"Igniting School Performance" begins with a simple question. What kind of school do you want for the children in your neighborhood, town, city or county? While the question is a good starting point, other questions such as: Are you willing to make a commitment so that all schools are high performing? How do you define high performing? and How might that goal be accomplished? are equally important.

From the outset of this text, there is a focus on involving all stakeholders in the process of improving student achievement and providing an inclusive leadership approach that breaks the internal paralysis or ineptness which contributes to the ongoing status quo of underachievement in far too many schools.

Stakeholders such as board members might declare that they are interested in schools that serve their community. Superintendents might focus on schools that create individuals with the desire to be life-long learners. Teachers might indicate that schools are a place where children learn. Parents may simply express that they want the schools to be good. Further qualifying each of these responses may also yield descriptions of schools that are very different from those previously described.