Leverage Leadership: A Practical Guide to Building Exceptional Schools    by Paul Bambrick-Santoyo Order:  USA  Can John Wiley & Sons, 2012 (2012) Softcover, e-Book     Reviewed by Bob Walch Paul Bambrick-Santoyo, the Managing Director of North Star Academies, addresses the steps that great school leaders can adopt to breed effective teaching and transform low achieving and event decent schools into great ones. The author tackles such questions as: 'What concrete actions does an excellent school take at each moment to make his or her school exceptional? What are the actions that lead not just to somewhat effective learning, but to phenomenal results? What do these leaders prioritize on a day-to-day, minute-by-minute basis?' In answering these and similar questions, Bambrick-Santoyo explains a new paradigm in school leadership and he lists the seven crucial levers that great principals employ that ensure schools produce the best results. Discussed at depth in the book, these levers include instructional ones such as data-driven instruction, observation and feedback, instructional planning and professional development. The cultural levers the author focuses upon are student culture, staff culture and managing school leadership teams. 'For most of us, it is not enough to read about great leadership: we need to see it to believe it,' writes Bambrick-Santoyo. 'That's why, in the DVD that accompanies this text, we include a selection of video clips of top-tier leaders in action, working directly with their teachers'. This complete, hands-on guide to school improvement will be of interest to any school administrator, district superintendent and academic leader who wants to create a better learning environment in an individual school or school district. Note: Opinions expressed in reviews and articles on this site are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of BookLoons. Find more NonFiction books on our Shelves or in our book Reviews