The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Science of the Learning Organization
© 1990 by Peter Senge
New York: Doubleday

It’s all about learning. Once we stop, we stop growing and we begin the slow process of deterioration. Organizations that promote learning thrive; those that don’t, do so at their peril. Peter Senge wrote “The Fifth Discipline,” a seminal work on learning in organizations, in 1990 and attracted a huge following. He forced us to look at ourselves, at our structures, and at our goals. Much work over the past 17 years – in particular the explosion of work, writing, and activity around professional learning communities – can be traced back to The Fifth Discipline.

The book has five parts. Part 1 begins with a statement of reality – the problem defined. Part 2 introduces to “the fifth discipline” as the cornerstone of the learning organization. Part 3 outlines the four core disciplines in building the learning organization. Part 4 provides prototypes. Part 5 is about the future, (about the unknown-- in 1990).

Early in the book (Parts 1 and 2); Senge frames the problem and the challenge. He introduces us to the five disciplines of the learning organization: systems thinking, personal mastery, mental models, building shared vision, and team learning. He also articulates organizational learning disabilities: I am my position; the enemy is out there, the illusion of taking charge, the fixation with event, the parable of the boiled frog, the delusion of learning from experience, and the myth of the management team. Then he challenges us to focus on the disciplines not the disabilities. He asks are we “prisoners of the system, or prisoners of our own thinking?” He challenges us to “shift our mindsets” and to look at “nature’s templates” and to learn “the art of seeing the forest and the trees.” Thus, he starts with the fifth discipline: systems thinking.

Next, he describes the core disciplines necessary to building the learning organization:

* personal mastery – organizations learn only through individuals who learn. Personal mastery is about many things including personal vision, holding creative tension, commitment to truth, integrating reason and intuition, compassion, and commitment to the whole.

* mental models – affect what we see; they shape our perceptions; they can impede learning or accelerate it. Senge offers these strategies: see planning as learning, create internal boards (focused on learning), encourage reflection and inquiry skills, and make mental models explicit.

* shared vision – is a force of people’s hearts, a force of impressive power. Shared visions create pictures that people throughout the organization carry. Creating and communicating shared vision (collective commitment) is a key discipline.

* team learning – is the process of aligning and developing the capacity of a team to create results together. Team learning has three critical dimensions: thinking insightfully about complex issues, innovative and coordinated action, and clear roles for members on the team. Team learning is about dialogue and discussion, dealing with conflict and defensive routines, and practicing collaboration.

In Part 4, Senge then shares “prototypes” of the disciplines in action. He asks about “openness” or how to end the internal politics and game playing? “How can we achieve control without controlling?” “How can we get back to learning like we did as children – learning by doing?” He tackles the question: “What does it take to lead a learning organization?

This is a large book, not one for the faint of heart. But, this is a book on our must read list for anyone who leads or wants to lead an organization. As leader, you need to be clear about the learning, and ensure structures, values, and actions that demonstrate your commitment to building and preserving a learning organization. You must ensure that people are learning everyday, in every way, from everyone.

NOTE: Senge wrote two other books: The Dance of Change: The Challenges of Sustaining Momentum in Learning Organizations and Schools That Learn. There is also a wonderful website where a “learning organization” network continues to with people around the world. The website www.solonline.org picks up where Sense’s work at MIT from 1991-1997 left off.

Corporate Cultures: The Rites and Rituals of Corporate Life
© 1982, 2000 by Terrence Deal and Allen Kennedy
Reading Massachusetts: Addiso-Wesley Publishing Company Inc.

This is an old book, but a good one. It was a must read in 1982 and is a must read in 2007. Deal and Kennedy were among the first to shine the spotlight on the importance of the organizational culture to a company’s success. In their pioneering book, they illustrated the powerful impact culture has on organizational identity and performance. A strong culture is a system of informal rules that spells out how people should behave most of the time. It makes people feel better about what they do, so they are more likely to work harder. Through stories and vivid examples, they help the reader understand culture’s critical (values, heroes, rites and rituals, the cultural network).

Values form the heart of corporate culture. They define “success” in concrete terms for employees, and establish standards of achievement within the organization. They may be grand in scope or narrowly focused. They capture imagination and tell people how to work together. Here are a few examples: “24-hour parts service anywhere in the world” (Caterpillar), “Imagination at work” (GE), “Underwriting excellence” (Chubb Insurance Company). Leaders in companies with strong cultures talk openly about beliefs and do not tolerate deviance from the company standards.

