National Summit on School Leadership contains articles on educational leadership submitted for publication in the 2005 NCPEA Yearbook. Included, is an invited article section followed by three more sections with the following titles: (a) Crediting the Past, (b) Challenging the Present, and (c) Changing the Future. This publication features the current thinking on the knowledge base of educational leadership, innovations in the preparation of school leaders, and issues relevant to the field. This yearbook will be of interest to all scholars interested in the field of educational leadership.
Are there legitimate arguments to prevent families from choosing the education that works best for their children? Opponents of school choice have certainly offered many objections, but for decades they have mainly repeated myths either because they did not know any better or perhaps to protect the government schooling monopoly. In these pages, 14 of the top scholars in education policy debunk a dozen of the most pernicious myths, including “school choice siphons money from public schools,” “choice harms children left behind in public schools,” “school choice has racist origins,” and “choice only helps the rich get richer.” As the contributors demonstrate, even arguments against school choice that seem to make powerful intuitive sense fall apart under scrutiny. There are, frankly, no compelling arguments against funding students directly instead of public school systems. School Choice Myths shatters the mythology standing in the way of education freedom.
“Boaler is one of those rare and remarkable educators who not only know the secret of great teaching but also know how to give that gift to others.” — CAROL DWECK, author of Mindset “Jo Boaler is one of the most creative and innovative educators today. Limitless Mind marries cutting-edge brain science with her experience in the classroom, not only proving that each of us has limitless potential but offering strategies for how we can achieve it.” — LAURENE POWELL JOBS “A courageous freethinker with fresh ideas on learning.” — BOOKLIST In this revolutionary book, a professor of education at Stanford University and acclaimed math educator who has spent decades studying the impact of beliefs and bias on education, reveals the six keys to unlocking learning potential, based on the latest scientific findings. From the moment we enter school as children, we are made to feel as if our brains are fixed entities, capable of learning certain things and not others, influenced exclusively by genetics. This notion follows us into adulthood, where we tend to simply accept these established beliefs about our skillsets (i.e. that we don’t have “a math brain” or that we aren’t “the creative type”). These damaging—and as new science has revealed, false—assumptions have influenced all of us at some time, affecting our confidence and willingness to try new things and limiting our choices, and, ultimately, our futures. Stanford University professor, bestselling author, and acclaimed educator Jo Boaler has spent decades studying the impact of beliefs and bias on education. In Limitless Mind, she explodes these myths and reveals the six keys to unlocking our boundless learning potential. Her research proves that those who achieve at the highest levels do not do so because of a genetic inclination toward any one skill but because of the keys that she reveals in the book. Our brains are not “fixed,” but entirely capable of change, growth, adaptability, and rewiring. Want to be fluent in mathematics? Learn a foreign language? Play the guitar? Write a book? The truth is not only that anyone at any age can learn anything, but the act of learning itself fundamentally changes who we are, and as Boaler argues so elegantly in the pages of this book, what we go on to achieve.
Jeffrey Zoul and Anthony McConnell know from personal experience that the role of school principal is one of the most challenging and the most rewarding in education. Using relatable stories and real-life examples, the authors reveal ten core values that will empower you to work and lead with excellence.
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.
"Paul Kimmelman′s book is full of interesting thoughts on how to generate successful educational innovations in a policy environment that demands accountability. His blend of on-the-ground experience as a teacher and school administrator, coupled with his understanding of change practices in business, leads to many fresh insights." —Robert C. Granger, President William T. Grant Foundation "This book provides a rare, insightful analysis of the ideas and concerns of national leaders who shaped legislation. Kimmelman′s work encourages individuals to embrace a new form of leadership and redesign schools that reflect the economic and social realities of the present and future." —Kenneth Arndt, Superintendent Community Unit School District 300, Carpentersville, IL Position your school or district for continuous improvement in the 21st century! While educational leaders must be responsive to federal policy mandates, compliance alone will not guarantee continuous school improvement. Leaders must create conditions that foster innovative solutions to perennial problems and engage all educators in systemic reform. Paul L. Kimmelman creates a triangular framework for improving education based on federal policy compliance, effective leadership, and innovation. With practical examples from business and education, this remarkable book: Provides a rare glimpse into the thought processes of legislators and policy makers who wrote the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) Includes contemporary thinking on how leaders can distribute leadership throughout a school or district Focuses on the critical role of innovation in creating successful reform efforts The School Leadership Triangle provides leadership teams with a solid foundation for discussing key issues that can lead to substantive improvements in schools and districts while addressing the challenges of federal laws.
Be the leader of a fresh, bold, enduring vision of education for your district or school. The future of learning has arrived, and it requires bold educational leadership and a dramatic redefinition of what it means to be a successful student today. Redefining Student Success invites you to lead this transformation with audacity. It engages leaders with the concepts and actions needed to reimagine schools, address inequities, and help today’s students develop the skills they need for personal, economic, and civic success. This vital guide supports transformative leadership with Concrete guidance on how to create a Portrait of a Graduate and Portrait of an Educator which will help ensure teachers have a unified vision for professional growth and student success. Reflection prompts that help you recognize your strengths, spark discussion among stakeholders, and identify next steps for inspired action. Compelling examples of students already engaged in creative, self-directed problem-solving around issues that matter to them and their communities, together with stories that illustrate how districts and schools have arrived at their own vision of what education must become. Companion guides to 21st century learning for parents and students available online. The time is now to reset educational outcomes, sync schools with the demands of 21st century society, and meet the needs of every learner, in every community.
Culturally Responsive School Leadership focuses on how school leaders can effectively serve minoritized students—those who have been historically marginalized in school and society. The book demonstrates how leaders can engage students, parents, teachers, and communities in ways that positively impact learning by honoring indigenous heritages and local cultural practices. Muhammad Khalifa explores three basic premises. First, that a full-fledged and nuanced understanding of “cultural responsiveness” is essential to successful school leadership. Second, that cultural responsiveness will not flourish and succeed in schools without sustained efforts by school leaders to define and promote it. Finally, that culturally responsive school leadership comprises a number of crucial leadership behaviors, which include critical self-reflection; the development of culturally responsive teachers; the promotion of inclusive, anti-oppressive school environments; and engagement with students’ indigenous community contexts. Based on an ethnography of a school principal who exemplifies the practices and behaviors of culturally responsive school leadership, the book provides educators with pedagogy and strategies for immediate implementation.
A guide for students, groups, and organizations seeking to foster interfaith dialogue and promote understanding across religious lines In this book, renowned interfaith leader Eboo Patel offers a clear, detailed, and practical guide to interfaith leadership, illustrated with compelling examples. Patel explains what interfaith leadership is and explores the core competencies and skills of interfaith leadership, before turning to the issues interfaith leaders face and how they can prepare to solve them. Interfaith leaders seek points of connection and commonality—in their neighborhoods, schools, college campuses, companies, organizations, hospitals, and other spaces where people of different faiths interact with one another. While it can be challenging to navigate the differences and disagreements that can arise from these interactions, skilled interfaith leaders are vital if we are to have a strong, religiously diverse democracy. This primer presents readers with the philosophical underpinnings of interfaith theory and outlines the skills necessary to practice interfaith leadership today.
Through specific examples, qualitative research, and portraiture, the author illustrates how and why some schools are able to achieve significant, sustainable change while others cannot.