Stopping Bad Things Happening to Good Schools - and Good School Leaders

Stopping Bad Things Happening to Good Schools - and Good School Leaders
Author: Mike Waters
Publisher: John Catt
Total Pages: 147
Release: 2018-02-02
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1398383392

This unique book has been written to save schools and their leaders from going belly-up. While no book can anticipate every possible horror situation, Mike Waters' book provides anyone who wants their school to steer clear of shocking events the guidance to do just that. But since such things can happen anyway, it is also about preparing and responding to them if they do occur. Think a school-harming won't happen to you or your school? They are happening more and more and often to the best schools and school leaders. Think your crisis management procedures will see you through? Don't bank on it. Many of the events that rock schools don't start off as obvious crises. They may start off as something seemingly minor and containable - a routine parental complaint, perhaps, or a stupid action by a member. Then things spiral out of control. That's the world that many school leaders find themselves in today. And if you want painful, first-hand evidence for this, you have only to read the school leaders' own accounts of their harrowing experiences provided in the book.Because Dr Waters' book draws directly on his experiences of working with schools rocked by crises they never saw coming, it is filled with practical wisdom. But it is also blessedly short. It's a book for busy people who want to save themselves stress and turmoil. If that's you, then read it before it's too late.

Five Practices for Equity-Focused School Leadership

Five Practices for Equity-Focused School Leadership
Author: Sharon I. Radd
Publisher: ASCD
Total Pages: 263
Release: 2021-02-08
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1416629769

This timely and essential book provides a comprehensive guide for school leaders who desire to engage their school communities in transformative systemic change. Sharon I. Radd, Gretchen Givens Generett, Mark Anthony Gooden, and George Theoharis offer five practices to increase educational equity and eliminate marginalization based on race, disability, socioeconomics, language, gender and sexual identity, and religion. For each dimension of diversity, the authors provide background information for understanding the current realities in schools and beyond, and they suggest "disruptive practices" to replace the status quo in order to achieve full inclusion and educational excellence for every child. Assuming that leadership to create equity is a unique practice, the book offers * Clear explanations of foundational terms and concepts, such as equity, systemic inequity, paradigms and cognitive dissonance, and privilege; * Specific recommendations for how to build support and sustainability by engaging colleagues and other stakeholders in constructive dialogues with multiple perspectives; * Detailed descriptions of routines and roles for building effective equity-leadership teams; * Guidelines and tools for performing an equity audit, including environmental scans; * A change framework to skillfully transform your system; and * Reflection activities for self-discovery, understanding, and personal and professional growth. A call to action that is both passionate and practical, Five Practices for Equity-Focused School Leadership is an indispensable roadmap for educators undertaking the journey toward an education system that acknowledges and advances the worth and potential of all students.

Instructional Leadership

Instructional Leadership
Author: Peter M. DeWitt
Publisher: Corwin
Total Pages: 177
Release: 2020-01-28
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1544381425

Bridge the gap between good intentions and real results Instructional Leadership is one of the most researched and discussed leadership practices, but most school leaders don’t know where to begin or how to balance this role with all of their other responsibilities. Peter DeWitt’s Instructional Leadership provides practical tools for delivering lasting improvement through small, manageable changes over time. This step-by-step, how-to guide presents the six driving forces of instructional leadership—implementation, focus on learning, student engagement, instructional strategies, efficacy, and evaluation of impact—within an easy-to-follow, multi-stage implementation model. It also includes: · Practical strategies grounded in research · "Entry point" sections highlighting the best places to start · Help working with PLCs, faculty meetings, teacher observations, and walkthroughs · Study questions As a leader, you are the guide for your teachers, staff, and students. Let this book guide you to a vision of instructional leadership that really works.

