New Book Helps School Leaders Close “The Readiness Gap”
After more than two decades in education, Dr. Carpia Naylor is helping school leaders rethink how change happens. Her new book, The Readiness Gap, explores why preparation and alignment are essential before schools can successfully implement lasting improvements.
Writer: Dennis Jarrett
After spending more than 26 years in education as a teacher, school leader, district administrator, literacy coach, and systems strategist, Dr. Carpia Naylor has witnessed firsthand why many promising educational initiatives fail to produce lasting results. Her new book, The Readiness Gap: What School and District Leaders Need to Know Before Implementing MTSS, seeks to address that challenge by helping educators prepare for success before implementation begins.
“This book is not just a theoretical piece,” Naylor said. “It comes from years of seeing where systems have struggled and where systems can actually thrive. I’ve seen leaders with the best intentions try to implement initiatives, but they don’t always have the structure, shared understanding, or readiness needed to move forward successfully.”
At the heart of the book is what Naylor calls the “readiness gap” — the space between what schools are expected to implement and what they are actually prepared to sustain. Too often, she says, schools rush to launch new programs without first ensuring that their people, processes, leadership, and systems are aligned.
“Everybody wants to move quickly to implementation and go straight to the action phase,” Naylor explained. “But when schools skip the readiness work, initiatives struggle and the results don’t last.”
“Readiness is not something that slows the work down. It is part of the work.”
— Dr. Carpia Naylor
While the book focuses on Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS), Naylor emphasizes that its lessons apply to virtually any educational initiative, from literacy programs to curriculum adoptions and district-wide reforms. The goal is to provide leaders with practical tools that reduce ambiguity and increase clarity.
“I hope readers will understand that readiness is not something that slows the work down,” she said. “It is part of the work.”
The book is primarily written for school and district leaders, MTSS coaches, and educators responsible for implementing change. However, parents and community stakeholders may also find value in understanding how strong support systems help students succeed academically, behaviorally, and socially.
Ultimately, Naylor hopes the book will improve student outcomes by helping adults work more effectively together.
“When adults are aligned, prepared, and supported, students experience more consistent instruction, intervention, and equitable opportunities,” she said.
The Readiness Gap is currently available for preorder through Dr. Naylor’s website at CarpiaNaylor.com and is expected to be available soon through Amazon. For educators seeking a practical roadmap to sustainable school improvement, Naylor’s latest work offers a timely and much-needed guide.
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