Balanced Leadership: How Effective Principals Manage Their Work

(Critical Issues in Educational Leadership)

Alarmed by mounting evidence of a national shortage of qualified and willing
principals, the authors surveyed and interviewed over 200 school principals from
across the country to find out why so many are leaving the profession and how
those who stay manage their work. They discovered that regardless of a
principal¶s race, gender, school level, geographic region, or tenure, there was a
remarkable consistency in the challenges identified and suggestions given for
revamping the role of the American principal.c
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c The Six Secrets of Change
Fullan argues that the world is too complex for any theory to possess
unassailable certainty, and leaders should shy away from relying on a single
blueprint for success. Instead, good leaders should use theories of action to guide
their decisions, but remain open to new data that may direct further action. Fullan
advocates adopting theories that travel²practical insights that travel across
sectors, geography and culturally diverse situations and point to actions likely to
be effective given the circumstances. To help managers navigate change, Fullan
share six secrets designed to help with large-scale reform: Love Your Employees,
Connect Peers with Purpose, Capacity Building Prevails, Learning Is the Work,
Transparency Rules and Systems Learn, and provides guidelines for making
these secrets work. Although the six secrets are hardly radically new ideas and
are presented as a bit of a panacea, Fullan's practical guide is a lucid and
encouraging book, likely to appeal to and assist managers at all levels.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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Œeframing the Path to School Leadership: A Guide for Teachers and
Principals
This second edition of the bestseller helps teachers and principals reframe
challenges and expand leadership potential by using four defining lenses:
political, human resources, structural, and symbolic.

c Seven Secrets of the Savvy School Leader

School leaders today are working harder than ever, longer than ever, dealing with
ever greater complexity, and sacrificing ever more of their personal and family
time to their work. At the same time they are subject to increasing criticism,
second-guessing, and unrealistic expectations. Seven Secrets of the Savvy
School Leader tackles this challenge head on. This book offers concrete help and
inspiration for anyone serving as or considering becoming a school administrator.
From his experience with many of America's most savvy school leaders, Evans
describes the qualities, characteristics, and behaviors that lead to success in
today's uncertain environment. As practical as it is readable, Seven Secrets of
the Savvy School Leader offers solid advice for overcoming even the most
daunting of school leadership challenges, from dealing with the innate tensions
that face all administrators, to learning how to tell the difference between
dilemmas and problems, to guidance on where leaders should put their focus.
The book also reveals why following the latest leadership fad can lead to
ineffective and misguided decisions and practices.
For anyone who wants to serve schools in a leadership position, this book
provides an essential survival guide and a road map for excellence.
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c How Teachers Become Leaders: Learning from Practice and Œesearch
This book is a unique insider's look at the process that teachers experience when
they assume leadership positions in their school, district, state, or writing project
site. The text features vignettes by K-12 teachers, describing their individual
leadership roles and experiences to show how teachers take charge in a variety of
contexts. The authors identify four major themes: identity, collaboration, making
conflict productive, and learning new practices. Through the teacher leaders' own
words, readers witness how the four themes are an integral part of daily practice.
Chapters also examine what research indicates about these new and proliferating
roles. How Teachers Become Leaders makes a significant contribution to our
understanding of how teachers in leadership positions construct a new identity;
develop the skills and abilities to handle conflict and make it productive; learn to
facilitate the building of learning communities, helping teachers to collaborate with
one another; use the practices they already know and incorporate new ones into
their work; reframe the very meaning of leadership, making it work side by side
rather than top/down.
c Catching Up or Leading the Way
At a time when globalization and technology are dramatically altering the world we
live in, is education reform in the United States headed down the right path? Are
schools emphasizing the knowledge and skills that students need in a global
society--or are they actually undermining their strengths by overemphasizing high-
stakes testing and standardization? Are education systems in China and other
countries really as superior as some people claim?
These and other questions are at the heart of author Yong Zhao s thoughtful and
informative book. Born and raised in China and now a distinguished professor at
Michigan State University, Zhao bases many of his observations on firsthand
experience as a student in China and as a parent of children attending school in
the United States. His unique perspective leads him to conclude that American
education is at a crossroads and we need to change course to maintain leadership
in a rapidly changing world. To make his case, Zhao explains what's right with
American education; why much of the criticism of schools in the United States has
been misleading and misinformed; why China and other nations in Asia are
actually reforming their systems to be more like their American counterparts; how
globalization and the death of distance are affecting jobs and everyday life; and
how the virtual world is transforming the economic and social landscape in ways
far more profound than many people realize.
The Global Achievement Gap
Wagner, a Harvard education professor, begins by offering his astute assessment
of secondary education in the U.S. today and how it fails to produce graduates
who are ³jury ready´ (i.e., able to analyze an argument, weigh evidence, and
detect bias). He then presents a concise manifesto for the steps needed to
³reinvent the education profession.´ His thesis revolves around ³Seven Survival
skills´²the core competencies he deems necessary for success both in college
and in the twenty-first-century workforce. These encompass problem solving and
critical thinking, collaboration across networks, adaptability, initiative, effective oral
and written communication, analyzing information, and developing curiosity and
imagination. Wagner visits a wide spectrum of schools, both public and private,
meets with teachers and administrators, and demonstrates how these survival
skills have been forgotten in the preparation for mandatory tests. He stresses the
importance of being able to analyze new information and apply it to new situations
in the ³global knowledge economy,´ then details the programs, including team
c teaching, at a few innovative schools that are effectively meeting this challenge.c
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