Heroes are those people who personify the culture’s values and serve as role models for the company. They are pivotal figures in a strong culture. They show every employee “here’s what you have to do to succeed around here. They come in different forms (visionary heroes, outlaw heroes, compass heroes, hunker-down heroes, sacred cow heroes). Smart companies take a direct hand in choosing people to play these heroic roles.

Rites and rituals are the systematic and programmed routines of the company’s day-to-day life. Values must be ritualized and celebrated to thrive. Play, rituals, and ceremonies are culture builders. Play releases tensions and encourages innovation. Rituals guide behavior. Behind each ritual is a myth that symbolizes a central belief; they bring order to chaos. Celebrations help the company celebrate heroes, myths, and sacred symbols. They place the culture on display. Friendship lunches, attaboy plaques, bronze stars, Martyr of the Week are all examples of rites and rituals.

The cultural network refers to both the formal and the informal means of communication in an organization. Cultural characters (storytellers, spies, priests, cabals, whispers, and gossips) form a hidden hierarchy of power and make up the cultural network. Working the network effectively is the only way to get things done or to understand what is really going on.

In the second half of the book, Deal and Kennedy offer explicit guidelines for diagnosing one’s corporate culture and for using the power of culture to impact significant influence on how business gets done. They discuss corporate tribes (tough-guy, macho culture; work hard/play hard culture; bet-your-company culture; and process culture) and the symptoms of cultural malaise (inward focus, short-term focus, morale problems, fragmentation/inconsistency, emotional outbursts and subcultures). They also give advice on managing and reshaping the culture

Lessons about values, rituals, rituals, and heroes are presenting using dozens of examples including: accounting and insurance (Price Waterhouse, Chubb Insurance) communications (ABC, AT & T, CBS,), clothing (Abercrombie & Fitch, L. L. Bean), cosmetics (Avon, Mary Kay), food (Dunkin Donuts, McDonalds), electronics and technology (DuPont, General Electric, Hewlett Packard, IBM, 3M), transportation (Boeing Aircraft, Ford, General Motors).

What Great Principals Do Differently: Fifteen Things That Matter Most
© 2003 by Todd Whitaker
Larchmont, NJ: Eye on Education

What are the specific qualities and practices that elevate great principals above the rest? Based on five studies on principalship over a ten year period (from 1993-2002) as well as working with and observing hundreds of administrators, Todd Whitaker reveals 15 things most successful principals do that others do not. The chapters explain why these practices are effective and demonstrate how to implement each of them in a school.

1. It’s people not programs
2. Focus on the different variables (students, teachers, parents)
3. Treat everyone with respect, every day, all the time
4. The principals is the filter
5. Teach the teachers
6. Hire great teachers
7. Keep testing in perspective
8. Focus on behavior, then beliefs
9. Maintain loyalty
10. Base every decision on your best teachers
11. In every situation ask: who is most comfortable and who is least comfortable
12. Understand high achievers
13. Make it cool to care
14. Don’t need to repair – always do repair
15. Set expectations at the start of the year

This is the kind of book that offers busy administrators practical advice on the entire range of issues they face each day. The reader will want to consume this book from front to back, but can also benefit from flipping through and reading excerpts based on interest.

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change
© 1989 by Stephen R. Covey
New York: A Fireside Book (Simon and Schuster)

Steve Covey’s book “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” presents a holistic, integrated, principle-centered approach for leading and living. His seven lessons offer specific guidelines and frameworks for organizing oneself and solving personal and professional issues. He defines “habits” as the intersection of knowledge (what to, why to), skills (how to), and desire (want to). The seven habits are clustered into a paradigm that brings together our private and public worlds. The first three habits are about self-discipline and self-development. The second three are about operating in the world through understanding and working with others. Habit seven is continuing to grow and learn spiritually, emotionally, physically, and intellectually. The 7 habits are about “effectiveness.” Effectiveness lies in the P/PC balance (P = stands for production of desired results, the golden eggs; PC stands for production capability, the ability to produce golden eggs).

Covey’s insights and examples illuminate the power of living a life of self-discipline, integrity, fairness, and honesty (with oneself and others). A few highlights (nuggets of wisdom) are briefly summarized (a sort of primer or book mark reminder):

Habit 1: Be Proactive-- We all have the “freedom to choose” (response-ability). We can be reactive or proactive. Making and keeping commitments is at the heart of our ability to influence others.

