Turning It Around: Small Steps or Sweeping Changes to Create the School Your Students Deserve
By Todd Whitaker and Courtney Monterecy
(Routledge/Eye On Education, 2024 – Learn more)
Reviewed by William Driscoll
As the title suggests, Todd Whitaker and Courtney Monterecy examine the complex terrain of school transformation through a dual lens of incremental improvement and systemic change. Their collaborative work offers an elegant contribution to the field of educational leadership that balances pragmatic strategies with transformative vision. Turning It Around provides both a conceptual framework and a tactical approach for educational leaders committed to creating schools truly worthy of their students.
Whitaker and Monterecy explain through their carefully structured text that school improvement requires intentional leadership across multiple domains. They dedicate the first part of the book to foundational leadership principles, then systematically build toward more complex aspects of organizational transformation in subsequent sections. The result is a comprehensive blueprint for school leaders at any stage of their improvement journey.
Whitaker and Monterecy strike a masterful balance between operational leadership and transformational vision. Their approach acknowledges the technical aspects of school management while emphasizing that substantive improvement ultimately depends on cultural shifts and collective efficacy. The authors provide a third way for educational leaders by integrating practical management strategies with deeper cultural change initiatives.
From concept to application
Each chapter follows a coherent progression from concept to application, offering specific implementation strategies grounded in the authors’ extensive experience. Their insights on differentiated teacher support, strategic communication practices, and distributed leadership reflect contemporary understandings of organizational development while remaining accessible to practitioners.
The main takeaway is that effective school transformation requires both systems thinking and attention to human dynamics. As Whitaker and Monterecy assert, “There are really just two ways to significantly improve a school: 1) hire better teachers, and 2) improve the ones you have.” This straightforward declaration encapsulates their uncompromising focus on instructional quality as the foundation of school improvement. Their emphasis on “tight and logical instructional time” reflects their understanding that structural elements create the necessary conditions for teaching excellence.
Additionally, the comprehensive treatment of teacher quality – from recruitment through performance management – illustrates the authors’ recognition that instructional capacity is the fulcrum upon which school improvement balances. Their candid approach to difficult conversations and performance interventions provides school leaders with ethical frameworks for addressing underperformance while maintaining professional dignity.
Interconnection of formal and informal leadership
The purpose of the book’s emphasis on cultural leadership is to highlight the interconnectedness of formal structures and informal norms. Whitaker and Monterecy are at their best when illuminating how proactive communication, authentic recognition practices, and meaningful family engagement create the relational foundation necessary for sustainable improvement.
They astutely observe that “Communication, or more often, a lack thereof – is one of the most common areas needing improvement in struggling schools.” This insight reveals their understanding that information flow is not merely a functional concern but a critical component of organizational health.
Despite its many strengths, Turning It Around would benefit from a more robust examination of equity considerations in school transformation efforts. While the authors effectively address operational and relational dimensions of leadership, they give insufficient attention to how improvement strategies might differentially impact marginalized student populations. A deeper exploration of culturally responsive leadership practices and explicit strategies for addressing opportunity gaps would enhance the book’s utility for leaders working in diverse educational contexts. This omission stands in contrast to the authors’ otherwise comprehensive treatment of school improvement dynamics.
The intended audience encompasses both novice and veteran educational leaders seeking a comprehensive approach to school improvement. However, Whitaker and Monterecy offer particularly valuable insights for principals navigating turnaround contexts or significant organizational transitions. Their practical guidance on “making time for what only you can do” acknowledges the reality of competing demands while emphasizing strategic prioritization of high-leverage leadership actions.
As Michael Fullan notes, “The principal’s role is to lead the school’s teachers in a process of learning to improve their teaching, while learning alongside them about what works and what doesn’t.” In Turning It Around, Whitaker and Monterecy provide precisely this type of collaborative leadership model – one that balances decisiveness with humility and strategic vision with practical implementation. The result is a valuable resource for educational leaders committed to creating the schools their students truly deserve.
Dr. William R. Driscoll is the Dean of Faculty at Austin Preparatory School in Reading, MA and an Adjunct Professor at the Boston College Lynch School of Education and Human Development. Bill enjoys reading and writing about educational leadership, organizational theory, and innovative design for learning. He lives with his wife Christie in North Brookfield, Massachusetts.
