Dissertation Abstracts International


Book Description

Abstracts of dissertations available on microfilm or as xerographic reproductions.













School, Family, and Community Partnerships


Book Description

Strengthen programs of family and community engagement to promote equity and increase student success! When schools, families, and communities collaborate and share responsibility for students′ education, more students succeed in school. Based on 30 years of research and fieldwork, the fourth edition of the bestseller School, Family, and Community Partnerships: Your Handbook for Action, presents tools and guidelines to help develop more effective and more equitable programs of family and community engagement. Written by a team of well-known experts, it provides a theory and framework of six types of involvement for action; up-to-date research on school, family, and community collaboration; and new materials for professional development and on-going technical assistance. Readers also will find: Examples of best practices on the six types of involvement from preschools, and elementary, middle, and high schools Checklists, templates, and evaluations to plan goal-linked partnership programs and assess progress CD-ROM with slides and notes for two presentations: A new awareness session to orient colleagues on the major components of a research-based partnership program, and a full One-Day Team Training Workshop to prepare school teams to develop their partnership programs. As a foundational text, this handbook demonstrates a proven approach to implement and sustain inclusive, goal-linked programs of partnership. It shows how a good partnership program is an essential component of good school organization and school improvement for student success. This book will help every district and all schools strengthen and continually improve their programs of family and community engagement.




District Leadership That Works


Book Description

Bridge the great divide between distanced administrative duties and daily classroom impact. This book introduces a top-down power mechanism called defined autonomy, a concept that focuses on district-defined, nonnegotiable, common goals and a system of accountability supported by assessment tools. Defined autonomy creates an effective balance of centralized direction and individualized empowerment that allows building-level staff the stylistic freedom to respond quickly and effectively to student failure.










Schools of Thought


Book Description

As a result of his visits to classrooms across the nation, Brown has compiled an engaging, thought-provoking collection of classroom vignettes which show the ways in which national, state, and local school politics translate into changed classroom practices. "Captures the breadth, depth, and urgency of education reform".--Bill Clinton.




The Managerial Imperative and the Practice of Leadership in Schools


Book Description

With this significant new work, Larry Cuban provides a unique and insightful perspective on the bridging of the long-standing and well-known gap between teachers and administrators. Drawing on the literature of the field as well as personal experience, Cuban recognizes the enduring structural relationship within school organizations inherited by teachers, principals, and superintendents, and calls for a renewal of their sense of common purpose regarding the role of schooling in a democratic society. Cuban analyzes the dominant images (moral and technical), roles (instructional, managerial, and political), and contexts (classroom, school, and district) within which teachers, principals, and superintendents have worked over the last century. He concludes that when these powerful images and roles are wedded to the structural conditions in which schooling occurs, "managerial behavior" results, thus narrowing the potential for more thoughtful, effective, and appropriate leadership. Cuban then turns to consider this situation with respect to the contemporary movement for school reform, identifying significant concerns both for policymakers and practitioners. This honest, thought-provoking book by a leading scholar, writer, and practitioner in the field represents an invaluable resource—an insightful introduction for those just entering the field and a fresh, new perspective for those long-familiar with its complexities. Cuban's ethnographic approach to the development of his own career and viewpoint, as well as his highly readable style, make this a work of lasting value.