This book, by two editors of Data Wise: A Step-by-Step Guide to Using Assessment Results to Improve Teaching and Learning, attempts to bring about a fundamental shift in how educators think about the meetings we attend. They make the case that these gatherings are potentially the most important venue where adult and organizational learning can take place in schools, and that making more effective use of this time is the key to increasing student achievement.

In Meeting Wise, the authors show why meeting planning is a high-leverage strategy for changing how people work together in the service of school improvement. To this end, they have created a meeting-planning "checklist" to develop a common language for discussing and improving the quality of meetings. In addition, they provide guidelines for readers on "wise facilitating" and "wise participating," and also include "top tips" and common dilemmas.

Simple, succinct, and practical, Meeting Wise is designed to be read and applied at every level of the educational enterprise: district leadership meetings with central office staff, charter-school management summits, principals' meetings with teachers, professional development sessions, teacher-team meetings, and even teachers' meetings with parents and students.
About the Author: Kathryn Parker Boudett is Lecturer on Education and the Director of the Data Wise Project at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where she supports educators in cultivating a systematic approach to improving classroom practice through sustained collaborative inquiry. Kathy teaches on-campus and online courses focused on the skills and habits of mind essential to improving learning and teaching (and does her best to ensure that every class she teaches and meeting she runs is as wise as it can be!). She is co-editor of Data Wise: A Step-By-Step Guide to Using Assessment Results to Improve Teaching and Learning--Revised and Expanded Edition with Richard Murnane and Elizabeth City (Harvard Education Press, 2013); Data Wise in Action: Stories of Schools Using Data to Improve Teaching and Learning (Harvard Education Press, 2007) with Jennifer Steele; and co-author of Key Elements of Observing Practice: A Data Wise Facilitator's Guide and DVD (Harvard Education Press, 2010) with Elizabeth City and Marcia Russell. Kathy holds a PhD in Public Policy from the Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and a BA in Economics from Yale University.

Elizabeth A. City is Lecturer on Education and Director of the Doctor of Education Leadership (EdLD) Program at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where she helps educators develop the skills, knowledge, mindsets, imagination, and efficacy to improve the way they and their colleagues serve every child's learning needs. Liz has served as a teacher, instructional coach, principal, and consultant, in each role focused on helping all children, and the educators who work with them, realize their full potential.

Her publications include: Data Wise: A Step-by-Step Guide to Using Assessment Results to Improve Teaching and Learning--Revised and Expanded Edition, coedited with Kathryn Parker Boudett and Richard J. Murnane (Harvard Education Press, 2013); Strategy in Action: How School Systems Can Support Powerful Learning and Teaching, coauthored with Rachel E. Curtis (Harvard Education Press, 2009); Instructional Rounds in Education: A Network Approach to Improving Teaching and Learning, coauthored with Richard F. Elmore, Sarah E. Fiarman, and Lee Teitel (Harvard Education Press, 2009); Resourceful Leadership: Tradeoffs and Tough Decisions on the Road to School Improvement (Harvard Education Press, 2008); and The Teacher's Guide to Leading Student-Centered Discussions: Talking about Texts in the Classroom, coauthored with Michael S. Hale (Corwin Press, 2006). She holds a doctorate in Administration, Planning, and Social Policy from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.