Leading Schools in Challenging Times

Leading Schools in Challenging Times
Author: Bruce Anthony Jones
Publisher: IAP
Total Pages: 265
Release: 2016-03-01
Genre: Education
ISBN: 168123369X

Over the past 30 years our public school system has received an unprecedented amount of attention as this concerns methods of school reform and policy strategies for bringing about this reform. During the 1980s the emphasis of school reform was on transparency through school-community partnerships. Business and philanthropy, for example, became involved with issues of schooling that was unheard of prior to this period. The 1980s also gave rise to issues of school finance and student performance that went beyond traditional views that tended to focus on finance “adequacy” to views that focused more on school finance arrangements that would lead to actual “equitable outcomes” in student performance. The 1990s witnessed the emergence of the comprehensive school reform movement whereby curriculum outsourcing occurred at rates that had never occurred before. With this movement, the role of teachers and school leaders in the creation of school curriculum diminished as school districts increasingly purchased vendor-related curriculum packages, which included teacher and leader training modules and methods of curriculum assessment. On the heels of the increasing tendency of school districts to outsource school curriculum to curriculum-vendors came a rise in demands for school accountability and school outcomes. This was particularly evident with the passage of No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) (2001). NCLB was also developed within a political context that called for demands in the academic improvement of schools and school districts that housed historically disenfranchised students. These demands were particularly important as the nation experienced and continues to experience dramatic increases in student racial and ethnic diversity. This volume, entitled, Leading Schools in Challenging Times: Eye to the Future, discusses varying types of school leadership in the context of key topics that have been at the center of on-going school reform in the United States. These topics include challenges, opportunities and issues associated with our administrator and teacher leadership pipeline, preparation and development; leadership and school finance reform, leadership and changing student and population demographics; leadership and the role of community; issues of leadership, policy, public accountability and school performance outcomes. The authors also explicate these issues with a view to the future and the status of leadership in our public school system.

Leading Schools in Challenging Circumstances

Leading Schools in Challenging Circumstances
Author: Philip Smith
Publisher: A&C Black
Total Pages: 242
Release: 2014-01-16
Genre: Education
ISBN: 144114546X

The leadership of schools can make a significant difference to enhancing the life chances of students in schools and enabling them to succeed. This book examines leadership within schools, focusing on securing success within a challenging social and political environment. It explores the approaches to leadership adopted by four successful secondary school headteachers in a local authority situated in an area of high social deprivation and identifies the impact the headteachers of these schools have on staff, students and community. It analyses the key leadership strategies of these successful school leaders, strategies that can be deployed in all schools, and explores the links between leadership theories and leadership actions. The book goes on to examine how these strategies were actually implemented in a failing school in challenging circumstances and shows how other schools might benefit from such strategies and the insights on which they are based.

Leading Schools During Crisis

Leading Schools During Crisis
Author: Matthew J. Pepper
Publisher: R&L Education
Total Pages: 305
Release: 2010-01-16
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1607093456

School leadership is synonymous with challenge. However, some school leaders face true crises - situations threatening the continuing existence of their school. Leading Schools During Crisis analyzes leadership and behaviors of principals in these extraordinary circumstances. A simultaneously scholarly and practice-oriented book, Leading Schools During Crisis proposes the first school-specific model of defining and analyzing crises. Through authentic case studies, Leading Schools During Crisis offers a detailed theoretical and practical analysis of each crisis and the lessons from it for all school leaders. Highlights of the twelve case studies include: P.S. 234, Manhattan. At nine a.m. on September 11, 2001, the thirty-seven teachers and 650 elementary students of P.S. 234 were twelve hundred feet from Ground Zero. Principal Anna Switzer states, '[r]ight when the second plane crashed_that's when we knew that it wasn't an accident.' George Washington Carver H.S., New Orleans, Louisiana. Principal Vanessa Eugene believed Katrina would be another chapter in New Orleans' long history of near-miss hurricanes. Carver's campus was soon under ten feet of water. Sobrante Park E.S., Oakland, California. Like many schools, Sobrante Park only slowly realized the paradigm shift associated with the No Child Left Behind Act_until the fifth year of failing to make Adequate Yearly Progress. 'What do you do when all the data is bad?' asked Principal Marco Franco. Platte Canyon H.S, Bailey, Colorado. Principal Brian Krause was approached by a frantic student who reported: ''[T]here's a guy in the English classroom with a gun' . . . . I remember thinking, okay, he said guy. He didn't say student or kid or Johnny.' Other case studies include the challenges inherent in starting charter schools, discovery of systemic and deliberate grade fraud, rezoning of 95 percent of a elementary school's student population, and leading a school populated by changing_and often contentious_refugee groups.

