Unshakable Leadership

Unshakable Leadership: 21 Strategies for Success in Urban Schools and Beyond

By Michael Sonbert and M. Antonio Vance

Book Details

Product Code: 125067

ISBN: 9781416634508

Release Date: June 2026 

Length: 224 pages

Unshakable leaders share a willingness to be better than they once were, ruffle feathers for the good of students, say the tough things that need to be said, and hold adults accountable.

Unlock the potential of your school and improve student outcomes with Unshakable Leadership. This fast-paced and accessible guide is rooted in real-world examples from challenging urban school environments and provides practical guidance that you can implement immediately in any location to improve your performance as a leader, the effectiveness of your teachers, and the success of your students.

Veteran educators Michael Sonbert and M. Antonio Vance cut through the jargon to deliver 21 straightforward strategies that K–12 school leaders can use to strengthen and solidify the following:

• Planning and preparation.
• High-quality teaching and coaching.
• Creating and sustaining an effective school culture.
• The necessary administrative procedures to bring it all to life. 

The authors describe why each strategy matters and share best practices for planning how to use it, rolling it out, and maintaining it, along with possible pitfalls.

Whether you’re an urban school leader or simply a highly committed one, this book is an essential guide to becoming the kind of leader every school needs. Sonbert and Vance’s proven strategies and expert insights will empower you to create lasting improvements in your school community and drive better learning experiences for the students you serve.

Table of contents

Introduction

Part I. Planning and Preparation

1. Create and Embody a School Vision

2. Define and Live School Values

3. Clarify and Communicate Adult Expectations

4. Define and Disseminate Roles and Responsibilities

5. Exemplify Effective Communication

Part II. Teaching and Coaching

6. Embrace and Model Explicit Instruction

7. Engage in Instructional Coaching

8. Collect and Share Data

9. Practice Real-Time Coaching

10. Design and Deliver Meaningful Practice

11. Set and Track Coaching Goals

Part III. School Culture

12. Ensure Universal Accountability

13. Create and Communicate Your Culture Systems

14. Define and Embody Culture Team Expectations

15. Build Relationships

Part IV. Bringing It All to Life

16. Design and Adhere to Calendars

17. Build and Execute Schoolwide Routines

18. Evaluate Teacher Performance

19. Set Schoolwide Goals

20. Manage Your Meetings

21. Offer High-Impact Professional Development

Closing

References

Index

About the Authors

About the authors

Michael Sonbert is a bestselling author, speaker, and educator. He is the founder and CEO of Skyrocket Education and Rebel Culture and the coauthor of Unshakable Leadership: 21 Strategies for Success in Urban Schools and Beyond. Sonbert has turned his passion for educational reform into a global call to action for educational and corporate leadership transformation. He’s dedicated the past 20 years to coaching, partnering with, and researching leaders from public schools around the globe to Fortune 500 companies. He’s committed to helping leaders grow thriving, impactful, and purposeful organizations.

Dr. M. Antonio Vance is an educator, organizational leader, and scholar with more than 15 years of experience strengthening schools and school systems in the United States and internationally. He currently serves as Chief Schools Officer at Skyrocket Education, where he partners with district and charter leaders to drive instructional improvement, develop leadership capacity, and design systems that advance equity and student success. Vance is the coauthor of Unshakable Leadership: 21 Strategies for Success in Urban Schools and Beyond.

Praise for Unshakable Leadership

“Unshakable Leadership is packed with insights and reminders of what matters most in school leadership. I love its plainspoken focus on the need to define, demonstrate, monitor, and reinforce specific, high-leverage practices—to ‘automaticity.’ If you act on its recommendations, you will achieve swift, significant improvements in teaching and student outcomes.” 

—Mike Schmoker, author, speaker, consultant, and author of Focus: Elevating the Essentials to Radically Improve Student Learning, 3rd Edition 

“Sonbert and Vance distill the essentials of impactful school leadership with rare precision. Drawing on nearly two decades across every level of urban education—from classroom paraprofessional to principal supervisor—I can attest that every insight is hard-won truth. The chapter on calendaring is a master class in reclaiming a leader's most scarce and irreplaceable resource: time.”

—Donald B. Reynolds, Principal Supervisor, Denver Public Schools

“Unshakable Leadership captures what it truly takes to deliver results for scholars. It challenges leaders to hold the line on expectations and build intentional culture with clarity and courage.”

—Alfred Keith IV, CEO, Milwaukee College Prep

"Unshakable Leadership offers the what, why, and how of purposeful school leadership. From vision to practice and communication to accountability, it guides leaders through the essential elements of leading with clarity and meaning. Distilling rigorous thinking into actionable insight, this book is a refreshing approach, empowering school leaders to move from understanding to effective practice—every school leader should have a copy!"

—Kristen Foster, Chief Education Officer, Seton Catholic Schools

"This book is refreshing because it helps us understand what any school can be—and must be—in a no-nonsense way. Their strategies are borne out of experience on the ground in some challenging environments. I’ve been privileged to work with and see both Michael and Antonio make this difference. This is a toolkit to read and revisit." 

—John Baumber, Visiting Professor, Sunderland and Manav Rachna Universities