The School Leader's Guide to Professional Learning Communities at Work TM


Book Description

Are you a K–8 principal ready to implement the PLC at WorkTM process? Two experienced practitioners show you how to explore the critical components needed to lay the foundation of a PLC, including how to develop a structure that supports collaborative teams, how to focus on effective monitoring strategies, how to reflect on your communication effectiveness, and more.




A School Leader's Guide to Excellence


Book Description

"The first priority for school leaders is to understand that problems cannot define a vision nor become its end point. Instead, they are opportunities to include stakeholders in formulating the vision." - Carmen Farina and Laura Kotch This updated edition of A School Leader's Guide to Excellence models exactly how current Chancellor of New York City Public Schools, Carmen Farina, and former Executive Director of Professional Development for the New York City Department of Education, Laura Kotch, transform struggling schools and make good schools great. Carmen and Laura "believe that conversations and collaboration work better than competition and isolation, and that excellence can be shared and replicated. The building blocks of what works well in one classroom or school can be exported to build consistency and community across classrooms and schools." Their plan shows precisely how to envision success and share your plan, collaborate inside your building and outside it to build the momentum for change then focus everyone's energy toward accomplishing even your highest goals.




A School Leader's Guide to Leading Professional Development


Book Description

Continuing professional development can be a powerful force in any school improvement programme, leading to better student outcomes and making recruitment and staff retention easier. A School Leader’s Guide to Leading Professional Development provides an effective and evidence-based approach to creating a culture of continuous learning in schools. Covering all aspects of CPD including teacher quality, what CPD looks like and how it should develop over time, creating an inspirational culture, CPD design, coaching, and much more, the chapters encourage readers to reflect on how they are currently using CPD and how this could be improved. Appendices provide templates and charts to use in the planning of CPD sessions, as well as questions to guide sessions and evaluations with participants on an individual and whole-school level. Based on the author's experience of implementing CPD programmes as a school leader, well-regarded trainer, and now the head of a leading international educational consultancy, this is essential reading for school leaders wanting to create a ‘culture of learning’ in their school and among their teachers.




Leading for Powerful Learning


Book Description

Supporting teacher learning is a complicated and challenging task. This much-awaited book offers a practical, research-based framework for thinking about instructional leadership, along with the necessary resources and tools for improving practice. The authors identify specific structures, formats, and strategies that an instructional leader can use to support new and veteran principals and teacher leaders. They then discuss ways to think about which structures are most appropriate for particular settings, offering suggestions on the most effective way to work with these structures. This unique book combines theory with best practices to create a vision of how 21st-century instructional leaders can improve education for all students. This practical book: Describes a unique, adult learning framework.Includes a variety of tools and protocols that leaders can use to support teacher learning in schools, districts, departments, and teams.Offers instructional leaders both theory and practice-the what to do and also the why and how.Addresses a broad spectrum of instructional leaders at the district, school, and university level. “Students everywhere deserve teachers and administrators who have read this book, and who enact the ideas in it. It is a must read for principals, district level administrators, teacher leaders, instructional coaches and mentors - anyone charged with leading the learning of adults in their schools.” —Gene Thompson-Grove, Educational Consultant and Board Member, SchoolReform Initiative “Leading for Powerful Learning is the book every school leader needs. It provides the essential tools for carrying out what is arguably the school leader's most difficult task: supporting the learning of the teachers with whom they work. The authors’ insights and practical wisdom, drawn from their decades of experience in schools, will be useful not only to formal school leaders but to those serving as leaders in more informal ways.” —Tina Blythe, Harvard Graduate School of Education




Building Strong School Cultures


Book Description

"Standing on the back of their groundbreaking research on school culture, Kruse and Seashore Louis provide an insightful and very practical guide that should be a must-read for anyone preparing to become a school leader." —Kenneth Leithwood, Professor OISE/University of Toronto "A manageable, well-rehearsed plan for discussion, research, and lots of reflective thought for any school leader willing to develop their own leadership and the culture in which they desire to lead." —Teresa P. Cunningham, Principal Laurel Elementary School, TN Develop an integrated school culture that engages educators with their colleagues and communities! As a principal, you realize that effecting positive, long-lasting change requires support both within your school and in the wider community. This practical handbook shows school leaders how to build a climate of collaboration with staff, teachers, and parents as well as how to develop connections with foundations, business groups, social service providers, and government agencies. Sharon D. Kruse and Karen Seashore Louis call on principals to create a viable, sustainable school culture using organizational learning and trust to involve the professional community and to affect teaching and learning. This addition to the Leadership for Learning series presents a leadership approach that integrates teachers, parents, and community members into a coherent team. The authors examine schools that have achieved lasting cultural change and present practical strategies for: Diagnosing and shaping a school culture Revising leadership functions to broaden decision-making processes Rethinking organizational structures Supporting continuous improvement while ensuring stability Building Strong School Cultures draws from business and psychology research on motivating and organizing people to provide school leaders with the skills they need to promote effective change.




