Harvard Education Press and EKC have teamed up to share a collection of professional texts we’re excited about. Below, you’ll find a curated list of books that have sparked conversations, influenced our thinking, or earned a spot on our strategists’ bookshelves, along with a few titles currently sitting in our “to be read” stacks.
Use discount code EKC30 for 30% off listed titles. Discount code also available on ebooks.com.
Our Top Recommended Titles
Leveled Reading, Leveled Lives
How Students’ Reading Achievement Has Been Held Back and What We Can Do About It
Timothy Shanahan
Why we recommend: A friend of EKC, we’re big fans of Dr. Shanahan’s blog and have even invited him to join EKC events around the world. This book provides much-needed context and rationale for why many schools are moving away from leveled reading and toward more knowledge-rich, evidence-informed approaches to literacy instruction. Thoughtful, practical, and grounded in research, it’s a great read for literacy leaders navigating change.
Data Wise, Third Edition Educators Collaborating So Each Learner Thrives
Kathryn Parker Boudett and Candice Bocala
System Wise
Continuous Instructional Improvement at Scale
System Wise
Adam Parrott-Sheffer, Carmen Williams, David Rease and Kathryn Parker Boudett
Why we recommend: If you’ve ever sat through a data meeting and wondered, “Now what?”, these books are for you. Data Wise and System Wise offer practical frameworks for moving beyond collecting data to actually using it to improve teaching and learning. They’re favorites among school leaders looking to build a culture of collaboration, inquiry, and continuous improvement.
Why Knowledge Matters
Rescuing Our Children from Failed Educational Theories
E.D. Hirsch
Why we recommend: Love him or disagree with him, E.D. Hirsch has shaped many of the conversations happening in literacy today. In Why Knowledge Matters, Hirsch makes the case that background knowledge is one of the strongest drivers of reading comprehension and academic success. This book has influenced countless knowledge-building literacy programs and is an important read for educators exploring the connection between curriculum, knowledge, and equity.
Titles on our Reading List
Educating Multilingual Learners
What Every Classroom Teacher Needs to Know
Carine Strebel, Joyce W. Nutta, Edwidge Crevecoeur Bryant, Florin M. Mihai, Kouider Mokhtari and Donita Grissom
With multilingual learners making up a significant portion of the student population in international schools, this is a book that’s high on our own reading list. We’re always looking for practical resources that help classroom teachers support language development while maintaining rigorous content learning, and this one looks particularly promising.
Smarter Budgets, Smarter Schools
How to Survive and Thrive in Tight Times
Nathan Levenson
If we were school leaders wrestling with budget pressures, shifting enrollment patterns, and growing student support needs, this book would immediately make our reading list. The title alone speaks to one of the biggest challenges facing schools today: making strategic decisions about resources while staying focused on student learning.
What Are Preschoolers Thinking?
Insights from Early Learners’ Misunderstandings
Judith A. Schickedanz, Catherine Marchant and Molly F. Collins
This is an early years recommendation that’s caught our attention. Understanding how young children think, learn, and make sense of the world is foundational to great teaching, and we’re always interested in resources that help educators better understand the learners sitting in front of them.
Common-Sense Evidence
The Education Leader’s Guide to Using Data and Research
Nora Gordon and Carrie Conaway
Schools are awash in data, research, and competing claims about what works. This book promises to help educators make better decisions by thoughtfully interpreting evidence and research findings. We’re intrigued by the premise and have added it to our own reading list.
Educators as Designers
The Hidden Architecture of Learning
Jim Gaona Ellis
The idea that educators are designers, not just deliverers of curriculum, is one that resonates strongly with many of the conversations happening in international schools today. We’re curious about the practical applications of this mindset and have earmarked this title for future reading.
Engaging Learners with Culturally Sustaining Disciplinary Literacy
Jenelle Williams and Rachelle Savitz
At EKC, we’re always interested in resources that sit at the intersection of literacy, identity, and meaningful content learning. This title caught our eye because it appears to explore how disciplinary literacy practices can honor and sustain students’ cultural and linguistic backgrounds, a conversation many international schools are actively engaging in.