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The School Law Handbook is designed to enable educators to confront such issues with information, insight, and initiative.The issues are organized into five areas: the school environment, Constitutional issues, students, personnel, and accountability. Within each area are several chapters, each beginning with a realistic scenario followed by legal and practical analyses of the situation. Kate R. Kaminski is an attorney in the field of education law and the Director of Legal and Policy Services for the Virginia School Boards Association. Richard S. Vacca is Professor Emeritus and Senior Fellow of the Commonwealth Educational Policy Institute at Virginia Commonwealth University.

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Walk into any school in America and you will see adults who care deeply about their students and are doing the best they can every day to help students learn. But you will also see a high degree of variability among classrooms much higher than in most other industrialized countries. Today we are asking schools to do something they have never done before educate all students to high levels yet we don't know how to do that in every classroom for every child. This book is intended to help education leaders and practitioners develop a shared understanding of what high-quality instruction looks like and what schools and districts need to do to support it. Inspired by the medical rounds model used by physicians, the authors have pioneered a new form of professional learning known as instructional rounds networks. Through this process, educators develop a shared practice of observing, discussing, and analyzing learning and teaching.

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Just as culture is critical to understanding the dynamics behind any thriving community, organization, or business, the daily realities and deep structure of school life hold the key to educational success. Reforms that strive for educational excellence are likely to fail unless they are meaningfully linked to the school's unique culture. In Shaping School Culture, Terrence E. Deal and Kent D. Peterson show how leaders can harness the power of school culture to build a lively, cooperative spirit and a sense of school identity. Shaping School Culture provides an action blueprint for school leaders committed to transforming their schools for success.

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World-renowned Stanford University psychologist Carol Dweck, in decades of research on achievement and success, has discovered a truly groundbreaking idea–the power of our mindset. Dweck explains why it’s not just our abilities and talent that bring us success–but whether we approach them with a fixed or growth mindset. She makes clear why praising intelligence and ability doesn’t foster self-esteem and lead to accomplishment, but may actually jeopardize success. With the right mindset, we can motivate our kids and help them to raise their grades, as well as reach our own goals–personal and professional. Dweck reveals what all great parents, teachers, CEOs, and athletes already know: how a simple idea about the brain can create a love of learning and a resilience that is the basis of great accomplishment in every area.

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A non-technical, non-intimidating look at legislation and cases that apply to the experience and daily life of teachers and students in schools. Clearly written and useful to both teachers and school administrators, this text focuses on legal issues reflecting national trends most important to educators today. The authors designed the text to help school professionals avoid unnecessary litigation by educating them about their legal rights and responsibilities and how and why the courts decided the way they did. This up-to-date presentation is technically accurate yet presented in ordinary language that non-lawyers can understand. Guiding legal principles are developed by examining actual current cases, and the question-and-answer format enables students to contextualize legal issues within the school environment.

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"In Leading in a Culture of Change, Michael Fullan deftly combines his expertise in school reform with the latest insights in organizational change and leadership. The result is a compelling and insightful exposition on how leaders in any setting can bring about lasting, positive, systemic change in their organizations."—John Alexander, president, Center for Creative Leadership
"Michael Fullan's work is remarkable. He masterfully captures how leaders can significantly improve their learning and performance, even in the uncontrollable, chaotic circumstances in which they practice. A tour de force." —Anthony Alvarado, chancellor of instruction, San Diego City Schools
 

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When Michael Fullan published the first edition of this seminal work in 1982, he revolutionized the theory and practice of education reform. Now, a quarter of a century later, his new fourth edition promises to be equally influential for radical reform in the 21st century. Capturing the dilemmas and leading ideas for successful large-scale systemic reform, Fullan bases his text on practical and fundamental work with education systems in several countries. The New Meaning of Educational Change is your definitive compendium to all aspects of the management of educational change-a powerful resource for everyone involved in school reform.

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An excellent 'how-to-do-it book' for educators in schools and school districts who are involved in or about to begin major school-based reforms? Thomas W. Payzant, superintandent of schools, San Diego, California. Renewing America's Schools raises the most fundamental questions about the purpose of public education, the role of schools, and the needed school-based application to fulfill the promise of education in a democratic society. This is a book that shows teachers, principals, students, parents, central office personnel, school boards, and community members exactly what they need to do to create schools that are purposeful, moral, and successful places. A down-to-earth and provocative look at the school reform movement, Renewing America's Schools keeps the focus of renewal squarely on teaching and learning concerns.

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This ground-breaking text in instructional leadership and supervision continues to challenge and reshape the conventional purposes, practices, structure, and language of supervision. The text's emphasis on school culture, teachers as adult learners, developmental leadership, democratic education, and collegial supervision has helped redefine the meaning of supervision and instructional leadership for both scholars and practitioners. This Seventh Edition continues the book's trend-setting tradition by placing instructional leadership and school improvement within a community and societal context; providing new examples of direct assistance, professional development, and action research; and presenting an entire new chapter, "Supervision for What? Democracy and the Good School." Building on the success of previous editions, the Seventh Edition addresses hot issues such as school improvement, constructivist teaching, professional development, Chaos Theory, and state-mandated standards. This is a resource that students purchase, use in class, and reference throughout their careers as education leaders.

