Community schools are a sound education reform strategy that gets results. They start by asking local students and their families what they need to succeed in school, then they reach out to relevant community partners and use the school as the hub for organizing partnerships, services, and supports. By listening closely to the assets and needs of…

The author lays out guidelines and suggestions for how teachers can actually become policy leaders, taken from his book, "The Cage-Busting Teacher" (Harvard Education Press, 2015). Teachers serious about leadership can get the ear of policy makers by leveraging their positional and moral authority--though they may need to be persistent…

Teacher networks are an important lever for helping schools make change. In order to take advantage of teacher networks, principals must map the existing networks in their schools, identifying teachers and others who serve as experts or advice givers, brokers, and advice seekers. Once these are known, principals can decide on a strategy for…

Many principals use harassing supervision to encourage low-performing teachers to leave. Principals are driven to this tactic because teacher evaluation systems don't systematically identify low-performing teachers, principals don't understand the teacher removal process, principal training programs don't build principal expertise in hiring and…

The potential of technology to transform schooling is hampered by the culture of local control and formal institutions of governance. These constraints are likely to remain strong in the years ahead, so the challenge for the 21st century is to devise new ways to govern and organize schooling.

A more positive model and one more consonant with our way of life than that of the South American caudillo'' is needed for the principal. As long as this country is founded on a political and social democracy, the democratic model would appear to be best for us. (Author/JN)

Discusses how an administrator can develop an organizational climate that fosters trust, independent action, risk taking, self-evaluation, and productivity. (Author)

The increasing use of test results as a mechanism of educational reform is diminishing local control of schools and changing the curriculum to train students to pass tests rather than to educate students. (MLF)