Keep the focus on children. This may sound obvious, but too often good projects and good intentions get waylaid by historical disputes, personality conflicts, or turf battles. Appeal to teachers, support staff, and parents to put aside their own interests or perspectives and focus on serving children well. This is not something that can be done once, or can successfully be done in a moralistic or judgmental way. Gently reminding constituents that the goal is to improve every student's educational achievement, and modeling that focus for others, will be more effective than sermons.
Educational leaders can continually offer child-centered rationales for their decisions.
Cultivate an environment in which both staff and students see all children as capable of succeeding . Study after study has shown that the expectations of teachers greatly influence students' performances. Any vision statement regarding closing the achievement gap must include the belief that all children can succeed.