Book Description

This book established a plan for creating a truly integrated educational system, one that unifies the separate and parallel systems of special and general education. Chapter 1, "Students at the Margins," explores the dual tragedy of discouraged and disinterested students and presents eight essential questions guiding a unified system of leadership. Chapter 2, "Reconceiving the Purposes of Schooling," urges adoption of a differentiated approach, drawing on the continuum-of-services, inclusive-school, and learner-centered school models for educating students with disabilities. Chapter 3, "A Transformational Leadership Strategy: Complex Adaptive Systems," examines the linked attributes of interrelationships, diversity, nonlinearity, self-organization, and attractors, which leaders must appreciate to "reculture" schools as learner-centered environments. Chapter 4, "Incentives as Attractors: Why Things Remain the Same and How To Change Them," analyzes the role of incentives in driving change in five districts. Chapter 5, "The Transformation to Learner-Centered," explores the transformative roles of principals, teachers, and staff through the metaphor of schools as playhouses. Chapter 6, "The New Work of Leadership in Unified Schools," uses a systems-oriented perspective to evaluate leadership promoting learner-centered schools. Chapter 7, "Organizing for Instruction in Unified Schools," considers new ways of thinking required for democratic schooling. Chapter 8, "Delivering Instruction in Unified Schools," offers a vision of unified schools that meets the academic, social, and emotional needs of all students. Chapter 9, "Thinking Differently about Evaluation: Moving beyond the Paradox," reconsiders evaluation processes given the importance of reflective practice and making decisions using sound data. Chapter 10, "A Reflection on Leadership: Local Leadership Counts," synthesizes different approaches to educational leadership to offer a new framework for educational administration that views principals as public intellectuals. (Includes Appendix A, "Case Studies of Special Education Leadership and Programs and Services," and Appendix B, "Program Evaluation Self Study Guide: Leading School systems, Program Components, and/or School-Site Appraisal Efforts." Contains more than 150 references.) (TEJ)