Trusted

Trusted: Trust Pillars, Trust Killers, and the Secret to Successful Schools

By Jen Schwanke

Book Details

Product Code: 125016

ISBN: 9781416633792

Release Date: 2025-08-21

Length: 159 pages

How does a good principal become a trusted principal, and why is being trusted so important?

Neither personality nor behavior solely determines whether a principal will have the trust of teachers, students, and parents. As author and veteran educator Jen Schwanke explains in Trusted, principals continually build and reinforce trust through their relationships and experiences with these stakeholders. And if principals aren't mindful and deliberate, they can easily sabotage their own efforts.

In this candid guide for school leaders, Schwanke

• Explores just how powerful a force trust is within schools, where challenge and conflict are inevitable even during the best of times.
• Clarifies trust's positive effects on student outcomes, explains its reciprocal nature, and shares what principals can do to become more trustworthy and more "trust willing."
• Shares lessons learned from her own and other real-life principals' work to build trust, highlighting trust pillars, the habits and mindsets that support positive relationships, and trust killers, the often unconscious ways principals can undermine their work with those whose trust they need.

Whether you are a new or experienced school leader, you'll find explicit strategies you can use to build strong, trusting relationships with teachers, students, and parents. Combine them to create and maintain a school culture in which everyone feels valued, safe, and free to grow into the best versions of themselves.

Table of contents

1. Trust in Schools: Why It Is Broken and How to Get It Back

2. Trustworthy and “Trust Willing”

3. Trust Pillars and Trust Killers

4. Trust with Teachers

5. Trust with Parents

6. Trust with Students

7. Self-Trust and Beyond

Acknowledgments

References

Index

About the Author

About the author

Jen Schwanke, EdD, has been an educator for almost three decades, teaching or leading at all levels. She is the author of Trusted: Trust Pillars, Trust Killers, and the Secret to Successful Schools, four other ASCD books, and hundreds of articles for various education publications. In addition to providing professional development to districts in the areas of school climate, personnel, and instructional leadership, Schwanke presents at conferences for ISTE+ASCD, NAESP, NASSP, AASA, and various state and national education organizations. She is the co-host of the popular Principal Matters podcast and an instructor in educational administration at The Ohio State University. Schwanke currently serves as a deputy superintendent in Ohio.

Praise for Trusted

"Trusted: Trust Pillars, Trust Killers, and the Secret to Successful Schools is a powerful and practical read for all educators. As a current school principal, I connected deeply with the real-world experiences and strategies for building trust with staff, students, and families. This book is a must-read for aspiring, current, and veteran school leaders seeking to strengthen relationships and create a culture where trust fuels success at every level!"

—Dr. Rachel Edoho-Eket, principal, author, speaker, and ASCD faculty member

"It's hard to say which of Jen Schwanke's books is my favorite, but Trusted has just moved to the top. Offering one of the best historical analyses of U.S. education I've seen, it reminds school leaders that they are not, and have never been, alone. This book not only identifies trust as a core challenge but also provides practical, real-life strategies for building it with teachers, parents, and students. It should be required reading for anyone committed to leading through trust."

—William D. Parker, founder, Principal Matters, LLC

"Nothing good happens without trust, and that's what Jen Schwanke has expertly amplified in Trusted. Jen has masterfully identified the issues that affect students, educators, school leaders, families, and the community at large. Her unique insights give school leaders tangible ways to establish trust holistically and with a keen eye on societal impact. This book provides the structure for building and sustaining a strong culture where everyone can be seen, heard, and valued. Brava!"

—Dr. Kate Anderson Foley, CEO, The Education Policy & Practice Group