In the book, we provide snapshots describing this critically important time in our nation when federal educational policy implementation has been at a level previously unheard of in the United States. We present a chapter on the design and method of Voices 3, eight chapters on analyses of the focus-group discussions, and two invited chapters that provide a review and critique of our work. The chapters will be excellent resources for professors of educational leadership as we respond to the changing environment and improve preparation programs for superintendents and principals. We also see the book as a good resource for practitioners who desire to take the pulse of their colleagues in the field to see common concerns across various issues. Finally, it will be useful to policy makers as they consider the impact of their decisions on the implementation phases in districts and schools. With this book, you are receiving access to the 27 focus-group transcripts on which the chapters are based. Instructors of qualitative research may find these data useful in their classes, e.g., for students to practice different types of data analysis and coding.
Using a competency and knowledge approach, this book provides a clear framework which enables school leaders to develop and reflect upon their own skills.
The SAGE Guide to Educational Leadership and Management allows readers to gain knowledge of educational management in practice while providing insights into challenges facing educational leaders and the strategies, skills, and techniques needed to enhance administrative performance. This guide emphasizes the important skills that effective leaders must develop and refine, including communication, developing teams, coaching and motivating, and managing time and priorities. While being brief, simply written, and a highly practical overview for individuals who are new to this field, this reference guide will combine practice and research, indicate current issues and directions, and choices that need to be made. Features & Benefits: 30 brief, signed chapters are organized in 10 thematic parts in one volume available in a choice of electronic or print formats designed to enable quick access to basic information. Selective boxes enrich and support the narrative chapters with case examples of effective leadership in action. Chapters conclude with bibliographic endnotes and references to further readings to guide students to more in-depth presentations in other published sources. Back matter includes an annotated listing of organizations, associations, and journals focused on educational leadership and administration and a detailed index. This reference guide will serve as a vital source of knowledge to any students pursuing an education degree as well as for individuals interested in the subject matter that do not have a strong foundation of the topic.
The quality and success of schools depend upon school leadership. Increasingly, in many countries worldwide, this belief has led to designing and implementing appropriate training and development programs for educational leaders. In an international comparative research project, current school leader training and development programs in fiftee
Focused on the particular needs of superintendents of districts of fewer than ten thousand students, the chapters teach students critical frameworks for thinking through and addressing the problems and practices superintendents encounter daily, allowing them to form a detailed and practical understanding of administration and leadership.
The Handbook of Social Justice Interventions in Education features interventions in social justice within education and leadership, from early years to higher education and in mainstream and alternative, formal and informal settings. Researchers from across academic disciplines and different countries describe implementable social justice work underway in learning environments—organizations, programs, classrooms, communities, etc. Robust, dynamic, and emergent theory-informed applications in real-world places make known the applied knowledge base in social justice, and its empirical, ideological, and advocacy orientations. A multiplicity of social justice-oriented lenses, policies, strategies, and tools is represented in this Handbook, along with qualitative and quantitative methodologies. Alternative and conventional approaches alike advance knowledge and educational and social utility. To cover the field comprehensively the subject (i.e., social justice education and leadership) is subdivided into four sections. Part 1 (background) provides a general background of current social justice literature. Part II (schools) addresses interventions and explorations in preK-12 schools. Part III (education) covers undergraduate and graduate education and preservice teacher programs, classrooms, and curricula, in addition to teacher and student leadership in schools. Part IV (leadership) features educational leadership and higher education leadership domains, from organizational change efforts to preservice leader preparation programs, classrooms, etc. Part V (comparative) offers interventions and explorations of societies, cultures, and nations. Assembling this unique material in one place by a leading cast will enable readers easy access to the latest research-informed interventionist practices on a timely topic. They can build on this work that takes the promise of social justice to the next level for changing global learning environments and workplaces.
