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 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.
To ramp up professional learning, this is the tool that will start your engine."
"Tonya Ward Singer skillfully provides educators with a powerful professional learning model that is based on the most recent work and relevant research in the field. This book is a practical guide for making the complexities of teaching diverse learners more visible—to others and to our selves—and for fostering rich professional conversations that are focused on improving the teaching of all students. "
“Opening Doors to Equity is truly a facilitator’s dream. I could take it and use it well with teachers to engage in professional learning. The process is definitely tried and true – it speaks well of the author’s experiences in real schools with real educators. On the basis of the amount of yellow highlighting I did in each chapter, I would say this is an incredibly powerful book.”
“The writing, the depth, the flow, examples are all exciting and well done. Very appropriate for teachers. I recommend the book because of the detailed information, clear step-by-step process.”
"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. The online videos are icing on the cake!"
"The author is able to look at the challenges of learning for students and teachers in a way that is engaging so that everyone can feel accepted and encouraged. This book looks at literacy issues openly and realistically. All points of view can be valued if the suggestions are implemented as recommended. Learning for all is not only the goal but also can be the reality."
"The author of 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."
"Tonya Ward Singer’s, Opening Doors to Equity – A Practical Guide to Observation-Based Professional Learning is a rich text for administrators and teacher leaders concerned with supporting the growth of others. It combines practical ideas to build a strong learning culture with ideas to take full advantage of ‘open doors’ to move a compelling equity agenda forward. "
“Opening Doors to Equity is extremely practical, clear, and easy to understand and implement. Most importantly, the practice supports sustainable professional learning of any content area or strategy, especially relevant now as we are transitioning to Common Core State Standards and in need of examining the effectiveness of the many new practices we are implementing.”