Habit 2: Start With the End in Mind-- We center our lives on principles; that we create a solid foundation for the development of the four life-support factors (security, guidance, wisdom, and power). He suggests everyone write and use a personal mission statement. He emphasizes visualizations, affirmations, and identification of goals and roles

Habit 3: Put First Things First – Covey presents a four-quadrant time management matrix based on urgency and importance. Urgent means it requires immediate attention. Importance has to do with results. He proposes that we all need to spend more time in Quadrant II (important, but not urgent): prevention, relationship building, recognizing new opportunities, planning, and recreation.

Habit 4: Think Win/Win – Win/win is a philosophy of human interaction; a frame of mind and heart that seeks mutual benefit in all human interactions. He outlines five dimensions of win/win work: character (integrity, maturity, abundance), relationships, agreements, supportive systems, and processes.

Habit 5: Seek First to Understand, Then Be Understood – This is the key to effective interpersonal communication. Empathic listening puts the focus on the other person and shifts the paradigm from preparing a reply to listening with the intent to deeply understand.

Habit 6: Synergize – Synergy means the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Valuing differences is the essence of synergy and allows for collective creativity. The essence of synergy is to see multiple alternatives rather than only two (a right and a wrong; yours or mine).

Habit 7: Sharpen the Saw – Covey contends that we need to engage continuously in four dimensions of renewal: physical (exercise, nutrition, stress management), spiritual (values clarification and commitment, study and meditation), mental (reading, visualizing, planning, writing), and social/emotional (service, empathy, synergy, intrinsic security). Habit 7 surrounds the Seven Habits paradigm and the habit that makes the other six possible.

Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap … and Others Don’t.
© 2001 by Jim Collins
New York: Harper Collins

Collins’ book is based on an in-depth study of eleven companies that improved from good to great (as measured by continuous financial over a fifteen year period). The research team started with 1,435 companies, selected eleven “good-to-great” companies, and a matched set of 11 other companies. After careful analysis, six interrelated themes emerged into a flywheel advancing from Disciplined People (level five leadership; first who, then what) through Disciplined Thought (confront the brutal facts; hedgehog concept) to Disciplined Action (culture of discipline; technology accelerators).

Level 5 Leadership “builds enduring greatness” by focusing on developing other leaders in the organization who continue and enhance the work when original leaders depart. Good to great leaders are quiet and reserved; they have a mix of personal humility and professional will.

First Who Then What concerns getting the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus, and the right people in the right seats first. The agenda and work can emerge and succeed.

Confront the Brutal Facts discusses having the discipline to make data-driven decisions based on the current reality while maintaining faith that you can and will prevail in the end despite difficulties.

The Hedgehog Concept is about focus. That is focusing on the core essence of the business by following three guiding principles: what you do best, what are you deeply passionate about, and what can fuel your economic engine.

A Culture of Discipline means problem solving, interacting, and moving forward in a disciplined way related to your hedgehog focus.

Technology is seen as an accelerator rather than a precondition or innovation by itself. It is used to selectively streamline and accelerate the business and the work.

The flywheel effect is a combination of visible results; people lining up because they are energized by results, which in turn builds momentum, and leads to progress consistent with the hedgehog concept.

In response to the success of Good to Great (a business book) and the interest from the education and social sector institutions, Collins wrote a 36-page booklet, Good to Great and the Social Sectors (2005) which delves into the issues of applying good to great to non-business organizations.

Leadership on the Line: Staying Alive in Dangerous Times
© 2002 by Ron Heifetz, Martin Linsky
Boston: Harvard Business School Press

Heifetz and Linsky articulate the difference between technical problems and adaptive challenges. Technical problems are those that we have encouraged before and we have solutions for resolving them. Adaptive challenges, on the other hand, go beyond our current capacity; they involve new, complex learning; they generate both avoidance and anxiety because of the unknown and the uncertainties. They also require the involvement of everyone – “the people with the problem are the problem, and they are also the solution.”

To respond to adaptive challenges, leaders must push into the unknown to find solutions, build ownership, and develop new competencies. To be successful, leaders must enter dangerous territory where much is uncharted and uncertain. Heiftz and Linsky offer five strategic responses, all of which require leaders to balance difficult dilemmas: get on the balcony, think politically, orchestrate the conflict, give the work back, and hold steady.

