Opening Doors to Equity
A Practical Guide to Observation-Based Professional Learning
The transformative professional learning design that advances equity in your school!
How do we make educational equity a reality, lesson by lesson? This compelling book is a call to action, focused on observation-based professional learning to elevate teaching practice.
Learn how to bring team observation into the classroom to test, refine and transform instruction so that students of all backgrounds achieve. Ideal for classroom teachers, grade-level team facilitators, department chairs, and all education leaders, this guide shows how to:
- Create a culture of deep collaboration that closes opportunity gaps among students
- Effectively redesign instruction to reach culturally and linguistically diverse learners, using observation data and shared best practices
- Center instructional conversations on developing students’ skills for college and career success, including hard-to-assess skills
Including video clips of actual teams, Tonya Ward Singer’s powerful and practical book promises to become a catalyst that will inspire educators as leaders of positive change.
"This exceptionally valuable book provides a clear process I can use to engage with my colleagues around learning. I appreciated the ideas and practical information that will ensure that my professional learning group focuses on student learning as evidenced in real lessons. The tools that Tonya Singer provides are useful and relevant, not to mention tried and true.”
—Douglas Fisher, Professor
San Diego State University, CA
“I recommend this book without hesitation. . . Gone are the days for teachers to be working ‘behind closed doors’ . . . Go forth and TEACH like the world works––collaboratively with teams!”
—Harriet Gould, Adjunct Professor
Concordia University, Lincoln, NE
"This book is a must read for principals, instructional coaches, teacher leaders and others charged with the task of providing meaningful professional development for teachers. As a how-to guide, the practical suggestions within this book provide a relevant framework for implementing classroom-based inquiry."
“I recommend this book without hesitation. . . Gone are the days for teachers to be working ‘behind closed doors’ . . . Go forth and TEACH like the world works–– collaboratively with teams!”
“Tonya Singer has compiled a cornucopia of best practice and top research under one roof in the learning community. The text directs and explains a culture where teachers assist each other in collaboration assisting students in growth and readiness for an ever changing world.”
"With all the changes taking place in education, this process of teachers working collaboratively together can both improve our instructional practice and open doors for us to support each other in ways we have not in the past. Both the improvement and support are vital in education at this time."
Our teachers’ experience engaging in this book with Tonya Ward Singer was transformational. Effective scaffolding and engagement strategies for Academic English Learners have now become a consistent part of their routine for our experienced teachers.
"I'm rarely impressed with books that claim to be "practical guides" because most use that title without sufficient understanding of the nuts-and-bolts details of implementation that are required to justify such a label. Your book is a delightful exception. Congratulations on outlining a wonderful resource for educators."