Our fourth book in the International Research on School Leadership series focuses on school leadership in an era of high stakes accountability. Fueled by sweeping federal education accountability reforms, such as the United States’ No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and Race to the Top (R2T) and Australia’s Performance Measurement and Reporting Taskforce, school systems around the world are being forced to increase academic standards, participate in high-stakes testing, and raise evaluation standards for teachers and principals. These results-driven reforms are intended to hold educators “accountable for student learning and accountable to the public” (Anderson, 2005, p. 2, emphasis in original). While policymakers and the public debate the merits of student achievement accountability measures, P-12 educational leaders do not have the luxury to wait for clear guidance and resources to improve their schools and operating systems. Instead, successful leaders must balance the need to create learning communities, manage the organizational climate, and encourage community involvement with the consequences testing has on teacher morale and public scrutiny. The chapters in this volume clearly indicate that as school leaders attend to these potentially competing forces, this affects their problem-solving strategies, ability to facilitate change, and encourage community involvement. We were delighted with the responses from colleagues around the world who were eager to share their research dealing with how leaders are functioning effectively within a high-accountability environment. The nine chapters in this volume provide empirical evidence of the strategies school leaders use to cope with problems and negotiate external demands while improving student performance. In particular, the voices and actions of principals, superintendents, and school board members are captured in a blend of quantitative and qualitative studies. The breadth of studies is impressive, ranging from case studies of individual principals to cross-district comparisons to national data from the National Center for Education Statistics. To highlight important findings, we have organized the book into five sections. The first section (Chapters 2, 3, and 4) highlights the problem-solving strategies used by principals and superintendents when pressured to turn around low-performing schools. In the second section (Chapters 5 and 6), attention is devoted to ways in which school leaders act as “buffers” by reducing the impact of external demands within their local school contexts. Next, Chapters 7 and 8 explore creative ways in which financial analyses can be used to assess the cost effectiveness of programs and services. Chapters 9 and 10 examine how principals enact their instructional leadership roles in managing curriculum reforms and evaluating teachers. Finally, in the last section (Chapter 11), Kenneth Leithwood synthesizes the major themes and ideas emerging across these chapters, paying particular attention to practical issues influencing school leaders in this era of school reform and accountability as well as promising areas for future research.
This book presents the outcomes of research and practical endeavour in some of the diverse contexts in which learning takes place: classrooms, schools, professional development settings, community projects and service sector agencies. It invites the reader to engage with two related questions of contemporary concern in the leadership field: "What can we learn about the important influence of different contexts on leadership practice and how are people brought together as collective human agents in different patterns of distributive leadership?" In doing so, this collection emphasises three of the critical concepts at play when leadership is viewed, not as position, but as activity. The three concepts are purpose, context and human agency. When this view of leadership is understood, it is always about achieving shared goals with people power, no matter the circumstances in which they are gathered together.
The School Leadership Program (SLP) is a federal grant sponsored by the United States Department of Education. A hallmark of the grant is the connectivity between various agencies to provide quality leadership preparation and development programs for aspiring and current school leaders. These collaborative efforts involve community and educational stakeholders including districts, universities, city agencies, not-for-profit entities, foundations, private academic organizations, and others involved in the development of school leaders. Since its inception in 2002, over one hundred grants have been funded. This edited book’s purpose is to share innovative, research-based practices from the federally funded grants that are sustainable after the life of the grant and are able to be used throughout the field for preparing and developing aspiring and current school leaders. This book features the work of current and past grantees around their innovative practices and lessons learned about school leadership preparation and development, especially around the issue of sustainability of these practices upon completion of the grant. SLP Grantees share practical, usable lessons learned from their experiences with the grants, based on their research, project data, and practical experience.
Although administrators have many responsibilities, none is more critical to the school, student, and their personal success than the hiring, supervising, and evaluating teachers. The research evidence is clear. Excellent teachers make the difference in how well students achieve and how much schools improve. Personnel Priorities in Schools Today: Hiring, Supervising, and Evaluating Teachers, explores how to hire the best teachers available. Key features of this book include: Practical strategies to improve how you hire, supervise, and evaluate teachers Concrete examples that illustrate what successful administrators do to enhance their success Valuable insights into personnel issues building-level administrators regularly face Valuable advice from an experienced superintendent and assistant superintendent Strategies for supporting teachers to perform at their best Tips for using the evaluation process to raise performance expectations Advice on how to harness the power of a strong administrative team