Leaders need to alternate between being on the balcony and on the dance floor. On the balcony leaders can see the bigger picture by distancing themselves from the fray. They also need to engage in the action, observe impact and consequences, and make a strategic decision to further the movement forward.

Leaders need to think politically finding partners and building relationships. It also means attempting to work with opponents. Working productively with a range of people, especially those who are reluctant or openly opposed to a change in direction is central to leading and staying alive. Leaders need to acknowledge loss as part of any change process; they need to model new behavior and accept casualties.

Leaders need to orchestrate the conflict by monitoring and controlling the temperature in the organization. Raising the heat enough gets people’s attention so the organization can focus on and deal with the real threats and challenges facing them. Lowering the temperature is necessary to reduce counterproductive levels of tension. Both tasks are necessary to stimulate deep change.

Leaders need to think constantly about how to give the work back to the people who need to take responsibility for the problem. The leader cannot solve the problem alone – “the people with the problem are the problem, and they are the solution.”

Leaders who want to stay alive in dangerous times have to hold steady in the heat of action. One of the toughest tasks of leadership is learning to take the heat and deal with anger in a way that does not undermine the initiative. Taking heat with grace communicates respect for the pains of change. Leaders also have to “let the issues ripen” as part of mobilizing people's energy and getting yourself heard. Knowing when to hold steady and when to move forward are critical when addressing adaptive challenges.

Finally, Heifetz and Linsky advise leaders to anchor themselves, and to cultivate the virtues of an open heart, which they define as: innocence, curiosity and compassion. Leadership on the Line is about being a courageous and caring leader while focusing on the issues and facing the danger.

www.reinventingeducation.org

This website was created to provide educators with real, action-oriented tools to support leadership development and change management expertise. It was created by IBM in partnership with Rosabeth Moss Kanter from Harvard Business School. It is free of change to anyone working in or working to improve K-12 Education.

The web site is organized around four topics:

* change wheel (presents a simple model that enables leaders to implant the 10 important elements of a change-friendly culture in to their organizational genetic code)
* change masters (outlines seven skills of change masters)
* change fundamentals (describes eight basic skills)
* school improvement (covers four topics in depth – creating learning alignment, implementing data-driven decision-making systems, creating an environment supportive of quality teaching, and effective strategies that foster parental support and community collaborations)
The Change Tool Kit (CTK) has articles on many the topics and over 150 tools organized by the four areas. There are:
* self-assessments
* templates (to do lists, meeting minutes, communication plan, lessons learned, glossary),
* activities,
* and processes.

The site is tremendously easy to navigate; relevant links allow you to dart in and out of different sections. A special feature of this website is that you can have your own personal “workspace” to plan, track, and monitor your change projects. The search function takes you to selected topics. There are vignettes and stories of how people are using the Change Tool Kit. There is a free quarterly “Educational Leadership” newsletter, which features two articles, stories from the field, and a section on applying the toolkit.

Restructuring Our Schools: A Primer on Systemic Change
© 1994 by Patrick Dolan
Kansas City: Systems and Organizations

Patrick Dolan focuses on the systemic work of change and reform. He begins with two simple principles. First, there is a single system in place (the “Steady State”). Second, the entire system is one, and to change a school is to change a district, its union, board, and management. Anything else is short-lived and false. He argues we have spent many decades “replacing parts” rather than investing our efforts in systemic change. He describes “disappearing pilot projects” and that “knowing something doesn’t mean being able to do it.” He articulates five principles of a change process:

1. A preexisting social structure is always in place when you begin.
2. All of a system’s parts are organically interconnected with one another.
3. The system will resist change in fundamental and powerful ways.
4. The system in place in each organization is unique.
5. Unique as the particular system is, it shares certain fundamental attributes with nearly all organizational systems in the Western world.

Dolan contends that the traditional military model as a pyramid with strategy at the top (power and authority for direction), tactics in the middle (closer to engagement and full of interpretation), and implementation at the bottom (where the grunts live, work, fight, and die) continues to predominate in education. He carefully explains the importance of intrinsic motivation (information, control, respect, chance to grow) and describes the “rage” at the bottom of the pyramid. He advocates that we need to empower our teachers and students if we truly want change in our schools. He explains the four dysfunctions in the “steady state”: information flow (non-listening system and controlled data flowing to the top), the un-team (deeply competitive culture, language barriers, fear of blame), short-term quantitative bias, and the morale of the troops.

