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The Confidence to Lead: Building Principal and Collective Efficacy in Schools
The Confidence to Lead: Building Principal and Collective Efficacy in Schools
Don Smith (Author) with Jenni Donohoo (Author)
The job has never been heavier. The stakes have never been higher.
Principals today face relentless pressure. Behavior crises. Staffing shortages. Community demands. Accountability measures. And in the middle of it all, they are expected to lead instructionally and raise student achievement.
Research is clear. Leadership shapes the conditions that allow the highest-impact factor in schools, collective teacher efficacy, to take root. The real question is not whether leadership matters, but whether it builds belief. Too often, leaders are handed initiatives instead of belief, programs instead of confidence, and slogans instead of strategy.
The Confidence to Lead argues that sustainable school improvement does not begin with a new framework. It begins with efficacy.
When principals believe in their ability to lead, that belief changes how they show up. It determines whether hard conversations happen or are avoided. Whether setbacks become stopping points or stepping stones. Whether teams persist or retreat. Private belief becomes public impact.
Grounded in research and real-world leadership experience, this book helps principals:
- Clarify what efficacy truly is and why it drives results
- Build their own leadership efficacy using Bandura’s four sources
- Avoid the trap of the hero principal and build leadership capacity in others
- Create the enabling conditions for authentic collective teacher efficacy
- Lead instructional improvement without burning out
- Map the work across a full school year to sustain momentum
This is not a book about compliance. It is about cultivating a culture of confidence.
Because you cannot build collective teacher efficacy if you have not first built your own.
For principals ready to move from surviving the role to leading with clarity and conviction, The Confidence to Lead offers both the research and the roadmap.
About the Author
Don Smith brings over two decades of hands-on experience in public education to his work as a consultant, author, and speaker. Starting his teaching career in 2003, Don spent 20 years serving in various capacities within public schools. His leadership background includes roles as Director of Teaching and Learning for the Winneconne Community and Waupaca school districts, Principal at the Fond du Lac STEM Academy and Institute, and District Assessment Coordinator for the Fond du Lac Area School District.
Today, Don focuses his consulting efforts on Leader and Collective Teacher Efficacy, Standards-Based Learning, and School Schedule Reform. He frequently presents on leadership efficacy, drawing directly from his extensive background in school administration to support current school leaders. Don is the co-author of Extinguishing the Fires of Assessment and Grading Reform and the guide Leveraging the Block Schedule for Student Learning Growth. He also co-hosts the popular show Fires in Grading. Through his writing, speaking, and consulting, Don works alongside educators to implement practical, research-based strategies that support student learning.
Dr. Jenni Donohoo is the Director of the Jenni Donohoo Center for Collective Efficacy and a globally recognized researcher, author, facilitator, and keynote speaker. She specializes in collective teacher efficacy and its transformative impact on student achievement, grounding her work in Bandura’s four sources of efficacy and decades of collaborative research including co-validation of the EC-CTES instrument with Tim O’Leary and John Hattie.
She is the author of five bestselling books that have been translated into multiple languages. Jenni has been published in Educational Leadership and The Learning Professional, and she has contributed to peer-reviewed journals including the Journal of Educational Change and the Journal of Professional Capital and Community. She works with school districts, government agencies, and professional learning organizations across the United States, Canada, Australia, and beyond, designing and facilitating professional learning experiences that are research-based, practically grounded, and results-oriented.
