Evidence-Based School Development in Changing Demographic Contexts

Rose M. Ylimaki is the Del and Jewell Lewis Endowed Chair in the Department of Educational Leadership in the College of Education at Northern Arizona University. She studies successful principals in schools with high percentages of underserved populations and changing demographics and as part of the International Successful School Principalship Project (ISSPP) and the International School Leadership Development Network (ISLDN). Additionally, Ylimaki is engaged in cross-national studies of education theory from John Dewey and continental philosophers. Drawing on findings from the international projects, Rose Ylimaki, along with Lynnette Brunderman and the late Jeffrey Bennett, developed the Arizona Initiative for Leadership Development and Research (AZiLDR), a school development project for leadership teams in high-needs schools, with results including improved student outcomes and leadership capacity for sustainable school improvement. Her journal articles about these projects appear in School Effectiveness and School Improvement, Educational Administration Quarterly, Journal of School Leadership, Journal of Educational Administration, and the American Educational Research Journal among others. Ylimaki’s previous volumes on leadership and school development include US and cross-national policies, practices and preparation:  Implications for successful instructional leadership, organizational learning, and culturally responsive practices (Springer), The new instructional leadership (Routledge), and Critical curriculum leadership: A framework for progressive education (Routledge), and Bridging educational leadership, curriculum theory and Didaktik: Non-affirmative theory of education (Springer). Ylimaki is from rural Upper Michigan and enjoys life in the woods and great lakes as well as international travel.Lynnette A. Brunderman has worked in the Department of Educational Policy Studies and Practice at the University of Arizona since 2008, where she coordinated the certification and Master’s programs in Educational Leadership. She went to the University after serving over thirty years in the public school system, both as a teacher, school principal and district administrator. She led her school to A+ recognition in the state of Arizona. With Rose Ylimaki and Jeffrey Bennett, she began the Arizona Initiative for Leadership Development and Research (AZiLDR), creating and delivering a school development project designed to increase the school’s leadership capacity, leading to improved student learning outcomes. Documented in journal articles co-authored with Ylimaki and Bennett, the project has been featured in Educational Administration Quarterly, Journal of School Leadership and Journal for Educational Change, among others. Currently, Brunderman stays active in the field through her leadership and participation in accreditation engagement reviews with Cognia™ and her work with the Arizona School Administrators organization. As the oldest of six children, Brunderman learned early to not take herself too seriously, and is able to laugh at herself. She enjoys reading, sewing, and travel.

• Part I: Changing Context for School Development and Description of the Model.- Chapter 1: School Development Approaches Over Time: Strengths, Limitations, and the  Need for a New Approach,- Chapter 2: A New Approach to School Development,- Part II: Lessons from the Arizona School Development Model.- Chapter 3: Values, Culture and Context.-Chapter 4: Building and Sustaining School Leadership Capacity.- Chapter 5: Using Data as a Source of Reflection in a Feedback Loop.- Chapter 6: Going Deeper into Curriculum and Pedagogical Activity.- Chapter 7: Strength-based Approaches to Meeting Culturally Diverse Student Needs.- Part III: Extending the Process to Other Contexts.- Chapter 8:  School Development in South Carolina - Building Leadership Capacity for Evidence-Based School Development in South Carolina Schools.- Chapter 9:  The Swedish Context - Bringing Support Structures To Scale: The Role of the State and School Districts.- Chapter 10:  The Australian Context - National, State and School-level Efforts to Improve Schools in Australi.- Chapter 11:  The German Context - School Turnaround in Ten Schools in Difficult Circumstances in Germany: The Need for Adaptive and Contextualized Approaches to Development and Change.- Part IV: Conclusions and Looking Ahead.- Chapter 12:  Concluding Comments and Looking Ahead.