Dolan describes the six boundaries that form the web of relationships in the education system and the unique and essential role each plays in the larger system:

* boundary 1: the anchors – school board, superintendent and central office cabinet, union executive (at the top)

* boundary 2: the teachers, support staff, and students (at the bottom)

* boundary 3: the principals (lower middle)

* boundary 4: the information system (in the middle)

* boundary 5: the central office (upper middle)

* boundary 6: parents and the community (outside the pyramid)

Dolan then proposes a series of steps and structures in his change model and the ways to work with each of the boundaries to truly restructure and change our schools:

1. Negotiating deep buy-in at the top – a collaborative labor-management-board relationship as critical to any attempt to change our schools.

2. Forming a district oversight committee – building a structure for giving permission, setting parameters, making decisions (differently), finding resources, finding time, and listening and learning

3. Organizing school site councils – organizing a learning structure at each school to keep dreaming the school, inventing it, driving the change, and learning from it. Again and again it asks, “Have we included all the necessary actors?” “Have we listened well?” “Is this working?”

4. Ensuring time for learning – being responsible, ensuring thinking time and doing time for both teacher and student learning

5. Engaging parent and community expertise – energizing community power to support changes – bringing them inside to work together with us

Restructuring our schools takes time. The first year is usually spent laying the groundwork and setting up some solid structures against the dysfunctions. The second year is spent learning how to torque the system to get some movement. By the third year, if the work has been done carefully and well, you should be cutting deeply into substantive issues. This is only the beginning of the real work. Years four, five, and six gets at really changing the system and empowering teachers, students, principals, and parents.

Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change. (2nd edition).
© 1991, 2003 by William Bridges
Cambridge MA: Perseus Books.

Change is all around us. It is happening at a fast and furious pace. When a change (such as, curriculum, policy, organizational, instructional, testing) is announced, most organizations have a “change” plan. Few have a “transition” plan though. Change advocates want results. Bridges teaches us that to get results, you must deal with the personal stuff. Transitions are the psychological processes that people experience when asked to do things differently.

Based on years of working with organizations as they implement changes Bridges developed his theory and strategies for managing transitions. In the first chapter, he introduces us to the three phases of transition: ending, losing, letting go; the neutral zone; and the new beginning. Because transition is a process of unplugging from an old world and plugging into a new one, transition starts with an ending and finishes with a beginning. After introducing the concepts and stages briefly, Bridges provides the reader with a test case to try their knowledge and skills. He then follows with a chapter on each stage of transition with concepts and strategies.

The first phase of transition is ending – letting go of the old ways and the old identity people had. During this time, you should help people deal with their losses. Bridges suggests the following strategies for how to help people let go:

* identify who is losing what
* accept the reality and importance of subjective losses
* do not be surprised by over reaching
* acknowledge losses openly and sympathetically
* expect and accept the signs of grieving
* compensate for the losses
* give people information
* define what is over and what is not
* treat the past with respect
* let people take a piece of the old away with them

The second phase of transition is the neutral zone – that in-between time when the old is gone but the new is not fully operational. This is the time when critical psychological realignments and repatternings take place. Bridges offers advice for leading people through the neutral zone:

* normalize the neutral zone
* redefine the neutral zone
* create temporary systems for the neutral zone
* strengthen intra-group connections
* use a transition monitoring team
* use the neutral zone creatively

The third phase of transition is the new beginning. This is when people develop the new identity, experience new energy, and discover a new sense of purpose that makes the change begin to work. Bridges suggest strategies for launching a new beginning:

* clarify and communicate the purpose
* paint a picture of how the outcome will look and feel
* lay out a step-by-step plan for phasing in the outcome
* give each person a part to play in the plan and the outcome

He also provides four rules for reinforcing the new beginning:

1. be consistent
2. ensure quick successes
3. symbolize the new identity
4. celebrate the success

In the next several chapters Bridges presents the seven stages of organizational life and dealing with non-stop change. He ends the book with a practice case for the reader to apply their new understanding of managing change and transition. This book deserves a place on the 21st century leader’s desk. I highly recommend it to all leaders who are involved in implementing change.

The Meaning of Educational Change.
© 1982 by Michael Fullan
New York: Teachers College Press.

