This book explains why virtually all children can achieve proficiency or higher. And it gives educators the tools to help them achieve those levels of learning.

The notion that schools are "waiting for Superman" or Wonder Woman to rescue them is at best a fantasy and at worst, damaging to schools and school systems that advance this type of flawed thinking. This is why in this book the reader will be encouraged to embrace the concept that only through building effective teams (collective instructional leadership) will schools begin to realize their stated goal-educate "all" students. It may take a village to raise children but it takes collective instructional leadership to educate them.

This book takes great care to ask the questions that policymakers, educators, parents, students and the larger community want answered:

Can you handle the truth?Why is team leadership needed?How do campuses improve their team dynamics?What methods do high performing nations use to excel?What strategies really work in high poverty schools?Where do American schools rank on the rigor scale? What is trust and how is it developed?What are campus learning disabilities?How do beliefs about human capacity affect student achievement levels?What methods motivate students to work hard?What do we really mean when we say, "All children can learn"?
The Pyramid Approach was designed by Dr. George Woodrow, Jr. for use by educators. The Pyramid is research-based; it aligns theory with professional practice. In addition, it strives to take what we know and provide a practical framework to effectively apply that same knowledge in ways that promotes student achievement. The Pyramid Approach calls attention to the need for a systematic framework that recognizes the interconnectedness among research methods.