SUNY series, Educational Leadership – serie

This supplemental text for educational policy, administration, and program evaluation courses provides a framework for examining the following crucial questions. To what extent have state and federal initiated policies actually been implemented during the past 25 years? and To what degree does implementation lead to effectiveness? At a time when critical understanding of the issues is essential for good decision making, this volume provides a valuable tool for teachers, students, and makers of educational policy.

This book presents a series of related empirical studies about the thinking and problem solving processes of expert educational leaders. It describes the nature of expert thinking and provides substantial explanations for the cognitive processes associated with expert thinking. Differences in the thinking and problem solving of male and female; novice and experienced; elementary, secondary, district administrators are all explored. In addition, the book provides a glimpse of the school administrator's world from a problem solving perspective and clarifies the kinds of experiences that give rise to expert thinking.

Reports the results of a series of studies of effective school district leadershipSchool districts in both Canada and the United States provide the sites for this research. Many of these districts were in the midst of reform or restructuring initiatives and these initiatives became an important context within which to understand the work of district leaders. The authors describe how effective superintendents work with their immediate staffs, elected trustees, and school-based administrators. Each chapter examines the meaning of effective district leadership from different perspectives. Common to almost all of the chapters is an appreciation of the exquisitely "political" nature of the superintendent's work. Contributors to the volume include Edward A. Holdaway and Anthony Genge; Derek J. Allison, Patricia A. Allison, and Helen A. McHenry; Kenneth Leithwood and Roseanne Steinbach; Frances Wills and Kent Peterson; Joseph Murphy; Richard G. Townsend; Donald Musella; Mark Holmes; Stephen B. Lawton, Joyce Scane, and Shihui Wang; and Kenneth Leithwood.

A fascinating, and disturbing, story of an urban high school's struggle to survive in the post-integration era of educational reformThomas Jefferson High School faced court-ordered busing, student unrest, white flight, district-sponsored alternative schools, high school consolidation, budget crises, closure threats, magnet programs, and co-existence with a Governor's School. Each event impacted the culture of academic excellence that had been painstakingly crafted during the school's first thirty years. This book offers a history of Tee-Jay from its inception in 1930 through its "glory days," covers the school's efforts to deal with the challenges of the post-integration era, and concludes with a discussion of what the Tee-Jay story can tell us about the future of academic high schools and integration in the urban areas of the United States.

This anthology summarizes and critiques the current knowledge base in the field of educational administration.For scholars and practitioners who are interested in or are concerned about knowledge-based issues, this book provides a needed antidote to narrow discussions of foundational issues.The editors of this book maintain that discussions of a knowledge base in educational administration have typically been limited to a fairly traditional range of scholarly commentary reflective of the status quo within departments of educational administration over the past several decades. Other views, such as feminist views, race/ethnic-based orientations, those that dispute the very idea of a knowledge base, and those that simply expand the traditional range, have been given little attention within the knowledge-base discourse. The purpose of this book is, thus, to open up this discourse by broadening the range of viewpoints being considered.

Since the beginning of the school reform movement in the early 1980's, various efforts have been made to improve teacher evaluation. Most of the initial efforts were designed to promote greater accountability. They were characterized by research-based performance standards, sophisticated classroom observation procedures, and extensive training. More recently, the focus of teacher evaluation has been expanded to include provisions for professional development. Supporters of this trend have argued that accountability-based evaluation diminishes in value as teachers gain experience and expertise.Teacher Evaluation Policy presents case studies describing how new teacher evaluation policies have been created. The contributors go behind the scenes to examine the complex negotiations between politicians and special interest groups that accompany policy making. They identify the public and the private agendas guiding decision makers. What emerges is a vivid portrait of professionals and politicians grappling over the control of education. Accounts include the formulation of teacher evaluation policy in North Carolina, Louisiana, Connecticut, Washington State, and Great Britain.

