Renegade Leadership: Creating Innovative Schools for Digital-Age Students

Get ready to be a renegade with this how-to leadership guide.

We’re all looking for the next best app and what’s just beyond the tech horizon. But why don’t we have the same progressive appetite for pedagogy that we have for technology? Renegade leadership may just be the answer we’ve been searching for.

Merging best practice with innovation, renegade leadership demands a call to action in the digital age by creating student-centered instructional leadership that connects equity, culture, and technology. After reading this book, you will learn how to:

• Apply transformational tenets of connected pedagogy to your work
• Increase your leadership capacity in curriculum, instruction, cultural proficiency, and school improvement
• Lead staff meetings, plan personalized professional development, and improve student learning through more responsive teaching practices

Using the latest research, vignettes from educational leaders, and profiles of inspiring renegades, this book challenges you to lead in the digital age. The only real question is…are you ready to become a renegade?


"Renegade Leadership is so crucial to the work that we do in education.  Why can’t schools be the place that other organizations look to for innovation?"
George Couros, Innovative teaching, learning, and leadership consultant  and Author of The Innovator’s Mindset; Alberta, Canada

"Dr. Brad Gustafson provides invigorating, concrete examples of strategic thinking and skills for educational leaders to fill the vacuum that exists in many educational settings. Gustafson asserts that leadership and change in education are irrevocably intertwined."
Jon Corippo, Director of Academic Innovation, CUE

"Renegade Leadership demonstrates what student-centered schools look like in the digital age. When we get relationships and pedagogy right, we can transform the very nature of learning. This is a book our students desperately need us all to read."
Erin Klein, Scholastic Top Teacher and Michigan Teacher of the Year

Dr. Brad Gustafson is an elementary principal in Minnesota. Brad has pioneered efforts to update pedagogy so it is responsive to the needs of digital age students. He is a TEDx and keynote speaker who exudes a passion for learning that is palpable.

Brad was a national Digital Innovation in Learning Award (DILA) winner, and a Bammy Award Finalist in the category of Elementary School Principal. He was also a finalist for National Distinguished Principal in 2016.  Brad’s blog, Adjusting Course, was recognized with an Editor’s Choice Content Award by Smartbrief Education. It was named as a “Must-Read” K-12 blog by EdTech Magazine, and a finalist for Best Administrator Blog by the EduBlog Awards.

Brad earned his Doctoral degree at Bethel University where his research focused on innovation and professional development. You can connect with him on Twitter via @GustafsonBrad or visit his website at www.bradgustafson.com