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In this latest and most important collaboration, renowned educators Andy Hargreaves and Michael Fullan set out a groundbreaking new agenda to transform the future of teaching and public education. Ideas-driven, evidence-based, and strategically powerful, Professional Capital combats the tired arguments and stereotypes of teachers and teaching It includes action guidelines for classroom teachers, administrators, schools and districts, and state and federal leaders. This is a book that no one connected with schools can afford to ignore.''Transforming education is one of the signature challenges of our times. Professional Capital sets out exactly and undeniably why the only way to do it is to honor and improve the profession of teaching. Written by two of the sharpest educational thinkers in the world, Professional Capital is an incisive critique of the failing reform movements in many countries and a powerful manifesto for the only strategy that can and does work. This book should revolutionize how policymakers and practitioners alike think and act in education. The price of failure is more than they or our children can afford.''—Sir Ken Robinson, educator, author

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Why does successful, enduring change beyond a few isolated schools continue to elude us? The fundamental problem, says editor Hargreaves, is that educational change is more complex and controversial than the change literature has recognized. In this book, Hargreaves and the other contributors move the dialogue about change beyond the technical aspects to three essential areas of teaching, learning, and leadership that have received only limited attention: the passion, purpose, and politics of change. Each chapter looks realistically but also optimistically at many of the complexities of change. In the first chapter, editor Hargreaves discusses the need for greater depth and breadth in our educational change efforts. In the next few chapters, authors explore the vital role of parents and communities in educational change efforts. Subsequent chapters stress the value of involving students in school improvement; suggest practical ideas for managing time differently; and discuss the importance of clear, measurable goals. Other authors look at alternative assessment practices, with a corresponding view of accountability.

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Rick Hess aptly describes his aims at the start of this provocative book: 'I believe that two things are true. It is true, as would-be reformers often argue, that statutes, policies, rules, regulations, contracts, and case law make it tougher than it should be for school and system leaders to drive improvement and, well, lead. However, it is also the case that leaders have far more freedom to transform, reimagine, and invigorate teaching, learning, and schooling than is widely believed.' In his travels across the country, Hess has met school and system leaders who have shared stories about evading, blasting through, or reshaping unnecessary and counterproductive constraints. Drawing on these stories and with his sharp eye, Hess shows current and aspiring leaders how they can cultivate and sustain powerful cultures of teaching and learning.A practical and entertaining volume, Cage-Busting Leadership will be of profound interest and value to school and district leaders and to everyone with a stake in school improvement.

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This book offers numerous strategies and case studies that illustrate how to invest in teacher quality and improve learning environments through creative allocation of existing resources.

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Applications-oriented with a strong research base this text "demystifies" leadership. Integrates cross-cultural, racial, and gender-based analyses of leadership. Ahavandi’s text has an application emphasis with a cross cultural perspective on leadership.

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Open Space Technology: A User's Guide is just what the name implies: a hands-on, detailed description of facilitating Open Space Technology (OST). Written by the originator of the method - an effective, economical, fast, and easily-repeatable strategy for organizing meetings of between 5 and 1,000 participants - this is the first book to document the rationale, procedures, and requirements of OST. OST enables self-organizing groups of all sizes to deal with hugely complex issues in a very short period of time. This practical, step-by-step user's guide details what needs to be done before, during, and after an Open Space event.

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Although there has been a great deal of impassioned debate over the sad state of American education today, surprisingly little attention has been paid to how children actually learn to think. But, as David Perkins demonstates, we cannot solve our problems in this area simply by redistributing power or by asking children to regurgitate facts on a multiple choice exam. Rather we must ask what kinds of knowledge students typically acquire in school. In "Smart Schools, " Perkins draws on over twenty years of research to reveal the common misguided strategies students use in trying to understand a topic, and then shows teachers and parents what strategies they can use with children to increase real understanding.

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Based on The Skillful Teacher framework, this book is targeted to evaluators and supervisors who want a field-tested tool kit of strategies to improve, rather than remove, underperforming teachers. The text includes valuable legal notes and a model contract, case studies, assessment tools, and personal accounts of leaders in action.

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An MIT Professor's pathbreaking book on building  "learning organizations" — corporations that  overcome inherent obstacles to learning and  develop dynamic ways to pinpoint the threats that face  them and to recognize new opportunities. Not only  is the learning organization a new source of  competitive advantage, it also offers a marvelously  empowering approach to work, one which promises that,  as Archimedes put it, "with a lever long  enough... single-handed I can move the world."

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This scholarly new book explores leadership as it relates to today's trends toward school restructuring and the creation of environments that are empowering for both teachers and their students. KEY TOPICS: Uniquely based on two studies of leadership in schools, the book presents an historical view of restructuring as a context for understanding the findings of actual in-school research conducted in twenty-six schools over a six year period.

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George Theohar is draws on the experiences and words of successful public school principals committed to advancing equity, social justice, and school reform to show why social justice leadership is needed and how it can be effective. Although facing tremendous barriers, these principals made important strides toward closing the achievement gap in their schools through the use of humane and equitable practices. Featuring a mix of theory and practical strategies, this timely book portrays how real school leaders seek, create, and sustain equitable schools, especially for marginalized students.

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This book serves as a guided introduction to the richly diverse perspectives on leadership throughout the ages and throughout the world. Each of the selections, introduced by the editor, presents enlightening thoughts on a different aspect of leadership. Writings by Plato, Aristotle, Lao-tzu and others demonstrate that the challenges of leadership are as old as civilization. Machiavelli, Tolstoy, Ghandi, and W.E.B. Du Bois provide a wide range of insights into the eternal practice and problems of leadership. Modern masters of leadership such as James MacGregor Burns, John Kotter, and Warren Bennis join such leading practitioners as Max De Pree and Roger B. Smith in discussing contemporary issues in leadership theory and practice.