Stories of Caring School Leadership

Mark A. Smylie is professor of education emeritus in the Department of Educational Policy Studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago and visiting professor in the Department of Leadership, Policy, and Organizations at Peabody College, Vanderbilt University. Before his work in higher education, Smylie was a high school social studies teacher. Smylie served as secretary-treasurer of the National Society for the Study of Education and as a director of the Consortium on Chicago School Research at the University of Chicago. His work has appeared in the American Education Research Journal, Educational Researcher, Educational Administration Quarterly, Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, Educational Policy, Journal of School Leadership, and Review of Research in Education. Smylie has worked with schools, school districts, and school administrator and teacher professional associations through joint projects, advising, and school leader development activities. He has served on advisory boards of numerous regional and national professional and policy organizations concerned with education generally and leadership in particular. Smylie’s research focuses on school organization, leadership, and change. Joseph F. Murphy is the Frank W. Mayborn Chair and associate dean at Peabody College of Education at Vanderbilt University. He has also been a faculty member at the University of Illinois and The Ohio State University, where he was the William Ray Flesher Professor of Education.In the public schools, he has served as an administrator at the school, district, and state levels, including an appointment as the executive assistant to the chief deputy superintendent of public instruction in California. His most recent appointment was as the founding president of the Ohio Principals Leadership Academy. At the university level, he has served as department chair and associate dean.He is past vice president of the American Educational Research Association and was the founding chair of the Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium (ISLLC). He is co-editor of the AERA Handbook on Educational Administration (1999) and editor of the National Society for the Study of Education (NSSE) yearbook, The Educational Leadership Challenge (2002).His work is in the area of school improvement, with special emphasis on leadership and policy. He has authored or co-authored 18 books in this area and edited another 12. His most recent authored volumes include Understanding and Assessing the Charter School Movement (2002), Leadership for Literacy: Research-Based Practice, PreK-3 (2003), Connecting Teacher Leadership and School Improvement (2005), Preparing School Leaders: Defining a Research and Action Agenda (2006), and Turning Around Failing Schools: Lessons From the Organizational Sciences.Karen Seashore Louis is the Rodney Wallace Professor of Educational Policy and Administration at the University of Minnesota–Twin Cities. Her area of expertise includes improvement in K–12 leadership and policy over the last 30 years, particularly in urban secondary schools. Louis also conducts research on organizational changes within higher education, with particular attention to faculty roles, and on international comparative policy in educational reform. A past president of Division A of the American Educational Research Association (AERA), she is a widely published author in the field. Recent books include Organizing for School Change, Leadership for Change and School Improvement: International Perspectives, Handbook of Educational Administration, Second Edition, and Organizational Learning in Schools. Louis earned a bachelor′s degree in History from Swarthmore College and a doctorate in sociology from Columbia University.

Captivating, moving, and sincere; a beautiful collection of stories of caring leadership practice. Full of dilemmas around boundaries and privacy, ambiguities and ethics, inequities and responsibility, this book illuminates, instructs, and inspires. It will be an eye-opener for anyone skeptical of the hard and necessary work that is caring and that schools and educators do on a daily basis.

• List of IllustrationsPrefaceAcknowledgmentsAbout the AuthorsIntroduction: Caring School LeadershipCollection I: Stories of Being Caring in Relationships with StudentsIntroductionQuestions for Reflection and DiscussionStories From PreK and Elementary Schools1. Walk You to School?2. Terry3. Ana4. I Don’t Have a Knife5. Opening Up6. Had It Gone a Different Way7. Three Musketeers8. Fever Free and Smiling9. Now What Do I Do?10. Sheila11. Pizza and a Football12. Connecting13. Two Yearbooks14. The LunchroomStories From Secondary Schools15. Minister of Presence16. Sue Knows She Is Loved17. What’s Going on With Renee?18. Promise19. Red Sneakers20. Nate21. Patrick22. Four Years With That Student23. On the Bus Ramp24. Giving and Taking the Chance25. You Just Gotta Be Calm26. Not Giving Up27. The Last Leg28. I’ve Got Your Back29. Toss and Turn30. Authentic Care31. Jason32. Let Me Work on That33. The Business Card34. Not All Who Wander Are Lost35. Not Too Tired to Be Caring36. Swimming Upstream37. Try This38. The Tux39. Breaking the Law40. No Pity, Just Care41. It’s Because My School Family Loves Me42. Natalie43. Our Collective Responsibility44. Bicycle Built for TwoCollection II: Stories of Cultivating Schools as Caring CommunitiesIntroductionQuestions for Reflection and DiscussionStories From Elementary Schools45. We Like the Egg Chairs46. Hear My Message, Not My Tone47. Family Connect Time48. Our Transformation49. Dots50. Season of Giving51. Evaluating Faculty With Challenge and Support52. Coaching With Care53. Accepting Your Feelings54. Seth55. Learning Together56. Helping a Teacher Build Relationships With Students57. Buddy Bench58. 360 Degrees of Caring59. The Results Are In60. Always There for Me61. Lunch With the Principal62. School WelcomesStories From Secondary Schools63. We Choose Relationships64. Small Steps65. Getting You Ready to Walk66. Student Advocates67. Grab a Sandwich68. Welcome to Refugee High69. Do We Really Know?70. Setting Rules and Policies71. No One Graduates Alone72. Responding to the Crises73. Good Works Toward Each Other74. Fostering a Caring Faculty Culture75. Promoting Safety and Community Through Near Peer Mentoring76. When It Is Actually Not Easy77. Mama Bears78. Celebrating Matt79. Everyone Has a Voice80. Our Work Is Really All About Caring81. A More Inclusive Culture82. Enforcing the Norms83. True Safety84. Gail and Her Girls85. Our Food PantryCollection III: Stories of Fostering Caring in Families and CommunityIntroductionQuestions for Reflection and Discussion86. Engaging Parents in Equity Dialogues87. The Fire88. Family Support89. This School Is Here for You90. An Open Letter to Parents of Children Throughout New York State Regarding Grades 3–8 Testing91. Community Career Fairs and Pop-Up Food Banks92. Born and Bred93. We Are Going to Be Together in This94. My Mom Is in Trouble95. We Just Couldn’t See It96. Our Next Mayor97. Promoting Early Childhood Education in Families and the Community98. Visiting With the Kids99. Parent University100. What Can We Do?Bibliography