The New Meaning of Educational Change (2nd, 3rd, 4th eds.).
© 1991, 2001, in press by Michael Fullan
New York: Teachers College Press.

Any leader (in education or business) needs to be familiar with Michael Fullan’s change research and work.  A sociologist by training, he continues to be an avid learner and an international leader advising, studying, and consulting on educational change.  He is curious and prolific in his documentation; his is writing continues to accumulate (see www.michaelfullan.ca).  And, he persists in his engaging and clear style of assisting educators understand their craft.  He is so conceptually sharp and provides practical examples and strategies to back-up his principles.

“The Meaning of Education Change” (1982) was the first comprehensive book published summarizing the state of the art in educational change. Over the years, Fullan has updated the research and case study examples three times (1991, 2001, with the most recent at the printer).  The original outline (conceived 25 years ago) stands the test of time, and is still used.  The books are organized in three parts:  understanding educational change, educational change at the local level, and educational change at regional and national levels.

In part one (understanding change) of each book, Fullan updates educators regarding discoveries in the stages of the change process (adoption or initiation; implementation; planning, doing, and coping with change).  In part two (educational change at the local level), he reports and advises on the evolving roles of the players in the change saga (teachers, principals, students, district administrators, consultants, parents, and community). In part three (educational change at the regional and national levels) he reports on what is being learned about “large-scale” reform.  He reports on and critiques government reform initiatives, professional preparation and professional development, and the future of education change.

The lessons and case studies are too numerous and too important to randomly cite.  Serious educational change agents should read “all” of these books from front to back. Following them over time is a substantive educational journey. The reader learns about a range and variety of change projects and programs that have succeeded, failed, or are in progress.  Ever the analyst, Fullan pulls the lessons (both positive and negative) out of the projects and programs.  He stands back and illuminates the high yield strategies that are worth pursuing and those strategies that are “wrong-headed.”  If you want to know the research on change, be sure to read every edition.  Fullan is the consummate commentator, analyst, participant, learner, theorist, and practitioner all rolled into one. 

Tough Choices Tough Times
© 2007 The Report of the New Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce
Washington, DC: National Center on Education and the Economy

In January 2007, Tough Choices, Tough Times, the report from the New Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce was released by the National Center on Education and the Economy. This controversial report with 10 key recommendations responds directly to the changes faced in the United States as a result of global economy and the impact of competition with countries with highly educated and skilled workers willing to work for low wages.
The authors contend that without a complete overhaul of its public education system in the next decade, the United States will lose its competitive edge in key industries and see its standard of living plummet. Advances in technology and the rise in the number of educated workers in China and India are already beginning to drive down the wages of jobs held by millions of middle-class Americans, the report, Tough Choices or Tough Times, says. It predicts that this trend will accelerate as jobs migrate overseas and as more American jobs are automated. (for more on these trends we recommend Friedman’s book The World is Flat).
We summarize the 10 recommendations:
1. A Performance-Based System
By the end of 10th grade students will take a board examination (created by the states, nation or international organization) in core subjects. Those who achieve passing scores will go to a community college/technical school or program leading to a four-year state college. Those who achieve high scores will stay in high school for two additional years to complete requirements for an IB diploma leading to challenging colleges/universities.

2. Make much more efficient use of the available resources.

Use the savings from this plan and deploy one third of it for:
1. recruiting a high quality teaching force;
2. building a full service early childhood system for all 3-4 year olds; and giving the nation’s disadvantaged students the resources they need to succeed against internationally benchmarked standards.

3. Recruit from the top third of the high school graduates going on to college for the next generation of schoolteachers.
We must recruit teachers with the knowledge and skills that we want our children to have. The report suggests that we recruit teachers from the top third of their class by paying $45,000 to beginning teachers, $95,000 to teachers at the top of the new career ladder and $110,000 to teachers working year round. Find these salaries by restructuring the retirement systems and make the retirement comparable to those of better private sector firms. Teachers would be hired by the state, not locally.

4. Develop standards, assessments, and curriculum that reflect today’s needs and tomorrow’s requirements.
Revise assessments to match the world’s best high school examinations. Assess qualities including creativity and innovation, facility with the use of ideas and abstraction, self-discipline and organization needed to manage one’s work and drive it through to a successful conclusion, the ability to function well as a member of a team and so on. Will require a major overhaul of America’s testing industry. When we have the right assessments connected to the right syllabi, then the task will be to create instructional materials and train teachers to use the standards, assessments, syllabi and materials.

