There is no calling, no more vital responsibility, than the education of our nation's and world's future leaders. Independent and faith-based schools succeed and thrive in the presence of visionary leadership. In its absence, schools struggle and often fail to achieve their mission. The success story for schools is the strength of the leadership found in the relationship between the head of school, the board chair, and all trustees. It is through this relationship, partnership, and acceptance of roles and responsibilities where this health and this success can be found.
Children in today's world are inundated with information about who to be, what to do and how to live. But what if there was a way to teach children how to manage priorities, focus on goals and be a positive influence on the world around them? The Leader in Meis that programme. It's based on a hugely successful initiative carried out at the A.B. Combs Elementary School in North Carolina. To hear the parents of A. B Combs talk about the school is to be amazed. In 1999, the school debuted a programme that taught The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Peopleto a pilot group of students. The parents reported an incredible change in their children, who blossomed under the programme. By the end of the following year the average end-of-grade scores had leapt from 84 to 94. This book will launch the message onto a much larger platform. Stephen R. Covey takes the 7 Habits, that have already changed the lives of millions of people, and shows how children can use them as they develop. Those habits -- be proactive, begin with the end in mind, put first things first, think win-win, seek to understand and then to be understood, synergize, and sharpen the saw -- are critical skills to learn at a young age and bring incredible results, proving that it's never too early to teach someone how to live well.
Bridge the great divide between distanced administrative duties and daily classroom impact. This book introduces a top-down power mechanism called defined autonomy, a concept that focuses on district-defined, nonnegotiable, common goals and a system of accountability supported by assessment tools. Defined autonomy creates an effective balance of centralized direction and individualized empowerment that allows building-level staff the stylistic freedom to respond quickly and effectively to student failure.
A growing number of next generation Christians are eager to learn, grow, and lead in ministry or in the marketplace. Mentoring young leaders, as they face the unique issues of a changing world, has been pastor and Visioneering author Andy Stanley's passion for more than a decade. Here, he shares material from his leadership training sessions, developed to address essential leadership qualities such as character, clarity, courage, and competency. This is the perfect guide for any new leader -- or for the mentor of a future leader! Clear, stylish typeset, with user-friendly links to referenced Scripture.
Strengthen programs of family and community engagement to promote equity and increase student success! When schools, families, and communities collaborate and share responsibility for students′ education, more students succeed in school. Based on 30 years of research and fieldwork, the fourth edition of the bestseller School, Family, and Community Partnerships: Your Handbook for Action, presents tools and guidelines to help develop more effective and more equitable programs of family and community engagement. Written by a team of well-known experts, it provides a theory and framework of six types of involvement for action; up-to-date research on school, family, and community collaboration; and new materials for professional development and on-going technical assistance. Readers also will find: Examples of best practices on the six types of involvement from preschools, and elementary, middle, and high schools Checklists, templates, and evaluations to plan goal-linked partnership programs and assess progress CD-ROM with slides and notes for two presentations: A new awareness session to orient colleagues on the major components of a research-based partnership program, and a full One-Day Team Training Workshop to prepare school teams to develop their partnership programs. As a foundational text, this handbook demonstrates a proven approach to implement and sustain inclusive, goal-linked programs of partnership. It shows how a good partnership program is an essential component of good school organization and school improvement for student success. This book will help every district and all schools strengthen and continually improve their programs of family and community engagement.
When the landmark book Collaborative Leadership was first published in 1994, it described the premise, principles, and leadership characteristics of successful collaboration. The book outlined an innovative way of building partnerships to solve the civic problems too big for anyone to solve alone as well as a new type of leadership that brings together diverse stakeholders to solve a community's problems. While that book provides a much-needed framework for working together, The Collaborative Leadership Fieldbook offers nonprofit practitioners, community leaders, and public officials a practical, hands-on resource. It presents the tools needed for applying the lessons learned, powerful approaches that get results, and guidance for solving complex community problems. In clear and concise terms, the Fieldbook * Presents a wide range of tools and concepts that can be readily applied * Provides a comprehensive guide to collaboration from conception to implementation * Describes how to establish effective civic leadership development programs to support collaborative efforts * Contains stories and examples that clearly illustrate the book's concepts and tools * Helps readers find-quickly and easily-what they need for their specific situations
This exciting, thought-provoking look at public education in America is based on the author's front line experiences. This book offers guidelines and ideas to encourage the reader to make the thoughtful, purposeful choices that must be made now if we are to enjoy an accountable, healthy public education system in the 21st century. Using non-academic straight talk, this study is helpful not only to parents, but also to those who train, teach, and administrate. Contents: The Challenges of Public Education: How Extensive Are They?; Can Administrators Administrate?; Can Teachers Teach?; What About School Boards?; Who's Teaching Our Teachers?; Self-Interest Groups: How Powerful Are They?; Where Do the Stockholders Fit In?; Your Choice: Private or Public Education?; The Curriculum: Where Is It Heading?; and What are the Choices?
