Leveraging Leadership in 100-Days

Douglas Reeves - Robert Eaker 100-Day Leaders Turning Short-Term Wins Into Long-Term Success in Schools

Each year the first few months of school pass by so quickly for teachers and leaders. The anticipation of newness settles in as we get to know our students and each other as a school community. Systems are created, schedules are made, and routines are implemented to guide growth. What happens in between is what our students remember and teachers relentlessly plan for. 

Douglas Reeves and Robert Eaker's book, 100-Day Leaders, Turning Short-Term Wins Into Long-Term Success in Schools, provides “a system for focusing on the highest leverage leadership actions that will yield significant results in just one 100 days” (p. 3). The authors share research on the impact a school leader's decisions can have on “student achievement and educational equity” and propose a “new way of thinking about leadership” in 100-day increments. 

Reeves and Eaker frame the actions needed for school leaders, starting by addressing the “why” or moral imperative of Leadership “to improve student learning” (p. 5). Six action steps to implement during these 100 days are available to download as an accessible reproducible at go.SolutionTree.com/leadership. Relatable experiences and outcomes of school leaders are shared through each step connecting the reader to what is possible when relentless focus on improvement becomes what drives their work. 

Most school leaders know school improvement is a continuous process. Moving from a three to five-year time frame to a 100-day cycle simply makes more sense. It is an opportunity to model what we want our teachers to do in their classrooms—breaking the learning into meaningful chunks to refine and make corrections mid-course. It’s an ongoing process that requires educators to align their actions to their values. The power comes from making adjustments as you learn what works, what needs refining, and what we need to stop doing!

Most importantly, the practices Reeves and Eaker outline align with the PLC process to ensure higher levels of learning for each student. These essential questions have proven foundational for improvement in teaching and learning and include creating a school system that prioritizes collaboration. Moving out of isolation into a mindset where we get to do this together as teachers and leaders can be the fuel and catalyst that propels change and learning forward.

Many years ago, I was able to attend a two-day PLC conference featuring both Richard and Becky DuFour as keynote speakers. I can still see where I sat in the audience, thoroughly compelled by their powerful message on the impact a leader can have when following the PLC process consistently. Their message captivated us then, and Reeves and Eaker continue their work today. What we choose to do next can change the learning trajectory for the teachers we serve and the students we teach. Although now we have an opportunity using the guidance of Reeves and Eaker to do our important work in 100-day increments rather than wait years to determine our impact.