The continuing importance of data analytics is not lost on higher education leaders, who face a multitude of challenges, including increasing operating costs, dwindling state support, limits to tuition increases, and increased competition from the for-profit sector. To navigate these challenges, savvy leaders must leverage data to make sound…

The contributors relate examples of situations in which leaders encountered unexpected and sometimes unprecedented incivility in their role as community college leaders. The chapters present their experiences, observations, lessons, and recommendations for handling crises that may befall leaders in an academic setting. This book contains the…

A companion volume to "Going Public: Priorities & Practice at The Manhattan New School," this book, which focuses exclusively on literacy, shares the ways reading and writing are taught at the school which allows it to offer guarantees that students will take care of their literacy long after their graduation days. Intended for classroom teachers…

Analyzes the organizational values and other elements that make up institutional cultures, and discusses how these cultures shape the behavior of people in the institutions. Provides administrators with practical strategies for creating effective school cultures within their own institutions. Stresses the importance of positive traditions and…

Consistent, significant, continuous school improvement depends on enhancing 12 aspects of the school culture: collegiality; experimentation; high expectations; trust and confidence; tangible support; awareness of new knowledge; appreciation and recognition; caring, celebration, and humor; participatory decision-making; protection of vital…

To be committed to family involvement, teachers need to see results and receive support. Administrators can focus on results by exposing teachers to positive outcomes of family involvement through literature and successful teachers' experiences. Administrators can provide support through planning, allocating personnel and resources to help,…

Organizational cultures are systems of publicly and collectively accepted meanings, beliefs, values, and assumptions that a staff uses to guide its actions and interpret its surroundings. In an effort to suggest concrete ways a principal can change or maintain a culture, three important elements of a school culture are discussed: content, symbols,…

Factors that can powerfully affect an educator's ability to manage school change are culture, leadership, and readiness. Movement from bureaucracy to community, from isolation to collaboration, involves cultural changes. Managing the change process within a cultural context is influenced by the structural, human resources, political, and symbolic…

This booklet outlines the basics of a schoolwide whole language program and describes the roles of teachers and the principal in it. Because there are legitimate differences among good programs, guidelines and suggestions are offered more often than definitive answers. The first four sections are entitled, respectively "Principles of Language…

The principal of a newly opened elementary school implemented a practicum study designed to unify faculty, parents, staff, and children; add direction to the program; develop a sense of purpose; and increase participation. It was expected that a vision statement would be developed in the school's first year of operation, and that parents and staff…

It has become more and more common to read and hear that the essential factor underlying effective schools is an ethos or culture of excellence and that effective school leaders are culture builders. The main purpose of this study was to ascertain administrators' views of their schools' climate. The second purpose was to examine imperative skills…

Catholic educators want students to do their best academically and become good Catholics. Challenges that make this goal difficult to accomplish include a changing environment within the Catholic school: staffs that were almost entirely composed of priests or religious are now almost entirely lay, and the tension between the school as an…

This book offers suggestions to primary schools about how they can improve their work in preparing children for a rapidly changing world. Chapter 1 sets the stage by considering various definitions of educational improvement, efficacy, and goals. Chapter 2 assesses research on school effectiveness and critically considers components of school…

This book presents updated research on and examples of teacher leadership, offering practical tips for educators at all levels, tools for self-assessment, and a new vision of the future. The eight chapters are: (1) "What Is Teacher Leadership?" (e.g., definition of teacher leadership, roles for teacher leaders, and who is responsible); (2)…

Indiana school district saw need to improve elementary students' achievement test scores and made commitment to change culture to ensure that all students learn well. Staff, parents, community, and students were introduced to school improvement effort based on effective schools research. Efforts show significant academic improvements in Indiana…