5. Create high performance schools and districts using management models that will produce high quality results.
Schools will be operated by independent contractors, many of them limited-liability corporations owned and run by teachers. The primary role of schools districts would be to write performance contracts with the operators of these schools, monitor their operations, cancel those providers that do not perform well and find others who could do better. Contract schools would be public schools, subject to all of the safety, curriculum, testing and other accountability requirements of public schools. Teachers would be employed by the state and schools would be funded by the state.

6. Provide universal, early childhood education.
The funding freed up by the changes during the HS years will allow the country to provide high quality early childhood for all 3 and 4 year olds.

7. Give strong support for the students who need it the most.
The report says that the recommendations, taken together, should transfer the prospects of disadvantaged children. The proposal suggests abandoning the local funding of schools in favor of state funding using a uniform pupil-weighting funding using a uniform formula, combined with the funds from the savings. The additional funds will make it possible for schools to stay open from early morning to late at night offering services to students and their families. Teachers will be offered incentives for working in remote and tough areas. The plan is designed to give the students who need our help the most a much better chance.

8. Enable every member of the adult workforces to get the new literacy skills.
Pass legislation entitling every adult and your adult workers, at no charge, to the education required to meet the standard set by the new Board Exam standards that most young people will meet by the age of 16.

9. Create a personal competitiveness accounts – a GI Bill for our times.
“…Economic analysis suggests that the next few decades will be a time of increasing turbulence in the job market as outsourcing increases, product cycles get shorter and technological changes destroy entire industries. It is recommended that the government set up Personal Competitive Accounts for every baby born with an annual deposit of $500 until each is 16. This account would continue to grow and could be used for work-related training, tuition, books and fees….”

10. Create regional competitiveness authorities to make America competitive.
“…It is clear that the most effective ways to provide a real future for people who need jobs is to provide training to the economic future of the region those people live in, for jobs in growth industries. The authorities would not only be responsible for coming up with development goals and strategies for their regions, but also for coordinating the work of the region’s education and training institutions to make sure that each region’s workers develop the skills and knowledge needed to be successful in that labor market…”

See Ed Week Editorial January 17, 2007, Radical Ideas, Misguided Assumptions by Diane Ravitch, NY University, Hoover Institute for a critique on the book.

The Learning Leader
© 2006 by Doug Reeves
Alexandria, VA: ASCD

Doug Reeves has been thinking a lot about student learning, school improvement, leadership competencies, assessment, and what causes some schools to achieve what others cannot. This is his most recent book and it is loaded with theories, research, case studies, and practical suggestions for both school and district leaders. It is complex and straightforward at the same time. He can pack a lot of thought and research into 180 pages. Reeves is very clever in linking findings from independent studies, looking for confirming verification of directions educators need to consider to impact student learning. The reader will go back to this book several times because while it builds a logical argument, it also presents a feast. We present some highlights.

Reeves writes a chapter on “architectural leadership” and examines “why you cannot do it alone.” He advocates for distributed leadership and agrees with other writers (Marzano et al. 2005; Elmore 2000; Fullan 2006; Buckingham, 2003) about the importance of creating teams with complementary strengths. The architect needs to know how all the pieces of the puzzle fit together and skillfully assemble a team of people with diverse talents to do the work.

In another chapter, he reviews his dimensions of leadership, which he wrote about in 2004. He defines seven dimensions of leadership: visionary leadership, relational leadership, systems leadership, reflective leadership, collaborative leadership, analytic leadership, and communicative leadership. Again, he makes reference to other frameworks of leadership competencies and skills.

Another chapter reports on a study (PIM) in a large district (280,000 students and 300 students) where he and his team examined the relationships between school improvement plans, improvement activity, and student achievement. His most revealing finding was that the “prettiness” and “size” of the school improvement plan was inversely related to both improvement activity and student achievement.

Reeves pulls together cases of districts that have achieved at high levels for all students. He identifies five patterns: focus on accountability, extensive non-fiction writing, frequent common assessment, decisive and immediate intervention, and constructive use of data. In the same chapter he report on results of 1,500 classroom observations: the demonstration of effective teaching practices and student engagement was alarming (Learning 24/7, 2005). He also comments on the dilemmas of grading.

