluation at the end of each year is easy to do when monitoring occurs throughout the year. The evaluation will strengthen and simplify the next year’s comprehensive needs assessment.
The tools incorporated in each chapter serve as a guidepost helping school leaders to set a clear path to navigating data analysis and incorporating a comprehensive needs assessment while building a collaborative culture for school improvement.
Dale K. Castro, Ed.D.
Complex Academic Officer
Hawai’i Department of Education
Lesli Laughter is passionate about building better schools
With a successful career as a teacher, principal and assistant superintendent, Lesli has always been a champion for the clarity and focus that strong needs assessments and continuous improvement processes provide. For over a decade, as Chief Academic Officer for 806 Technologies, Lesli has worked with school leaders in hundreds of districts across the country. She is a frequent consultant for state departments of education and a sought-after speaker for national and state education organizations.
"When the mission-driven people are working together toward a common purpose, and supporting each other along the way, schools experience transformation.
But make no mistake: there isn’t anything magic about it. It requires a continuous commitment to asking the right questions, finding root causes, encouraging stakeholder participation, and providing the best support systems possible."
Quote from Continuous Improvement Without Continuous Stress
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Reader feedback for Continuous Improvement Without Continuous Stress
“In Continuous Improvement Without Continuous Stress, Lesli Laughter offers school leaders fresh and clear guidelines for continuous improvement. While some planning models have strict formats and confusing vocabulary, Laughter explains the essential components of planning in a streamlined model that is easy to use. It also helps school leaders make sense of and strengthen existing school systems. What makes her book unique is that instead of simply describing what to do, she explains why. Her streamlined model makes strong connections between the root causes of problems and the actions developed to eliminate them. With tools and templates that save time, this is a book that every busy school leader needs to read.”
Justin Richardson, Ed.D.
CEO, Waymaker Leadership Development
“In Continuous Improvement Without Continuous Stress, Lesli Laughter offers school leaders fresh and clear guidelines for continuous improvement. While some planning models have strict formats and confusing vocabulary, Laughter explains the essential components of planning in a streamlined model that is easy to use. It also helps school leaders make sense of and strengthen existing school systems. What makes her book unique is that instead of simply describing what to do, she explains why. Her streamlined model makes strong connections between the root causes of problems and the actions developed to eliminate them. With tools and templates that save time, this is a book that every busy school leader needs to read.”
Justin Richardson, Ed.D.
CEO, Waymaker Leadership Development
“This book is an indispensable resource for educators seeking to transform their improvement planning process and enrich the learning experiences for their students. The timelessness of quality planning is clearly mapped out by Lesli Laughter as she shows why schools must move from planning as a one time, beginning-of-school event to planning as an essential process for operating effective schools. From setting clear goals to analyzing outcomes, the book guides educators through steps that are both intuitive and effective for driving meaningful, positive change. Both novice and experienced school leaders will benefit from the descriptions, examples, and tools presented.”
Kel Spradling
Vice President of Professional Learning, 806 Technologies, Inc.
“All school leaders should read this book to affirm, adjust, or amplify their continuous improvement practices. The book will help them decide what to continue, what to start, and most importantly, what to abandon. This will be transformational for schools that see creating a needs assessment and developing the school plan as separate or loosely connected activities. Lesli not only masterfully and clearly defines the components of both needs assessment and plans, but also brings clarity to how they are deeply interconnected. Her continuous improvement structure, combined with storytelling and visuals, checks all the boxes of simple, effective, and practical processes for busy school leaders.”
Cindy Gibson
Chief of Professional Learning, 806 Technologies, Inc.