School and District Leadership in an Era of Accountability - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook School and District Leadership in an Era of Accountability write by Bruce G. Barnett. This book was released on 2013-09-01. School and District Leadership in an Era of Accountability available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Our fourth book in the International Research on School Leadership series focuses on school leadership in an era of high stakes accountability. Fueled by sweeping federal education accountability reforms, such as the United States’ No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and Race to the Top (R2T) and Australia’s Performance Measurement and Reporting Taskforce, school systems around the world are being forced to increase academic standards, participate in high-stakes testing, and raise evaluation standards for teachers and principals. These results-driven reforms are intended to hold educators “accountable for student learning and accountable to the public” (Anderson, 2005, p. 2, emphasis in original). While policymakers and the public debate the merits of student achievement accountability measures, P-12 educational leaders do not have the luxury to wait for clear guidance and resources to improve their schools and operating systems. Instead, successful leaders must balance the need to create learning communities, manage the organizational climate, and encourage community involvement with the consequences testing has on teacher morale and public scrutiny. The chapters in this volume clearly indicate that as school leaders attend to these potentially competing forces, this affects their problem-solving strategies, ability to facilitate change, and encourage community involvement. We were delighted with the responses from colleagues around the world who were eager to share their research dealing with how leaders are functioning effectively within a high-accountability environment. The nine chapters in this volume provide empirical evidence of the strategies school leaders use to cope with problems and negotiate external demands while improving student performance. In particular, the voices and actions of principals, superintendents, and school board members are captured in a blend of quantitative and qualitative studies. The breadth of studies is impressive, ranging from case studies of individual principals to cross-district comparisons to national data from the National Center for Education Statistics. To highlight important findings, we have organized the book into five sections. The first section (Chapters 2, 3, and 4) highlights the problem-solving strategies used by principals and superintendents when pressured to turn around low-performing schools. In the second section (Chapters 5 and 6), attention is devoted to ways in which school leaders act as “buffers” by reducing the impact of external demands within their local school contexts. Next, Chapters 7 and 8 explore creative ways in which financial analyses can be used to assess the cost effectiveness of programs and services. Chapters 9 and 10 examine how principals enact their instructional leadership roles in managing curriculum reforms and evaluating teachers. Finally, in the last section (Chapter 11), Kenneth Leithwood synthesizes the major themes and ideas emerging across these chapters, paying particular attention to practical issues influencing school leaders in this era of school reform and accountability as well as promising areas for future research.
Data Leadership for K-12 Schools in a Time of Accountability
Data Leadership for K-12 Schools in a Time of Accountability - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook Data Leadership for K-12 Schools in a Time of Accountability write by Mense, Evan G.. This book was released on 2017-12-15. Data Leadership for K-12 Schools in a Time of Accountability available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. The monitoring of data within educational institutions is essential to ensure the success of its students and faculty. By continually analyzing data, educational leaders can increase quality and productivity in their institutions. Data Leadership for K-12 Schools in a Time of Accountability explores techniques and processes of educational data analysis and its application in developing solutions and systems for instructional concerns and next-generation learning. Providing extensive research covering areas such as data-driven culture, student accountability, and data dissemination, this unique reference is essential for principals, administrators, practitioners, academicians, students, and educational consultants looking to maximize their institution’s performance.
The Principal Challenge
The Principal Challenge - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook The Principal Challenge write by Marc S. Tucker. This book was released on 2003-02-17. The Principal Challenge available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. A Blueprint for Developing Tomorrow's School Leaders Based on two years of research supported by Carnegie Corporation of New York, The Broad Foundation, and the New Schools Venture Fund, The Principal Challenge focuses directly on the causes and cures of the crisis in school leadership. Marc Tucker, Judy Codding, and a stellar list of experts from the United States and abroad paint a revealing portrait of what it means to be a principal now, how and why most graduate schools of education have failed to provide the training principals need, what the military and business sectors do to create and support their leaders and managers, what the state of the art in professional training looks like, what other nations are doing to address this problem, and how to apply the very best practices in the world to solve the crisis in school leadership. This book is honest and hard-hitting. And it offers realistic solutions. Based on the thorough analysis provided by the chapter authors, the editors of The Principal Challenge offer an imaginative proposal for a new kind of institution that will train school principals to be turn-around artists. Drawing on the new forms of executive development programs in our business schools, they propose a similar program for school principals. The approach involves a close collaboration between the new institution and entire school districts, combining face-to-face instruction with web-based delivery. The innovative curriculum they describe, like the best approaches in business and industry, uses carefully developed cases, simulations, games, action projects, seminars and journaling, The editors offer a clear conception of what it might mean to be an instructional leader, a way of thinking about what it takes for a principal to be a strategic thinker, an approach that principals can use to take advantage of the best current thinking on knowledge management and professional development, a conception of the principal as school designer, an emphasis on the use of data to drive planning, and a host of tested ideas that principals can use to lead their schools to better results.
Using Data in Schools to Inform Leadership and Decision Making
Using Data in Schools to Inform Leadership and Decision Making - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook Using Data in Schools to Inform Leadership and Decision Making write by Alex J. Bowers. This book was released on 2014-11-01. Using Data in Schools to Inform Leadership and Decision Making available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Our fifth book in the International Research on School Leadership series focuses on the use of data in schools and districts as useful information for leadership and decision making. Schools are awash in data and information, from test scores, to grades, to discipline reports, and attendance as just a short list of student information sources, while additional streams of data feed into schools and districts from teachers and parents as well as local, regional and national policy levels. To deal with the data, schools have implemented a variety of data practices, from data rooms, to data days, data walks, and data protocols. However, despite the flood of data, successful school leaders are leveraging an analysis of their school’s data as a means to bring about continuous improvement in an effort to improve instruction for all students. Nevertheless, some drown, some swim, while others find success. Our goal in this book volume is to bring together a set of chapters by authors who examine successful data use as it relates to leadership and school improvement. In particular, the chapters in this volume consider important issues in this domain, including: • How educational leaders use data to inform their practice. • What types of data and data analysis are most useful to successful school leaders. • To what extent are data driven and data informed practices helping school leaders positively change instructional practice? • In what ways does good data collection and analysis feed into successful continuous improvement and holistic systems thinking? • How have school leadership practices changed as more data and data analysis techniques have become available? • What are the major obstacles facing school leaders when using data for decision making and how do they overcome them?
The Essential School Board Book
The Essential School Board Book - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook The Essential School Board Book write by Nancy Walser. This book was released on 2009. The Essential School Board Book available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. The Essential School Board Book highlights effective practices that are common to high-functioning boards around the country--boards that are working successfully with their superintendents and communities to improve teaching and learning.
