We found that a healthy, respectful classroom and school environment was fundamental to successful school change, write veteran literacy consultants Bonnie Campbell Hill and Carrie Ekey, and that we needed this necessary foundation before we could help schools build meaningful and long-lasting literacy initiatives.

Their Next-Step Guide to Enriching Classroom Environments lays this foundation with two parallel rubrics that help everyone contribute to a successful literacy initiative:

A rubric for leaders helps principals, literacy coaches, and staff developers assess whether a school’s physical spaces and instructional practices are well aligned and helps set achievable goals A rubric for teachers helps them examine their classrooms and design spaces that mirror research-based beliefs about learning and teaching.

Each chapter walks through one strand of the rubrics and provides study groups and PLCs with even more tools for developing common language, beliefs, and practices around integrating classroom design and literacy instruction:

ponder boxes guide study of the book, stimulate discussion, and suggest next steps book lists point to paths for further professional learning full-color photographs and vignettes from exemplary classrooms burst with ready-to-use ideas.

We hope the classrooms we describe knock your socks off! But they are more than just beautiful, write Bonnie Campbell Hill and Carrie Ekey. They’re also based on research and sound theories about teaching and learning. Use the powerful tools in The Next-Step Guide to Enriching Classroom Environments and watch your school change one well-designed classroom at a time.