"It is a relief to find a book that not only addressed the urgency to provide purpose in teaching and learning but provided a systematic way to tackle the Common Core State Standards in an effective and in-depth manner for all stakeholders."

"The Focus Model provides all of today’s best research to support your school’s efforts to systemically and collaboratively evaluate ever-changing standards and implement best practices in instructional strategies, assessment and professional development. It is a concise, 'one stop shop' for school improvement."

"This book is relevant, readable and filled with practical suggestions for individuals working in both public and private educational settings. It is a ‘must read’ for those interested in systemmatic, step by step school improvement, and it should be incluided in the professional libraries of superintendents, principals, and teacher leaders."

“If the US is to implement the Common Core Curriculum effectively, it will require a constructive alignment between the standards, the teaching, and the assessment. Dr. Jones highlights these latter two critical parts of schooling in a way that not only makes the alignment constructive, but he increases the probability of acceleration in student learning. By focusing on four major features, he brings a clarity that is often missing. In this book, Jones argues it begins with categorizing the standards (combating the myth of 100% coverage), by creating learning intentions and success criteria (clarifying the learning intentions), by critical formative evaluation that informs both the student and the teacher (provides the information critical to effective feedback), and by Impact-PLCs - such collaborative impact can truly make the acceleration so needed. In a book that is both readable and filled with engaging examples, Dr. Jones introduces us to a model for action containing a clarity too often missing. B.R. has done us a service by bringing together many powerful ideas, with a strong sense of unity and direction.”