Jenn David-Lang founded THE MAIN IDEA in 2007 because she found many school leaders were too overwhelmed with their day-to-day responsibilities to find time for their own professional learning. So, she created THE MAIN IDEA to give education leaders easy access to the most current and powerful ideas in education to help them better serve as strong instructional leaders.
Jenn has worked in the field of education for over 30 years. She has had a wide range of experiences in both teaching and administration. In her early years she founded and directed Providence Summerbridge, a nonprofit to raise the academic achievement of urban middle school students; she taught both math and English; got her principal’s license and master’s in educational administration; and she helped to start a number of New York City schools.
Through all of these experiences, she has seen firsthand that principals just don’t have enough time to keep abreast of the latest ideas in education and focus on their own professional learning.
Currently, when not up to her ears in books for The Main Idea, Jenn enjoys facilitating workshops for leaders, but her true love is running Masterminds — the best professional learning for leaders she has been involved with. Every other week Jenn brings school and district leaders together virtually for learning, strategy sharing, support, and problem solving.
Jenn received her principal’s certification and Ed.M. from the Bank Street College of Education. She is also the co-author, along with Kim Marshall, of two books: The Best of the Marshall Memo Book One and Book Two.
To unwind, Jenn likes to cook, host informal gatherings with friends (often with a homework topic to discuss!), bike, engage in many other sports (yes, I’m a fan of pickleball!), and relax with her guidance counselor husband. Jenn completed her first triathlon in 2024 (perhaps last?) and plays Mahjong regularly with friends.
Please do reach out for any reason — I am a real educator and a real person — Jenn@TheMainIdea.net.
FAQs
What exactly does a subscription to THE MAIN IDEA include?
With a year-long subscription to THE MAIN IDEA you receive new book summaries monthly along with having access to over 200 book summaries and workshops in the archives.
Plus, you can search the archives by topic for what you need. For example, if you’re struggling with conducting difficult conversations, coaching teachers, or other areas, search by the topic and you can find the right books for you!
I also provide a few slide decks each year you can use to present workshops to your staff. My most popular ones are AI 101 for Educators, The Joyful Teacher, and Classroom Management. These all come with the subscription.
Finally, I offer several live, virtual, pop-up workshops that subscribers can attend.
What is the difference between an individual leader and aspiring leader subscription?
You get exactly the same access, but I shaved off $10 for those of you on the path to leadership (in graduate school, in a teacher-leader position, etc.) I don’t check, so you decide which subscription fits you!
What types of education books do you summarize?
I summarize education books from the last year or two which contain practical suggestions for improving areas such as the following: Assessment; Artificial Intelligence for Educators; Curriculum, Instruction and Pedagogy; Leadership; Teacher Teams; Literacy; Mathematics; Managing Difficult Staff; Multicultural Issues; Professional Development; School Culture/Climate; Supervision; and more.
These are not theoretical books. Instead, expect to read a summary and immediately get ideas for improving your school.
What are the top 8 ways to use the summaries?
- Use the knowledge you gain from reading book summaries to give teachers and leaders better feedback.
- Make individual book recommendations to teachers and school leaders.
- Use part of your staff meetings to discuss book summaries.
- Adapt the PD ideas at the end of the book summaries to lead PD with your teachers or other school leaders.
- Set up volunteer school-wide book clubs for school leaders, teachers, or even parents!
- Read through book summaries to choose ONE book for all staff to read over the summer.
- If you send out a newsletter, include a new section, “What the Principal is Reading Now” with a quote from the book.
- For the end of year or holidays, buy all teachers a book as a gift — read through summaries to choose the right one!
Who reads the summaries?
Being a principal is one of the most demanding jobs there is. For this reason, the summaries are designed with the busy principal in mind. They are also designed for other school leaders who deal with instruction — assistant principals, department chairs, academic coaches, lead teachers, superintendents, district office personnel, consultants, professors, and others. It is also useful for those who train school leaders and teachers to stay abreast of the current education literature.
With so many book summaries, where should I start?
Go to my Must-Read Books for School Leaders page, and I suggest the top 3-4 books for the 10 most popular topics for school leaders (like supervising teachers, leading change, managing difficult staff, etc.)
Do people still want to read the entire book after reading a summary?
Absolutely! The summaries can help you choose which books to read in their entirety.
How can a summary contain all of the ideas of a book?
Education books often contain a few large ideas, and then provide a number of examples and explanations of those points. THE MAIN IDEA highlights those key ideas and then provides enough of the details and examples to make you feel like you’ve read the book.
What’s the difference between a summary and a review?
Reviews are not only much shorter, but they cover both powerful and less effective education books. THE MAIN IDEA’s summaries make you feel like you’ve read an entire book and I only include the MOST IMPACTFUL books that can help you improve your school or district tomorrow.
Can I send copies of THE MAIN IDEA’s summaries to colleagues?
THE MAIN IDEA’s summaries are copyrighted, and may not be copied or distributed without our permission. However, there is an option to subscribe as a group so the summaries will be shared with an entire department, administrative team, organization, or all of the leaders in a district.
Do you still have an unanswered question?
I am a lifelong educator and I’d love to hear from you. Please feel free to email me (Jenn) at Jenn@TheMainIdea.net.
What People are Saying About The Main Idea
“Principals and other front-line educators find it very difficult to read professional books and magazines during the school year. They look balefully at the teetering guilt pile on the corner of their desks and berate themselves for not staying on top of the latest thinking in a fast-moving field. Jenn David-Lang has part of the solution: she writes a cogent summary of a carefully selected book and sends it to subscribers by e-mail each month. What seemed impossible is now within reach.”
—Kim Marshall, The Marshall Memo (www.MarshallMemo.com) and former Principal, Mather Elementary School
“THE MAIN IDEA is a brilliant and long overdue idea. As a principal who prides himself on being an instructional leader and keeping up on the latest educational books, but lives the busy life of a school leader, this is exactly what I have been waiting for. Great books. Great summaries. Great professional development ideas. Too good to be true.”
—Mark Federman, Principal, East Side Community High School, NYC
“Jenn David-Lang has the heart of a teacher, the brain of a think tank, and the patience of a librarian. THE MAIN IDEA puts all these talents together to cut through the word weeds in the edu-press, and shows us the flowers that have the power to make our classrooms and schools brighter and better.”
— Norman Atkins, Founder and CEO, Relay Graduate School of Education
“There is a real need for what you do – just like the “Executive Book Summaries” in the business community — teachers and administrators are incredibly busy and need a way to get access to these books.”
— Douglas B. Reeves, Ph.D., The Leadership and Learning Center
“Jenn David-Lang is a person of intelligence and good sense whose experience in education is considerable and varied. THE MAIN IDEA is a good idea that is both interesting and useful.”
— former Brown University Professor Emeritus and Lecturer at the Harvard Graduation School of Education, Ted and Nancy Sizer
Free Sample Summary
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