Latinas Leading Schools

Latinas Leading Schools
Author: Melissa A Martinez
Publisher: IAP
Total Pages: 225
Release: 2021-01-01
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1648023592

As the first scholarly book of its kind, this edited volume brings together educational leadership scholars and practitioners from across the country whose research focuses on the unique contributions and struggles that Latinas across the diaspora face while leading in schools and districts. The limited though growing scholarship on Latina administrators indicates their assets, particularly those rooted in their sociocultural, linguistic, and racial/ethnic backgrounds, their cultura, are undervalued in research and practice (Hernandez & Murakami, 2016; Martinez, Rivera, & Marquez, 2019; Mendez-Morse, 2000; Mendez-Morse, Murakami, Byrne-Jimenez, & Hernandez, 2015). At the same time, Latina administrators have reported challenges related to: isolation (Hernandez & Murakami, 2016), a lack of mentoring (Mendez-Morse, 2004), resistance from those who expect a more linear, hierarchical form of leadership (Gonzales, Ulloa, & Munoz, 2016), balancing varying professional and personal roles and aspirations (Murakami-Ramalho, 2008), as well as racism, sexism, and ageism (Bagula, 2016; Martinez, Marquez, Cantu, & Rocha, 2016). The impetus for this book is to acknowledge, explore, theorize, and expand our understanding of how Latinas’ success as school and district leaders is informed by such gifts, including their prioritizing of familia and communidad, relationship building, reciprocity, and advocacy, in the face of such challenges. Thus, this volume covers four topical areas: 1) Testimonies and reflections from the field/Testimonios y reflexiones del campo, 2) Leading in relationship, comadrismo, with and for community/Liderazgo en relación, comadrismo, con y para la omunidad, 3) School community leaders(hip)/Lider(azgo) escolar y comunitario 4) Learning from the experiences of others/Aprendiendo de las experiencias de otras.

The Leader in Me

The Leader in Me
Author: Stephen R. Covey
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 218
Release: 2012-12-11
Genre: Self-Help
ISBN: 147110446X

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.

Leading 21st Century Schools

Leading 21st Century Schools
Author: Lynne Schrum
Publisher: Corwin Press
Total Pages: 273
Release: 2015-04-07
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1506301886

Master The Latest Educational Technology To Teach 21st Century Skills. The pace of technological change picks up speed with each passing day. Educators must place the proper emphasis on technology leadership—using proven methods—if they are to prepare students to thrive in the classroom and beyond. When first published in 2009, this book empowered administrators and teachers to plan and execute effective strategies for enhancing student engagement and achievement through technology. This second edition features 80% brand-new material addressing the latest technological developments, combined with the authors’ tested methods for applying them in schools. Features include: Aligning technology to the ISLLC Standards, ISTE Standards, and Common Core State Standards Comprehensive guides to the newest technologies and trends that school leaders need to know A companion website featuring a massive volume of resources for additional progress With this book close at hand, school leaders will confidently guide students into the exciting digital future. "The world of technology changes by the second and educators are left in the dust to navigate a tsunami of tools. Levin and Schrum provide a detailed roadmap of technology tools available today and how they can be harnessed by educators to improve student engagement." -Eric Sheninger, Educational Consultant and Author of Digital Leadership "School leaders need less philosophy and more of a focus on the practical steps needed to move forward. Levin and Schrum update their best-selling First Edition by adding in the newest innovations in technology, while at the same time offering suggestions on how to get started." -Peter DeWitt, Corwin author/Consultant Finding Common Ground Blog/ Education Week

