Why Does Anything I Say Come Out Wrong?

Anthony Muhammad, PhD, is a much soughtafter educational consultant. A practitioner for nearly twenty years, he has served as a middle school teacher, assistant principal, and principal and as a high school principal. His Transforming School Culture framework explores the root causes of staff resistance to change. Dr. Muhammad’s tenure as a practitioner has earned him several awards as both a teacher and a principal. His most notable accomplishment came as principal of Levey Middle School in Southfield, Michigan, a National School of Excellence, where student proficiency on state assessments more than doubled in five years. Dr. Muhammad and the staff at Levey used the Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) at Work® process for school improvement, and the school has been recognized in several videos and articles as a Model PLC.

As a researcher, Dr. Muhammad has published articles in several publications in both the United States and Canada. He is author of Transforming School Culture: How to Overcome Staff Division; The Will to Lead, the Skill to Teach: Transforming Schools at Every Level; and Overcoming the Achievement Gap Trap: Liberating Mindsets to Effect Change and a contributor to The Collaborative Administrator.

To learn more about Dr. Muhammad’s work, visit New Frontier 21 (www.newfrontier21.com), or follow @newfrontier21 on Twitter. Douglas Reeves, PhD, is the author of more than forty books and many articles about leadership and organizational effectiveness. He was named the Brock International Laureate for his contributions to education and received the Contribution to the Field Award from the National Staff Development Council (now Learning Forward). Dr. Reeves was twice named to the Harvard University Distinguished Authors Series. He has addressed audiences in all fifty U.S. states and more than forty countries, sharing his research and supporting effective leadership at the local, state, and national levels. He is founder of Finish the Dissertation, a free and noncommercial

service for doctoral students, and the Zambian Leadership and Learning Institute. He is the founding editor and copublisher of The SNAFU Review, a collection of essays, poetry, and art by disabled veterans. Dr. Reeves lives in downtown Boston.

To learn more about the work of Dr. Reeves, visit Creative Leadership Solutions at https://creativeleadership.net, or follow @DouglasReeves on Twitter.

Kenneth C. Williams shares his experience and expertise as a nationally recognized trainer, speaker, coach, and consultant in leadership and school culture. A practitioner for nearly two decades, Williams led the improvement efforts at two schools by leveraging the Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) at Work process. Skilled in joining the why of the work to the how of the work, Williams is known for his powerful and engaging combinations of “heart, humor, and hammer.” He is an expert at helping schools build capacity in the collective commitments required of learning for all cultures.

Skilled in developing productive, student-focused learning environments, Williams is former principal of the Learning Academy at E. J. Swint in Jonesboro, Georgia, and Damascus Elementary School in Damascus, Maryland. His firsthand experience with transforming challenged schools translates into action-oriented presentations that inspire hope, create a clear vision, and offer practical strategies to those overwhelmed by challenges.

His leadership was crucial to creating a successful professional learning community at Damascus, a challenged school that needed a new direction. The results of his efforts can be seen across all grade levels. Over a two-year period, the school’s state standardized test scores revealed a significant increase in the percentage of students performing at proficient and advanced levels. The process of building a PLC at E. J. Swint continues thanks to Williams’s work in laying a solid foundation in this underserved community.

Williams earned a bachelor of arts from Morehouse College and a master of science from the University of Bridgeport. He is the author of Starting a Movement: Building Culture From the Inside Out in Professional Learning Communities and Creating Physical and Emotional Security in Schools and a contributor to The Collaborative Administrator.

To learn more about Williams’s work, visit Unfold the Soul (www.unfold thesoul.com), or follow him @unfoldthesoul on Twitter.

To book Washington Collado, Sharroky Hollie, Rosa Isiah, Yvette Jackson, Anthony Muhammad, Douglas Reeves, or Kenneth C. Williams for professional development, contact pd@SolutionTree.com.