The Ethical Line

The Ethical Line
Author: Toni Faddis
Publisher: Corwin Press
Total Pages: 144
Release: 2019-05-22
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1544337914

Be the leader your school community needs The responsibilities of school leaders are increasingly complex. In this book, you will find a problem-solving model to help you think through morally complex situations. These steps will enable you to arrive at innovative solutions that are ethical, logical, culturally sensitive, and in the best interests of students. Packed with real-life vignettes, mental exercises, reflections, checklists, and other templates, these strategies will help you Understand how ethical standards and core values drive your leadership choices Approach problems through a lens of equity and care for the students entrusted to you Recognize when urgent action is called for and when it’s better to slow down in order to thoroughly consider your actions and the potential consequences of those actions As a leader, you face difficult challenges every day. This book will help ensure that the decisions you make are right for your students—and for the whole community.

Cultures Built to Last

Cultures Built to Last
Author: Richard DuFour
Publisher: Solution Tree Press
Total Pages: 125
Release: 2013-05-20
Genre: Education
ISBN: 193676475X

Take your professional learning community to the next level! Discover a systemwide approach for re-envisioning your PLC while sustaining growth and continuing momentum on your journey. You’ll move beyond isolated pockets of excellence while allowing every person in your school system—from teachers and administrators to students—the opportunity to be an instrument of lasting cultural change.

What Connected Educators Do Differently

What Connected Educators Do Differently
Author: Todd Whitaker
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 173
Release: 2015-02-11
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1317566424

Todd Whitaker, Jeffrey Zoul, and Jimmy Casas are widely acclaimed experts on teaching and leading and are pioneers in the education twitterverse, and now they are sharing their best practices! In What Connected Educators Do Differently, they show how being a connected educator—by using social media to connect with peers across the country and even across the globe—will greatly enhance your own learning and your success in a school or classroom. You’ll find out how to create a personal and professional learning network to share resources and ideas, gain support, and make an impact on others. By customizing your professional development in this way, you’ll be able to learn what you want, how you want, when you want. Best of all, you’ll become energized and inspired by all the great ideas out there and how you can contribute, benefiting both you and your students. Whether you are a teacher or school leader, you will come away from this book with step-by-step advice and fresh ideas to try immediately. Being a connected educator has never been easier or more important than it is right now!

Curriculum Violence

Curriculum Violence
Author: Erhabor Ighodaro
Publisher: Nova Science Publishers
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2013-07
Genre:
ISBN: 9781626188556

This book examines the historical context of African Americans' educational experiences, and it provides information that helps to assess the dominant discourse on education, which emphasises White middle-class cultural values and standardisation of students' outcomes. Curriculum violence is defined as the deliberate manipulation of academic programming in a manner that ignores or compromises the intellectual and psychological well being of learners. Related to this are the issues of assessment and the current focus on high-stakes standardised testing in schools, where most teachers are forced to teach for the test.

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.

The Skillful Team Leader

The Skillful Team Leader
Author: Elisa MacDonald
Publisher: Corwin Press
Total Pages: 209
Release: 2013-03-13
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1452218838

All teams face hurdles. What distinguishes the skillful team leader from a less effective one is his or her approach in overcoming them. MacDonald offers a skillful approach to team leadership rooted in values, mindset, intelligence, and skill.

Born to Fail?: Social Mobility: A Working Class View

Born to Fail?: Social Mobility: A Working Class View
Author: Sonia Blandford
Publisher: John Catt
Total Pages: 110
Release: 2017-10-02
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1398382574

Sonia Blandford, CEO of award-winning charity Achievement for All, writes brilliantly and honestly about the facing up to the realities of the white working class and how to address social mobility from the inside. No-one in the UK is better placed than Sonia to write about the struggles of white working class pupils in our schools. She grew up on the Allied Estate in Hounslow and was the first member of her family to pursue education beyond the age of 14 and was also the first to attend university. Sonia lost her mother when she took an accidental overdose, when she couldn't read the doctor's prescription. This tragic failing served as one of the inspirations for her to set up the award-winning Achievement for All organisation, who work with thousands of schools to help close the attainment gap. Born to Fail? tackles head-on issues such as why education often doesn't matter to the working class; how education has failed to deliver for them; the importance of self-belief, action and confidence; and how the Early Years is the crucial time to build success from the start.