This practical resource highlights the critical importance of diagnosis and design in the work of leading and managing for school improvement. The authors maintain that today's school leaders and managers, under intense pressure to improve student learning, cannot simply adopt and implement pre-packaged reforms manufactured outside the school.…

After her school wins the coveted United States National Secondary Education Award, a school principal embarks upon an educational odyssey. The principal discovers that the reasons for winning the award are a sham! As her school falls apart, she begins to reflect on the stagnant school organization and the ineffective prescriptions for…

In 1988, the Chicago public school system decentralized, granting parents and communities significant resources and authority to reform their schools in dramatic ways. To track the effects of this bold experiment, the authors of "Organizing Schools for Improvement" collected a wealth of data on elementary schools in Chicago. Over a…

This book describes changes that must be made in central-office administration to facilitate the movement to site-based management. It is intended for educational administrators in central administration or for those who are planning to work as superintendents, business managers, or supervisors of curriculum and instruction. The book covers all…

This book is based on a review of the literature on decentralization and teacher management. The focus is on basic formal education, mainly the primary and junior secondary levels of schooling, and on presenting a rationale for decentralizing teacher management. The book presents three models of decentralized teacher management, explores the…

Through scenarios describing the actions of a district restructuring committee, this book shows how the "interlocking spheres of the organization" cooperate, with roles and functions blending in leadership teams and study groups. The book provides a research-based, practical guide for renewal that keeps one goal central: improving student…

Although it's true that effective school leaders focus on research, data, and statistics, the reality is that much of school leadership is also about how you handle personal relationships. That's why "The Art of School Leadership" is a must-read for any experienced or aspiring principal. Using concrete examples from his nearly 30 years of…

One result of the extraordinarily rapid pace of educational reform in recent decades has been public expectation of greater accountability for the more than $300 billion spent annually on schools. As reformers have sought better ways to utilize all resources, including instructional time, block scheduling has been developed as a more efficient way…

The book covers 10 exemplary curriculum development sites, ranging from those that follow detailed state guidelines to those with few external mandates. All the examples are public schools, have been involved in the process of curriculum leadership for several years, and are geographically diverse. The book is organized around four questions: (1)…

Education's loyalty to contemporary school organization has provoked wholesale student underachievement and a tragic subculture of youngsters at risk. This book proposes a model for school reform called Success Oriented Schools (SOS). Chapter 1 introduces the premise that schools will begin to educate all students when they strengthen wholesome…

Superintendents who aspire to lead rarely find clear explanations of what to expect from their constituents or about what they should do. This book presents findings of a study that explored superintendents' approaches to leadership, constituents' responses to their superintendents' initiatives, and the resulting changes in practice. The book is…

This book presents ways in which school administrators can identify and redirect school funds to improve student performance. It quantifies the degree of overall financial inequality in the country using figures for all districts and shows how education dollars are currently spent, why these dollars are ineffectual, and how different and more…

This book is premised on the conviction that being a successful principal is more than being a good manager. Becoming an effective school leader means understanding the culture as well as acquiring the technical skills. The book discusses the personalities and value systems that school leaders need to succeed. It is designed for first-year…

Teachers and administrators who understand the "politics" in schools can operate more successfully to facilitate change. This book teaches educators to identify and influence common social patterns that affect their work in school organizations. Chapter 1 provides an introduction to the concept of organizational literacy and an overview of several…

This monograph is a report of the findings of a comprehensive survey to identify the functions, organizational structures, and numerical adequacies of central-office staffs, by size of school systems, in Virginia and to determine the relationships between certain characteristics of school systems and the numerical adequacies of central-office…