Leverage Leadership


Book Description

Paul Bambrick-Santoyo (Managing Director of Uncommon Schools) shows leaders how they can raise their schools to greatness by following a core set of principles. These seven principles, or "levers," allow for consistent, transformational, and replicable growth. With intentional focus on these areas, leaders will leverage much more learning from the same amount of time investment. Fundamentally, each of these seven levers answers the core questions of school leadership: What should an effective leader do, and how and when should they do it. Aimed at all levels of school leadership, the book is for any principal, superintendent, or educator who wants to be a transformational leader. The book includes 30 video clips of top-tier leaders in action. These videos bring great schools to you, and support a deeper understanding of both the components of success and how it looks as a whole. There are also many helpful rubrics, extensive professional development tools, calendars, and templates. Explores the core principles of effective leadership Author's charter school, North Star Academy in Newark, New Jersey, received the highest possible award given by the U.S. Department of Education; the National Blue Ribbon Print version includes an instructive DVD with 30 video clips to show how it looks in real life. E-book customers: please note that details on how to access the content from the DVD may be found in the e-book Table of Contents. Please see the section: "How to Access DVD Contents" Bambrick-Santoyo has trained more than 1,800 school leaders nationwide in his work at Uncommon Schools and is a recognized expert on transforming schools to achieve extraordinary results.




The School Leadership Playbook


Book Description

A proven framework for whole-school improvement The School Leadership Playbook is a practical guide foreducation leaders looking to push their school's and students'achievement to the next level. Developed by renowned leadershippreparation program New Leaders, the Transformational LeadershipFramework focuses on the five categories that drive a school'ssuccess: Learning and Teaching, School Culture, Talent Management,Operations and Systems, and Personal Leadership. This bookillustrates how each of these factors contributes to breakthroughgains, and outlines a plan for implementing changes in your ownschool. You'll learn how to accurately diagnose the current stateof your school's academics and culture and create an action planfor the year ahead. The TLF is grounded in the latest research andcase studies of the highest-gaining turnaround schools, and showsyou the specific actions you can take to attract, retain, andsupport high-performing teachers; improve school culture;successfully involve parents and the community; and ultimatelydrive student success. New Leaders developed the UEF to pinpoint what schools achievingsignificant student academic gains were doing, and how they weredoing it. This book provides a practical breakdown of the frameworkto help you begin leading these changes in your own school. Ensure rigorous goal- and data-driven teaching andlearning Build and manage a high-performance faculty aligned to theschool's vision Implement effective and efficient operations and systems Model the tone you would like to see from students and teachersschool-wide By matching the needs of the school to effective principalactions and school practices, leaders can create a plan fortransformational change.




The Leader's Guide to 21st Century Education


Book Description

"Educational leaders are empowered by a 7-steps framework to move their schools and districts forward in a quest to create community consensus and build the professional capacity for preparing students for 21st century learning."--Book cover.




Reframing the Path to School Leadership


Book Description

This book uses a series of dialogues between a novice and a master teacher, and between a new and seasoned principal to view common challenges and to solve their most difficult problems. The authors demonstrate how framing, and then reframing challenges brings clarity, helps to anticipate problems, and leads to more comprehensive and powerful leadership strategies.




Every Teacher a Leader


Book Description

Discover the secrets of successful teacher leadership! Whether you’re a teacher who’s ready to take on new roles or an administrator looking to develop strong leaders, this content-driven handbook is here to help you make distributed school leadership a reality. Inside you’ll find specific how-tos for the essential skills teacher leaders need most: running meetings, teaching colleagues, providing feedback, conducting needs assessments, delivering effective professional development, resolving conflicts, employing technology, and more. The book features: Well-tested content and activities Reflective writing prompts Scenarios for discussion Self-evaluations Two companion guides: one for teachers, and one for administrators