In the News

(If you come across Elisa MacDonald's work in any publications, please let Elisa's team know HERE.)

 

 

Elisa MacDonald's work is referenced in numerous books such as:

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• The PLC+ Playbook by Doug Fisher and Nancy Frey

• 50 Strategies for Activating Your PLC+ by Doug Fisher and Nancy Frey and James Marshall.

• Focus on Teaching by Jim Knight.

• The Teacher Team Leader Handbook by Chad Dumas.

 

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Elisa MacDonald's work has been reviewed by many and is referenced in numerous publications. Here are a few standouts:

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(May 21, 2026) Middleweb book review: "MOVES TO HELP TEAM LEADERS IMPACT LEARNING."

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Middleweb magazine did a wonderful review of my bestselling book, Intentional Moves!

 

I love this line from the review: "From the beginning, this book felt authentic to me – like MacDonald was personally coaching me to become an effective team leader."

 

And this part of Durkin's book review captures why I wrote the book as I did:

 

"As I was transitioning from a colleague/teacher to a leader, I really appreciated the subsection in each of the chapters labeled “Think Like a Teacher.” MacDonald lays out how the move she’s describing mirrors what teachers are already doing in their classroom. I found this to be comforting because it showed me that I was already doing some of these skillful moves with my students, and how, with MacDonald’s support, I could translate those skills into my new leadership role."

 

This is EXACTLY why I include the "Think like a teacher" section for most leadership moves in the book.

 

I want new teacher leaders and coaches, in particular, to realize you already have the skills and expertise for leading colleagues in learning because you have excelled at leading students in learning in the classroom.

 

While some of the moves you make and how you make them with students might be different than when leading adults, your intentions are the same!

 

Read the full review here:

https://www.middleweb.com/53416/moves-to-help-team-leaders-impact-learning/

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(May 1, 2026) Fig City News. "Beyond spreadsheets and budget books: Brown Middle School Principal discusses student results" By Adam Bernstein on June 24, 2025

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FCN: How do educator “Teams” work at Brown Middle School?

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(Principal Kim Lysaght*) KL: We have two different types of teacher collaborative teams. One is Grade Level Departments (GLDs) who all teach the same subject, at the same grade level. They meet weekly to plan curriculum, share best ideas, bring their respective strengths, and create common lessons and assessments for students. An example is the Global Goals event that was coordinated by the three 6th grade social studies teachers. The GLDs make sure we hit all of the marks that are required for students as they go through their grade levels. The GLD structure has been around for a long time, since I was teaching, maybe 20 years ago now! 

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The other structure is the multi-subject team that teaches a group of about 85-90 students all year, comprised of a math, science, social science, and English Language Arts teacher. They also meet weekly, along with a counselor, administrator, and  a special educator. The special educator could be part of a citywide program, or is one of Brown’s general special education teachers and is the case manager for students with IEPs on that team. 

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FCN: How is that structure evolving?

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KL: This year, each team has a team leader, and utilizes what we call a Function Impact Matrix (attributed to Elisa McDonald), which looks at both the functionality of the team as well as its impact  on student results. They ask questions like how would you facilitate a situation where X happens or Y happens. Since [Superintendent Nolin] began, we’ve implemented several student assessments such as Star Math. We’ve been using iReady for reading for a number of years. The teams also look at social-emotional learning (SEL) data. We have a platform that’s called Sown To Grow, where our students weekly will enter data on a five-point scale about how they’re feeling on Friday. 

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The team looks at data for those students they share, and if there’s a student that we’re concerned about, we all can take a look at their larger picture, not just an anecdote about what happened in their last class. The data may tell us we’ve got a lot of kids who need some reinforcement on, for example, fractions. So then the math teachers can work with their teammates to reserve time with those students during their extension block. 

Similarly, a guidance counselor can bring SEL data to the table and ask the teachers what they’re seeing in class. Do we need to reach out to a family if there’s a pattern of feeling down? It’s looking at the whole child as a team. We’ll continue that work next year in helping facilitate the team leaders making those meetings as impactful as possible. 

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*Elisa MacDonald partnered with Principal Kim Lysaght and her teacher leaders.

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Read here. 

​​https://www.figcitynews.com/2025/06/beyond-spreadsheets-and-budget-books-brown-middle-school-principal-discusses-student-results/

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(August 26, 2025) Learning Forward. Leading, Learning and Collaborating with Trish Hinze.

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"K: What’s inspiring you to learn right now?

 

T: I’m excited to share the book Intentional Moves: How Skillful Team Leaders Impact Learning by Elisa MacDonald. Elisa’s focus is not only team functionality, which is absolutely important, but her work delves deeper to focus on impact. If we are going to expend the time and energy to work as collaborative teams, we need to ensure our work impacts learning, both adult and student learning. The book focuses on 10 Primary Intentions with correlating leader moves. The format of the book is a user-friendly, color-coded structure that guides teams to easy-to-use tools, and she  provides recommendations for how and when to use these resources. It frames the work of a skillful team leader starting with building a collaborative team culture and then promotes other critical moves such as the intentional use of data. One of my favorite intentions is implementing new learning. MacDonald provides tools to help team leaders navigate how we learn and then implement changes in small, manageable increments over time and even addresses dealing with resistance to change and conflict that are inevitable when we work in teams. These are the areas where teams falter, without guidance and proven resources. It’s quickly becoming one of my favorites!"

Read here

https://www.learningforwardtexas.org/post/leading-learning-and-collaborating-with-trish-hinze

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(May 6, 2024) Leaders Coaching Leaders Podcast with Peter DeWitt. "How to Lead a Culture of Learning and Vulnerability." Click the image below to watch.​​​​​​​​​​

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