Staff Recommended Read/Podcast List

The staff of State Support Team 4 would like to use this space to share with you our favorite books and podcasts. Each month you will be introduced to a new staff recommended book or podcast. We hope that you find something new to consider and possibly impact your personal professional development. 
  
Happy Reading!

December Recommended Podcast

The Education Table

By: Katie Novak 

(Click photo to go to Podcast)

Podcast Reviewed By: Liesl Blackwell

Podcast Synopsis:

The Education Table is a micro podcast for insights into inclusive and innovative education, all in 10 minutes or less! Hosted by Katie Novak, each episode provides a mix of stories, statistics, and strategies designed to establish balance for educators and enhance outcomes for all learners. This podcast features evidence-based strategies and frameworks such as Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS).


Why I Recommend This Podcast: 

I have been a big fan of Katie Novak for many years. She has provided me with many learning opportunities through her books and now I can engage with her content while driving home from work! Katie has a way of presenting critical information in a manner that makes it easy to understand and makes difficult tasks seem easier to accomplish.

I encourage you to explore her podcast series and if you love her as much as I do, then register for her SST4 hosted session titled, Universally Designed Family Engagement that will be held on March 18, 2025 at Mentor Paradigm Center. Bring a team, bring a friend, or bring just yourself to this highly engaging session that will dive into barriers that prevent families from engaging in their child's education and will explore strategies for creating more welcoming spaces where families feel heard and valued.


November Recommended Read

The Energy Bus for Schools: 7 Ways to Improve Your School Culture, Remove Negativity, Energize Your Teachers, and Empower Your Students

By: Jon Gordon and Jim Van Allen

Book Reviewed By: Dr. Tara Reed

Book Synopsis:

The Energy Bus for Schools provides school leaders with a collaborative blueprint to engage and energize staff and students in the culture building, learning, and growth process. You’ll also learn tips to thrive during times of change, communication strategies to strengthen relationships, proven ideas to uplift staff and students, how to build a more connected team, practices to confront and transform negativity on campus, and rediscover the joy and mission to impact students’ lives.

The authors provide readers with an in-depth look into successful, engaged, and energetic campuses across the country along with their passionate and creative school leaders and teachers. Their stories and success will give you windows into the positive possibilities you can create in your school.

Why I Recommend This Book:

This book is a quick read, perfect for busy superintendents, principals, teachers, and other personnel looking to make a positive impact on their school.  We all know that sustaining a positive culture through challenging times can be difficult. These relatable stories and actionable steps can help educators create a lasting positive school culture that will benefit students and the entire school community.


October Recommended Read

Effective Universal Instruction: An Action-Oriented Approach to Improving Tier 1
By: Kimberly Gibbons, Sarah Brown & Bradley C. Niebling
 

Book Reviewed By: Ashley Girt

 

Book Synopsis:

This highly relevant text helps school leadership teams accomplish the crucial yet often overlooked task of improving tier one universal instruction within a multi-tiered system of support (MTSS). Strong universal instruction reduces the numbers of PreK-12 students who need additional services and support. Providing clear action steps and encouraging guidance, the expert authors present a roadmap for evaluating the effectiveness of tier one, identifying barriers to successful implementation, and making and sustaining instructional improvements.

Why I Recommend This Book:

 

More often than not, schools have found themselves attempting to intervene their way to improvement without much success. This book gets to the heart of what principals all too often neglect - implementation fidelity of the core (tier one) curriculum. Gibbons, Brown, and Liebling not only remind us of the importance of Tier 1 instruction, but also provide practical ways that school leadership teams can assess their school's current state of effectiveness, remove barriers to improving instruction, and most important, reflect on their own efforts.



September Recommended Read

The Knowledge Gap
by: Natalie Wexler

Book Reviewed By: Jennifer Kuhn

Book Synopsis:

"The Knowledge Gap" examines the systemic problem in elementary schools, especially those serving low-income students, of neglecting to build students' background knowledge in subjects like history, science, and art. Historically,  schools have focused heavily on drilling students on reading comprehension strategies, which research shows is less effective for improving reading ability than providing content knowledge. This skills-focused approach disproportionately cultivates a disadvantage for students from low-income families, as they often lack the broad knowledge that more affluent peers acquire at home. The book explores how this misguided instructional approach evolved and how it can be changed to provide a more meaningful, rigorous education for all students.

Why I Recommend This Book:

As Ohio districts work to select and implement high-quality instructional materials in English language arts, "The Knowledge Gap" provides a compelling rationale for choosing a knowledge-building curriculum over a skills-focused approach. Wexler's book makes a clear case for why this shift in instructional approach is necessary to better serve the needs of students in our classrooms.


August Recommended Read

Does Compliance Matter in Special Education? IDEA and the Hidden Inequities of Practice
by: Catherine Kramarczuk Voulgarides

Book Reviewed By: Dr. Tricia McCollum

Book Synopsis:

Using Data collected from three suburban school districts, Voulgarides helps us to understand how compliance with IDEA intersects with decades of evidence of racial inequities in student outcomes. This timely and thought-provoking book unpacks the civil rights history of IDEA, examines the impact of its procedural focus on educational practice, and questions why racial inequities in special education persist despite good intentions by policymakers, educators, and school personnel.


Why I Recommend This Book:

This is such a timely book as we examine disproportionality and the least restrictive environment within school districts. I love books that make you question what the status quo is and make you wonder about what could be different.

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