Leading Schools Successfully

Leading Schools Successfully
Author: Christopher Day
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 247
Release: 2013-07-24
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1135009120

Leading Schools Successfully: Stories from the field considers international research focussing on leadership in schools. Based on the ISSPP (International Successful School Principalship Project) which has conducted over one hundred multiple perspective case studies of successful school principals from more than a dozen countries, the book captures the exhilaration of being a principal who grows and sustains success from those practitioners who are acknowledged as exhibiting outstanding leadership. Whilst much is known about successful school leaders, the book reinforces the argument that it is neither possible, nor appropriate, to generalise specific strategies that should be adopted to ensure success for all schools at all times in all settings. Instead, success calls for a high level of judgement, wisdom, artistry and sheer hard work on the part of principals, adapting for their particular context the knowledge about leading schools successfully. Reflection sections in each chapter ask the reader to consider further issues which each chapter raises. Topics considered include: - the importance of school principals to school success - turning around under-performing schools - values-led leadership -sustaining successful leadership - leading in multi-cultural settings - issues and implications for the future. With international contributions from experts in the field, the book offers a new perspective on leadership in schools and will be of interest to school principals and researchers.

Leading Educational Systems and Schools in Times of Disruption and Exponential Change

Leading Educational Systems and Schools in Times of Disruption and Exponential Change
Author: Patrick Duignan
Publisher: Emerald Group Publishing
Total Pages: 188
Release: 2020-03-30
Genre: Education
ISBN: 183909852X

This book provides an analysis of the impact of disruptive environments on education and closely examines national and international research-based literature on how educational systems in a number of countries are successfully transforming educational delivery processes to better prepare students for an increasingly disrupted world.

Leadership in America's Best Urban Schools

Leadership in America's Best Urban Schools
Author: Joseph F. Johnson, Jr.
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 171
Release: 2017-02-03
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1317412397

Leadership in America’s Best Urban Schools describes and demystifies the qualities that successful leaders rely on to make a difference at all levels of urban school leadership. Grounded in research, this volume reveals the multiple challenges that real urban elementary, middle, and high schools face as well as the catalysts for improvement. This insightful resource explores the critical leadership characteristics found in high-performing urban schools and gives leaders the tools to move their schools to higher levels of achievement for all students—but especially for those who are low-income, English-language learners, and from various racial and ethnic backgrounds. In shining a light on the essential qualities for exceptional leadership at all levels of urban schools, this book is a valuable guide for all educators and administrators to nurture, influence, support, and sustain excellence and equity at their schools.

Effective School Leadership in Challenging Times

Effective School Leadership in Challenging Times
Author: Liz Browne
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 143
Release: 2020-12-29
Genre: Education
ISBN: 0429589204

Education leadership has been subject to a period of turmoil with rapid social change, political demands for excellence, economic pressures for austerity and the influence of technology impacting on leadership roles in multiple ways. This book draws on real examples of practice to identify the key challenges facing educational leadership and how these might be overcome drawing on recent research and interventions that have impacted positively on learner outcomes and teacher retention. Covering all aspects of leadership including school improvement, vision and values, working with partners and leading change, the book launches the concept of atomic leadership, advocating small steps to change for maximum momentum and large-scale impact. It reveals how leaders can cooperate to trial new ways of learning and disseminate their successes and failures with a new honesty and openness about what works in our schools. With reflective tasks in every chapter, this text will inspire debate and inform discussion at staff meetings and is essential reading for all school leaders as well as those undertaking master-level courses in educational leadership and or pursuing the National Professional Qualifications in leadership.