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Focusing on the ways in which leadership can be fostered and enhanced, this text argues that teacher leadership is an instrinsic and important part of school and classroom improvement, as well as considering the roles, responsibilities and influences of teachers who lead.
Improving Schools: Studies in Leadership and Culture is the seventh in a series on research and theory dedicated to advancing our understanding of schools through empirical study and theoretical analysis. This book is organized around two broad concepts—leadership and culture, which have important implications for improving schools. The book begins with an analysis of the saliency of trust in the culture of schools. In the first chapter, Patrick Forsythís review of the consequences of school trust sets the tone for seeking and developing school cultures that enhance high academic performance of students. The investigation of school trust is traced over several decades at four research universities as scholars at each institution conceptualized, refined, and examined the consequences of school trust. It seems fair to conclude that a school culture that is anchored in values and norms of faculty trusting students and parents facilitates high academic achievement and positive outcomes.
It is easy to underestimate the impact that school organisation has on the behaviour, effectiveness, engagement and creativity of the teachers, staff and students who work within it. It also has a marked effect on the well-being of staff members, and how families and the community relate to the school. Attempts to improve school organisation are often short term "initiatives" that only cover only one or two aspects of what it takes to organise a school effectively. Improving Schools Using Systems Leadership, in contrast, provides those involved in the design and delivery of educational services with a coherent and easy-to-follow framework to help run an effective organisation. Based on theory, real data on education improvements at school and regional level, and case studies, this book demonstrates how Systems Leadership can be used to improve school organisation. It integrates models of leadership, teamwork, capability, structure and systems to help make them more effective in improving the learning outcomes of students and also sustain this improvement over time. This book explains how Systems Leadership can and has been applied in schools to bring clarity to the purpose, structure and systems within a school and have a major impact on its success. As such, it is an essential text for school leaders and managers looking for practical tools to help improve the working lives of the people within their organisation, and hence their effectiveness.
Leading for Instructional Improvement Educational experts agree that quality teaching is the single most important factor in improving educational outcomes for all students. Teaching is a highly sophisticated and complex endeavor requiring deep expertise on the part of teachers and school leaders. This book shows how teacher, school, and district leaders can cultivate the expertise of teachers to deliver high quality instruction for all students. Leading for Instructional Improvement captures the nationally acclaimed work conducted by the Center for Educational Leadership at the University of Washington in its effort to improve the quality of teaching and leadership in schools across the country. The book provides extensive practical guidance grounded in theory and research, along with powerful stories and examples from classrooms, schools, and districts. Many of the tools, protocols, and frameworks contained in this book can be accessed electronically by visiting the Center for Educational Leadership website at www.k-12leadership.org. Praise for Leading for Instructional Improvement "This book offers insights that are invaluable to educators who seek to enhance teacher effectiveness now. The ideas presented are practical and applicable to schools in a variety of settings." PEDRO A. NOGUERA, Ph.D., Peter L. Agnew Professor of Education, Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Development and executive director, Metropolitan Center for Urban Education "A deep and thoughtful look at how the issue of expertise is cultivated. Seizing upon their Center's research-based instructional framework, the authors provide important insights and tools." DR. BEVERLY HALL, superintendent, Atlanta Public Schools "In this age of intense focus on how we evaluate teachers, we have to remember that any evaluation is only as good as the evaluator. This extremely useful book provides an excellent roadmap for how principals can become more effective in the most important aspect of their work, instructional leadership." JERRY D. WEAST, Ed.D., superintendent of schools, Montgomery County Public Schools, Maryland "Fink and Markholt offer practitioners a guide to effective teaching. Leading for Instructional Improvement asks us to heed the lessons within and support the kind of teacher education that will improve student achievement for today's schools and those of tomorrow." BARNETT BERRY, president, Center for Teaching Quality
Interest in and knowledge of leadership and learning, separately and together, is an international and continuing phenomenon. This book adds to a somewhat under-researched aspect of the field. It focuses both on a particular form of leadership – teacher leadership, and on a particular form of learning – professional development. It considers the connection between teacher leadership and professional development and the first chapter relates this connection to a ‘Leadership for Learning’ conceptual framework, developed through an international, three-year project. The book’s chapters explore teacher leadership and professional development from a number of perspectives, giving rise to three points of particular significance. Firstly the chapters show that, either by accident or design, there is a growing cadre of teacher leaders emerging from a multitude of professional development activities and initiatives. Secondly, a number of new conceptual frameworks are put forward, alongside the adaption and development of extant ones that add to the ever-increasing theorisation of educational leadership and professional development literature. Thirdly, the chapters provide evidence of the connections between leadership and learning as conceptualised in the ‘Leadership for Learning’ framework. This book was originally published as a special issue of Professional Development in Education.
In this second edition of Improving Instruction Through Supervision, Evaluation, and Professional Development we’ve maintained the conceptual framework while updating sections to provide the most recent research on instructional strategies that have the most promise of helping all students learn. Modifications of the law resulting from the reauthorization of the 50-year-old Elementary and Secondary Education Act—Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) (2015)—and their implication for practice are embedded throughout this new edition. Updated data collection tools for classroom observations are also provided. We included a link to a website that contains all the observation tools in electronic format so that observers can have the opportunity to collect data on a tablet or laptop, save the observation data as a PDF file and e-mail those data to the teacher observed. This new edition recognizes the reality that all principals are responsible for supervision, evaluation, and professional development of their teachers—tasks that are neither simple nor without conflict. The primary audience of this text is aspiring and practicing principals. We hope to help them understand both the theory and practice of supervision, evaluation, and professional development. However, observing instruction, collecting data for reflection, and having conversations about teaching, are not the sole provinces of principals. Master teachers, teacher leaders, and teacher colleagues can also benefit from the supervisory sections of the book, especially the chapters on high-quality instruction, improving instruction, and the classroom data collecting tools. The book provides numerous tools specifically designed to collect a variety of data in classrooms to improve instruction. Embedded in each chapter are exercises to apply Theory into Practice by responding to a set of questions posed by the key issues of the chapter. After the explication and illustration of the key concepts and principles of the chapter, actual Instructional Leadership Challenges as described by a successful practicing principal for reflection and analysis.
This 10th-anniversary sequel to the authors’ best-selling book Professional Learning Communities at WorkTM: Best Practices for Enhancing Student Achievement merges research, practice, and passion. The most extensive, practical, and authoritative PLC resource to date, it goes further than ever before into best practices for deep implementation, explores the commitment/consensus issue, and celebrates successes of educators who are making the journey.
The book discusses the challenges that teacher leaders face, such as deciding to accept a leadership role, building principal–teacher leader relationships, and working with peers.
"Packed with helpful advice and ideas, this book will help you to participate in your school's improvement by gathering and using evidence from your own classroom experiences to create innovative strategies for positive change."--BOOK JACKET.
Foster reflective teacher leadership and make real change happen! Teachers are powerful change agents in the on-going process of school improvement. This insightful, must-read companion guide to Donohoo’s best-selling Collaborative Inquiry for Educators helps school leaders develop a sustainable professional learning culture. Practical suggestions and in-depth research shed light on your path as you explore the benefits and challenges of adopting authentic teacher collaboration across schools and districts. Learn valuable lessons from leaders in the field and discover: A rationale and framework for engaging in inquiry The vital conditions needed to ensure systemwide collaboration Common pitfalls and the four stages of school improvement