Few school superintendents in the United States are women, although many women have leadership positions in schools. This book is a feminist poststructuralist account of women aspiring to the superintendency in K-12 public school systems in the United States. It deals with issues of power, gender, and leadership and provides a framework for understanding the contemporary context of the superintendency.The superintendency offers the most powerful and prestigious positions in K–12 public school systems. Few superintendents of these systems in the United States are women, although the majority of teachers are women and many women have leadership positions in schools. There are also increasing numbers of women in administrative preparation programs at institutions of higher education.This study of 27 highly qualified women in top-level administrative positions in public education was designed to find out what it is like to be a woman aspiring to the executive leadership position. Research questions included: Why are there so few women superintendents when so many are qualified? What are the routes to the superintendency? What is the context of educational administration in the public school? What kinds of leaders are women who aspire to the superintendency? The research was also informed by a femininst advocacy of social change to discover how and under what conditions a more equitable distribution of superintendencies is likely to occur. A feminist poststructural framework provided the theoretical basis for the analysis of the data.

Tells the story of women and school leadership in America from the common school era to the present. Offers an historical account of how teaching became women's work and the school superintendency men's.Winner of the 1998 American Educational Studies Association Critics' Choice Titles In 1909, when she became the superintendent of the Chicago schools, Ella Flagg Young proclaimed that women were "destined to rule the schools of every city." After all, women accounted for nearly eighty percent of all teachers by 1910 and their ascendance into formal school leadership positions could not be far behind. After World War II, however, a backlash against single women educators and a rigid realignment of gender roles in schools contributed to a rapid decline of women school administrators across the country, a decline from which there has been little recovery to the present.Destined to Rule the Schools tells the story of women and school leadership in America from the common school era to the present. In a broad sense, it offers an historical account of how teaching became women's work and the school superintendency men's. Blount explores how power in school employment has been structured unequally by gender. It focuses on the superintendency because an important component of the effort to establish control of schools has occurred in contesting the definition of this position. Unique and important contributions of this volume include: the only published comprehensive statistical study describing the number of women superintendents throughout the twentieth century, an analysis suggesting that the superintendency may have become an appointive position in part to remove it from the influence of newly enfranchised women voters, a discussion of the role of homophobia in creating and perpetuating rigid gender divisions in school employment, and a broad analysis that integrates the histories of teaching and school administration.

A comprehensive discussion, from multiple perspectives, of the complex nature of school collaboration efforts.This book provides a more comprehensive discussion of collaborative school efforts than any other single source currently available. Specifically, multiple disciplinary perspectives are presented, addressing the complexity or "promises and pitfalls" of school collaboration efforts. The book is organized in terms of major considerations in school collaboration initiatives-the organizational structure; the change process; inter-agency and intra-school collaborative efforts; and implications for instruction, leadership, and leadership preparation. Also, the book informs the design of educator preparation programs emphasizing collaborative schools and cross-disciplinary teaching.The chapters address many issues regarding school collaboration, such as which organizational structures will enhance collaborative efforts; which change processes are important in building school collaboration; the costs (in effort, energy, time, or other resources) of collaborating with other external agencies; how teachers' work can be redesigned to enhance collaboration between teachers and the anticipated outcomes for teachers and students; how educators can overcome their separate role socializations to build collaborative work relationships within schools; and the implications of school collaboration for teaching and learning, school leadership, and leadership preparation. The closing chapter offers five synthesizing issues or dilemmas for school collaboration.

Studies values and their influences in educational leadership.Values and Educational Leadership extends beyond the presentation of expert opinion to blend theory, research, and practice for a comprehensive examination of values in educational leadership. It analyzes personal values manifested by individuals, professional values of administration, and collective values exhibited by groups, societies, and organizations.The book merges the collective wisdom of some of the best known and most respected philosophers, theorists, and researchers currently working in the field, including: Derek J. Allison, Paul T. Begley, Paul V. Bredeson, Elizabeth Campbell, Daniel L. Duke, Frederick S. Ellett Jr., Colin Evers, William Foster, Margaret Grogan, Christopher Hodgkinson, Olof Johansson, Gabriele Lakomski, Kenneth Leithwood, Pauline Leonard, Kevin Roche, James Ryan, Don Shakotko, Francie Smith, Keith Walker, and Donald J. Willower.

Addresses the question: How can school communities be created and sustained?An increasingly important and appealing concept for school renewal is that of school as community. While community holds multiple promises for schools, little is known about the practice of community in schools. This collection furthers our understanding about the nature of school community, its practice in public schools, and the role of leadership in this practice. Of particular importance is the question of how community can be created and sustained in K–12 public schools with highly diverse populations.

