Successful School Leadership: Planning, Politics, Performance, and Power (Peabody College Education Leadership Series)

The introductory volume in the Peabody Educational Leadership Series, Successful School Leadesrhip provides readers with a solid overview of the primary topics that current and aspiring leaders will be faced with when making decisions regarding education organizations. Blending leadership theory and practice, this foundational leadership text provides cutting edge content in each of the key domains of responsibility facing current and aspiring school leaders while weaving case studies, current media articles, and reflection point into each chapter to enhance student synthesis and application.

 

The book is divided into four frames of reference for optimal learning: Planning, Politics, Performance, and Power — the functions with which educational leaders must continually grapple. In each section, readers are presented with information about what school leaders need to know to successfully surmount the modern challenges to education and instruction.

 

Section one provides a foundation for the book by discussing the evolving context of educational leadership and proposes a strategic orientation to leading educational organizations through continual cycles of appraisal, analysis and action.  Section two delves into the important issues of governance, politics, finance and law as major contributors to the context of education, and as levers by which school leaders can shape institutions. Section three explores the various ways in which school leaders can assess and enhance the performance of their schools and educational organizations. The final section of text provides students with information about educational leader strategies in the development of people, partnering with communities, and uses of power, while the final two chapters give practical insights into the preparation for practicing strategic education leadership.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

 

FOREWORD

 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

 

ELCC MATRIX

 

SECTION I: PLANNING FOR CHANGE

Understanding Strategic Leadership

 

CHAPTER ONE — The Evolving Context of Education Leadership

Looking Back: A Historical Note

Leadership’s Contemporary Societal Context: Illustrating Unceasing Change

Evolving Contextual Details

Strategic Leadership: What It is and Why It is Now Needed

What A Strategic Leader is Not

 

CHAPTER TWO - Strategic Leadership in an Organizational Context

Theoretical Views of Organizations and Their Import for a Strategic Leader

Leadership Theories and Styles

The Idea of Strategic Leadership

Educational Leadership in a Changing Societal and Organizational Paradigm

Combining Appraisal and Action

 

CHAPTER THREE — Strategic Planning

Planning Operational Details

What is Strategic Planning?

The Impact of Politics on Goal Setting and Strategic Planning

Key Considerations in the Planning Process

 

SECTION II: POLITICS

Policy Knowledge Needed by Strategic Leaders

 

CHAPTER FOUR - Governance

The Seemingly Seamless Spectrum of Schooling Stakeholders

The Scale and Scope of United States Schooling

Constitutional Underpinnings of Education’s Complexity and Diversity

Informal Centralization

The Structure of States for Governing Education

General Government and Education

 

CHAPTER FIVE: Politics, Policy and Policy Issues

Illustrating How Policy Matters for Education Leaders

Explaining the Formation of Policy

Policy, Public Policy, Education Policy, and a Policy System Paradigm

Cultures of Policy

Inside the “Modern” Education Reform Policy Paradigm

 

CHAPTER SIX: Finance

Providing Strategic Leaders with the Finance Knowledge They Need

A Historical Sketch of the United States Education Finance Context

Education Finance Magnitude

Generating and Distributing State and Federal Education Revenues

Allocating Resources Productively Within an Education Organization

What is Wrong with This (Financial) Picture?

The Likely Future Context of Education Finance

 

CHAPTER SEVEN: Law

Conventions, Constitutions, Cases, Courtrooms, and Classrooms

Protecting (and Sometimes Restricting) Students’ Rights

Protecting (and Sometimes Restricting) Employee Rights

 

SECTION III: PERFORMANCE

What a Strategic Leader Needs to Know Regarding Knowing

 

CHAPTER EIGHT: Learning

The Importance of Instructional Time

The Significance of Specifying What is to be Learned

Instructional Program Alignment

Learning Theories

Dimensions of Knowledge

The Implication of Learning Theory for Learning Environments

What Do We Expect Students to Be Able to Do with What They Learn?

How Can Students Be Motivated to Learn?

What is the Role of the Teacher in the Learning Process?

Cultural Diversity and Instructional Environments

 

CHAPTER NINE: Programs

Forces Influencing School Programs in the United States

Perspectives on Assessing the Quality and Alignment of State Standards

Approaches to Enhancing School Programs

The Intersection of K-12 Programs and Post-Secondary Education

 

CHAPTER TEN: Performance

Assessing the Performance of Students

Assessment of Leadership Performance

Assessing School Performance

Value-Added Performance Measures

Performance-Based Compensation Systems

National and International Assessments of Education Performance

 

CHAPTER ELEVEN: Problem Solving

Strategic Approaches to Decision Making in Education

Systematic Collection and Use of School Data

Analyzing Data Integral to School Effectiveness

Analyzing Data Integral to School Efficiency

 

SECTION IV: POWER

The Application of Strategic Leadership

 

CHAPTER TWELVE: Power

Decision Making and Implementation

Important Definitions and Distinctions

 

CHAPTER THIRTEEN: People

People and School Success

Profiling America’s Educators

Compensating America’s Educators

Compensation Reform Possibilities

Selecting Teachers, Administrators, and Others

Professional Development

Assessing Teacher Performances

Motivating Personnel Productively

 

CHAPTER FOURTEEN: Partnering Schools with Parents and Communities

Theoretical and Empirical Research Considerations

Strategically Linking Family and Community to Student Performance

Collecting Data on Community Involvement

Developing Strategic Community Partnerships

 

CHAPTER FIFTEEN: Practicing Strategic Leadership

Shaping One’s Leadership Style

Constructing Professional Philosophies

Setting Performance Priorities

Communicating Purposes, Creating Impressions, Confronting Conflict

Leader Ethics and Consistent Behavior

The Unsung Significance of Predictable Leader Behavior

 

CHAPTER SIXTEEN: Preparing to be a Strategic Education Leader

The Positive Trajectory of Education Leadership as a Profession

Multiple Challenges of 21^st Century Education Leadership

The Path to Leadership is Evolving

The Large Demand for Leaders, and New Leaders, in Education

Leading Learning and Implementing Policy: The New Professional Practitioner Paradigm

Career Preparation Changes Necessitated by Strategic Leadership

Education Leader Remuneration

Paths to Professional Leadership Positions

 

SIGNIFICANT COURT DECISIONS AND FEDERAL LEGISLATION

BIBLIOGRAPHY

GLOSSARY

INDEX