Can decision makers and everyone who is responsible for implementing school improvement efforts come together to build a better, more sustainable approach to local improvement? This toolkit attempts to support such coming together by combining a powerful framework for school turnaround with a focus on the human side of change.

The toolkit is built on the intersections between Leading by Convening, a blueprint for authentic engagement in school improvement developed by 50 national organizations and adopted by the National Center for Systemic Improvement at WestEd, and the Four Domains for Rapid School Improvement, a framework developed by the national Center on School Turnaround (CST) at WestEd.

This document focuses on capacity building and efforts to engage stakeholders across the system to support rapid improvement. In doing so, this toolkit is intended to support states, districts, and schools in their efforts to improve schools.

This toolkit incorporates the Leading by Convening approach as a way to build capacity and engage stakeholders in the implementation of the CST’s Four Domains for Rapid School Improvement. Readers of this toolkit may use it to build capacity across the domains.