This book summarizes nearly fifteen years of research in schools-research geared toward understanding and describing the change process as experienced by its participants. It addresses the question: "What can educators and educational administrators don on a day-to-day basis to become more effective in facilitating beneficial change?" The book provides research-based tools, techniques, and approaches that can help change facilitators to attain this goal.The authors contend that, in order to be more effective, educators must be concerns-based in their approach to leadership. Early chapters deal with teachers' evolving attitudes, concerns, and perceptions of change, as well as their gradually developing skills in implementing promising educational innovations. The authors next turn to examine the role of the school principal and other leaders as change facilitators, and present ways that they can become better informed about the developmental state of teachers as well as how to use these diagnostic survey and data as the basis for facilitating the change process. The emphasis is on practical day-to-day skills and techniques, showing administrators how to design and implement interventions that are supportive of teachers and others.Each chapter presents not only the concepts and research of the authors but also translates the concepts in concrete applications which illustrate the ways they can be applied to obtain genuine and lasting improvements.The book also contains an important discussion and description of the change process, focusing on teachers, innovations, and the schools.

In this important new collection Murphy and Hallinger bring together descriptions of a wide range of the new models in use in educational administrative training. Most of these eleven models have developed in response to contemporary criticism of the educational administrative theory movement, and each, in its own way, strives to bridge the chasm between educational theory and practice. The approaches represented here stress the importance of the administrators' engagement in the daily life of the school, and encourage administrators to learn from one another. While some models have come from leadership academies, others have been developed and tested in state departments of education, professional associations, and educational institutions. The book represents an important resource for those working with pre- and inservice administrators as they learn ways in which their involvement can improve the nation's schools.

With this significant new work, Larry Cuban provides a unique and insightful perspective on the bridging of the long-standing and well-known gap between teachers and administrators. Drawing on the literature of the field as well as personal experience, Cuban recognizes the enduring structural relationship within school organizations inherited by teachers, principals, and superintendents, and calls for a renewal of their sense of common purpose regarding the role of schooling in a democratic society.Cuban analyzes the dominant images (moral and technical), roles (instructional, managerial, and political), and contexts (classroom, school, and district) within which teachers, principals, and superintendents have worked over the last century. He concludes that when these powerful images and roles are wedded to the structural conditions in which schooling occurs, "managerial behavior" results, thus narrowing the potential for more thoughtful, effective, and appropriate leadership. Cuban then turns to consider this situation with respect to the contemporary movement for school reform, identifying significant concerns both for policymakers and practitioners.This honest, thought-provoking book by a leading scholar, writer, and practitioner in the field represents an invaluable resource-an insightful introduction for those just entering the field and a fresh, new perspective for those long-familiar with its complexities. Cuban's ethnographic approach to the development of his own career and viewpoint, as well as his highly readable style, make this a work of lasting value.

This book examines how teacher incentive pay and career ladder programs have been implemented-what forms they've taken; what issues arose as programs were established; what their impact has been so far; and what their future might be. It provides a program taxonomy and conceptual framework for understanding current trends within this still-evolving reform movement, including resistance to the change process. Most important, the book analyzes the potential impact on the real world of schools and how these programs affect teachers' skills and students' learning.

This book marks the starting point of a profound shift in assessment priorities, detailing the results of a decade-long program of research on classroom assessment environments. It demonstrates how important sound classroom assessments are to student well-being, and provides insights into the complex demands of day-to-day classroom assessment on teachers who have been taught little about assessment in their training programs.As a nation, we spend billions of dollars on educational assessment, including hundreds of millions for international and national assessments, and additional hundreds of millions for statewide testing programs. On top of these, the standardized tests that form the basis of district-wide testing programs represent a billion dollar industry. If we total all of these expensive highly-visible, politically-important assessments, we still account for less than one percent of all the assessments conducted in America's schools. The other 99 percent are conducted by teachers in their classrooms on a moment-to-moment, day-to-day, and week-to-week basis. Paradoxically, virtually all of our national, state, and local assessment resources are being devoted to research and development for large-scale assessments. This book provides specific action programs for improving the quality of the other 99 percent-the assessments that really drive what students learn and how they feel about it.

