The first book I read as part of my Capstone experience was The Core Six: Essential Strategies for Achieving Excellence written by Harvey F. Silver, R. Thomas Dewing and Matthew J. Perini. In this book, the authors discuss 6 key strategies that teachers and educational leaders can use to better help students meet the “Common Core Requirements.” (Silver, 2012) These strategies are designed to help students achieve standards in English, social studies, science, and any other technical subject, regardless of their educational level. The six basic strategies are: reading for meaning, comparing and contrasting, inductive learning, circle of knowledge, writing for learning, and CODE vocabulary. The authors of this book explain these strategies in detail and provide exceptional example lessons of what a teacher can do in their own classroom. This book is required reading for all administrators in my district and they are required to do reading studies as part of their staff development activities. This book was an easy read for anyone working in education because of its explanations of strategies and how teachers can use these strategies in their classroom with minimal effort. Most strategies allow the teacher to be an observer of student learning, giving students the opportunity to lead their own discoveries and group discussions, which is essential for high-level education. Most of the examples given in the book are strategies that most teachers implement on a daily basis, but it shows readers how this strategy helps better meet state standards for students. The book also uses examples from all areas of education, so maths and English teachers can relate the strategies to their own classrooms. The book also pushes the mid-paper rate these students are accustomed to. Teachers and educational leaders need to be encouraged and motivated to make change and confident that the strategies they use can still be used to help students master these standards. This book, as a useful guide, will do both for struggling campuses, it gives them useful suggestions for teachers and examples of how to use them in classrooms. He also explains the importance of teachers working together in their field to increase student engagement and achievement. I will use this book and recommend it to other teachers to help them keep students on a path to high learning and high achievement on our high-stakes tests. Works CitedSilver, H., Dewing, R. and Perini, M. (2012) The Big Six: Essential Strategies for Achieving Excellence. Alexandria, Virginia. ASCD