The ordeals and stresses of the first year of teaching have often been cited as reasons why many new teachers become discouraged and even abandon their teaching careers. One strategy that has proven successful in providing support to novice teachers is to match them with experienced classroom teachers, or mentors, in order to ease their induction into teaching. Mentoring also provides a meaningful challenge for experienced successful teachers.As more districts begin to implement mentoring and induction programs, they will need information and models to answer basic questions regarding how mentors are selected and how schools can provide training and support to all personnel involved in such programs. This book provides an overview of the induction into teaching and mentoring processes, describes five effective school-based models, and reports the results of a large-scale study of those elements found to be most helpful by experienced mentor teachers.

This book examines major issues in theory and research related to leader succession. It looks at the persistent problems confronted by people assigned to lead established social and professional groups like those found in schools. The author demonstrates how interaction between new leaders and established school organizations shape succession events (with illustrations drawn from educational administration) and provides a framework for understanding succession as a dynamic and interactive process.

This book examines major issues in theory and research related to leader succession. It looks at the persistent problems confronted by people assigned to lead established social and professional groups like those found in schools. The author demonstrates how interaction between new leaders and established school organizations shape succession events (with illustrations drawn from educational administration) and provides a framework for understanding succession as a dynamic and interactive process.

Reports the results of a series of studies of effective school district leadershipSchool districts in both Canada and the United States provide the sites for this research. Many of these districts were in the midst of reform or restructuring initiatives and these initiatives became an important context within which to understand the work of district leaders. The authors describe how effective superintendents work with their immediate staffs, elected trustees, and school-based administrators. Each chapter examines the meaning of effective district leadership from different perspectives. Common to almost all of the chapters is an appreciation of the exquisitely "political" nature of the superintendent's work. Contributors to the volume include Edward A. Holdaway and Anthony Genge; Derek J. Allison, Patricia A. Allison, and Helen A. McHenry; Kenneth Leithwood and Roseanne Steinbach; Frances Wills and Kent Peterson; Joseph Murphy; Richard G. Townsend; Donald Musella; Mark Holmes; Stephen B. Lawton, Joyce Scane, and Shihui Wang; and Kenneth Leithwood.

Addresses a relatively new emphasis in the educational reform movement, the attempt to improve linkages between schools, families, and communities in the delivery of support services to children.Improving the connection among schools, families, and communities has emerged as a recent focus of the education reform movement posing many challenges for educators, social service professionals, community activists, and parents. This book provides information on the diverse goals of the coordinated services movement and the problems of reconciling competing goals within the movement. The political environment surrounding coordinated services reforms is discussed, including efforts to scale-back the scope of "the welfare state."Different models of coordination are presented, such as Kentucky's Family Resource Centers, the Nation of Tomorrow project in Chicago, a community-school coalition in Philadelphia, community youth organizations, and programs for the homeless as well as organizational and management issues surrounding coordination drawn from programs throughout the United States and Canada.

Few school superintendents in the United States are women, although many women have leadership positions in schools. This book is a feminist poststructuralist account of women aspiring to the superintendency in K-12 public school systems in the United States. It deals with issues of power, gender, and leadership and provides a framework for understanding the contemporary context of the superintendency.The superintendency offers the most powerful and prestigious positions in K–12 public school systems. Few superintendents of these systems in the United States are women, although the majority of teachers are women and many women have leadership positions in schools. There are also increasing numbers of women in administrative preparation programs at institutions of higher education.This study of 27 highly qualified women in top-level administrative positions in public education was designed to find out what it is like to be a woman aspiring to the executive leadership position. Research questions included: Why are there so few women superintendents when so many are qualified? What are the routes to the superintendency? What is the context of educational administration in the public school? What kinds of leaders are women who aspire to the superintendency? The research was also informed by a femininst advocacy of social change to discover how and under what conditions a more equitable distribution of superintendencies is likely to occur. A feminist poststructural framework provided the theoretical basis for the analysis of the data.

Using Virginia as a case study, examines the role that educational leaders play in the implementation of statewide accountability plans.The insistence by policymakers and politicians that educators be held accountable for student outcomes has resulted in dramatic shifts in the responsibilities of department chairs, principals, and superintendents. Educational Leadership in an Age of Accountability explores these changes in Virginia, following its implementation of an ambitious accountability plan that called for standards of learning, statewide high-stakes tests, standards of accreditation, and annual school performance report cards. This book examines factors such as the fate of students who fail state tests, achievement differences between black and white students, ethical issues surrounding accountability measures, and the increasing politicization of local schooling. Educational Leadership in an Age of Accountability shows that accountability pressure has done more than previous reforms to foster instructional leadership.

Using Virginia as a case study, examines the role that educational leaders play in the implementation of statewide accountability plans.The insistence by policymakers and politicians that educators be held accountable for student outcomes has resulted in dramatic shifts in the responsibilities of department chairs, principals, and superintendents. Educational Leadership in an Age of Accountability explores these changes in Virginia, following its implementation of an ambitious accountability plan that called for standards of learning, statewide high-stakes tests, standards of accreditation, and annual school performance report cards. This book examines factors such as the fate of students who fail state tests, achievement differences between black and white students, ethical issues surrounding accountability measures, and the increasing politicization of local schooling. Educational Leadership in an Age of Accountability shows that accountability pressure has done more than previous reforms to foster instructional leadership.

Traces the organizational history of Fairfax County public schools in Virginia, from 1954–2004, revealing the system's record of academic success.Despite the fact that more than one-half of the students in the United States are educated in suburban schools, relatively little is known about the development of suburban school systems. Education Empire chronicles the evolution of Virginia's Fairfax County public schools, the twelfth largest school system in the country and arguably one of the very best. The book focuses on how Fairfax has addressed a variety of challenges, beginning with explosive enrollment growth in the 1950s and continuing with desegregation, enrollment decline, economic uncertainty, demands for special programs, and intense politicization. Today, Fairfax, like many suburbs across the country, looks increasingly like an urban school system, with rising poverty, large numbers of recent immigrants, and constant pressure from an assortment of special interest groups. While many school systems facing similar developments have experienced a drop in performance, Fairfax students continue to raise their achievement. Daniel L. Duke reveals the keys to Fairfax's remarkable track record.

Traces the organizational history of Fairfax County public schools in Virginia, from 1954–2004, revealing the system's record of academic success.Despite the fact that more than one-half of the students in the United States are educated in suburban schools, relatively little is known about the development of suburban school systems. Education Empire chronicles the evolution of Virginia's Fairfax County public schools, the twelfth largest school system in the country and arguably one of the very best. The book focuses on how Fairfax has addressed a variety of challenges, beginning with explosive enrollment growth in the 1950s and continuing with desegregation, enrollment decline, economic uncertainty, demands for special programs, and intense politicization. Today, Fairfax, like many suburbs across the country, looks increasingly like an urban school system, with rising poverty, large numbers of recent immigrants, and constant pressure from an assortment of special interest groups. While many school systems facing similar developments have experienced a drop in performance, Fairfax students continue to raise their achievement. Daniel L. Duke reveals the keys to Fairfax's remarkable track record.

Examines, from four organizational perspectives, Virginia's Manassas Park City School's ten-year turnaround.The Little School System That Could is a story about transformation. In 1995, equipped with not much more than a vision of the quality education that urban students deserved, Tom DeBolt, the new superintendent of the Manassas Park School System, set into motion a series of reforms that transformed the district. By 2005 every school was accredited, passing rates on state tests had doubled, and the school system was attracting national attention. Daniel L. Duke examines the district's ten-year turnaround, from four organizational perspectives and addresses the critical role of professional and political leadership in overcoming the challenges of low morale, scarce resources, changing demographics, and dysfunctional school-community relations.

Examines, from four organizational perspectives, Virginia's Manassas Park City School's ten-year turnaround.The Little School System That Could is a story about transformation. In 1995, equipped with not much more than a vision of the quality education that urban students deserved, Tom DeBolt, the new superintendent of the Manassas Park School System, set into motion a series of reforms that transformed the district. By 2005 every school was accredited, passing rates on state tests had doubled, and the school system was attracting national attention. Daniel L. Duke examines the district's ten-year turnaround, from four organizational perspectives and addresses the critical role of professional and political leadership in overcoming the challenges of low morale, scarce resources, changing demographics, and dysfunctional school-community relations.

An important contribution to the literature in administration, Evaluation-Based Leadership moves school leaders and decision-makers toward a new model of operation rooted in evaluation. Responding to the current increased national and local concern for effective schools, Glasman's work suggests a move toward an innovative paradigm that will help both inservice professionals and future administrators view their responsibilities with heightened insight and renewed initiative. Through his analysis Glasman integrates important theoretical research and practical considerations with a special emphasis on the role of the school principal as one whose work can enhance student achievements.