There is more. He seems to be testing a new theory in this book. He starts and finishes with his Leadership for Learning Framework. He describes a matrix with four quadrants. On the vertical access is student achievement. On the horizontal access are antecedents of excellence (curriculum, teaching practices, interventions, parental involvement). He explains leadership impact as being lucky, losing, learning, or leading.

Reeves is on to something, but his thinking is not done yet. It seems that the busy practitioner has to know, understand, and apply quantitative statistics to implement his leadership map concept (well at least this reader). He presents an interesting framework and food for thought. We need to follow his work. On the other hand, his suggestion about “data walls” in the appendix is a great and doable idea.

Prisoners of Time
© 1994, 2005 by National Education Commission on Time and Learning
Denver, CO: Education Commission of the States

In April 1994, Prisoners of Time was published as Report of the National Education Commission on Time and Learning. In October 2005, the report was reprinted as the first in the Education Reform Reprint Series with a new introduction and examples. President Piedad Robertson introduces the reprint asserting, “the issues in Prisoners of Time are as salient today as they were over a decade ago.” Little has changed since the original publication.

The report is written in three parts: the challenges, lessons from abroad, and recommendations. Based on a 24-month investigation, the commission identified five dimensions of the time challenge: unresolved issues that present insurmountable barriers to efforts to improve learning:

* The Design Flaw – The fixed clock and calendar is a fundamental design flaw that must be changed. (some students take three to six times longer than others to learn the same thing)

* Academic Time and Nonacademic activities – Academic time has been stolen to make room for a host of nonacademic activities. (time lost to extra-curricular activities)

* Out-of-School Influences – Today’s school schedule must be modified to respond to the great changes that have reshaped American life outside school. (40% of American children spend a portion of their childhood in a single-parent home; society is more diverse and rapidly becoming more; income equality is growing; suicide and homicide are the leading cause of death for young men)

* Time as a Problem for Educators – Educators do not have the time they need to do their job properly. (teacher time is conceived as time “in front of the class”; many hold the assumption that time for reading, planning, collaborating with other teachers and professional development are a waste of time)

* Emerging Content and Achievement Standards – Mastering world-class standards will require more time for almost all students. (subject traditionally squeezed out of the curriculum new seek a place, core curriculum is significantly more demanding, professional development needs are broad and massive.

When comparing the US with other nations (France, Germany, Japan) the following conclusions were drawn:

* Twice as Much Core Instruction – Students in other post-industrial democracies receive twice as much instruction in core academic areas during high school.

* Schools abroad protect academic time by distinguishing between the “academic day” and the “school day.” (Specific time is dedicated to academic instruction and additional time is added for clubs, sports, and additional classes)

* Out-of-School Learning – Many of our economic competitors supplement formal education with significant out-of-school learning time. (German and Japanese youth spend more serious time learning outside of school.)

* Performance Carries Consequences – School performance abroad has consequences and is closely related to opportunities for employment and further education. (Performance not seat time, is what counts. German students have to pass Abitur, a demanding examination covering secondary school preparation. In Japan, young people take examinations to enter public high school.)

* Professional Practice – Teachers are held to much higher standards in both Germany and Japan. In Japan, teacher preparation takes six years. Japanese teachers generally deal with more students in each classroom but teach fewer classes. Class size average 35-40 students, but teachers only are with students four hours a day. In Germany, teachers are with students 21-24 hours of their 38 hours. In both countries, time preparing, grading, consulting with colleagues, and learning is considered an essential aspect of professional work.

The Commission made eight recommendations:

1. Reinvent school around learning, not time.

2. Fix the design flaw: Use time in new and better ways.

3. Establish an academic day.

4. Keep schools open longer to meet the needs of children and communities.

5. Give teachers the time they need.

6. Invest in technology.

7. Develop local action plans to transform schools.

8. Share the responsibility: Finger pointing and evasion must end.

Prisons of Time is a very easy read and an important critique on the issue and use of time. The examples inserted through out profile American schools that are using time for learning differently. For the full report go to the link:

www.ed.gov/pubs/PrisonersOfTime/index.html

Resource management
Thinking K-16
www.edtrust.org

Education Trust publish a series of reports that examines critical educational issues in depth.  The reports are clear and very easy to read.  Each issue of Thinking K-16 cuts through rhetoric to get at the impact on students, and concludes with practical recommendations for action.  Thinking K-16 can be downloaded for free from the Education Trust website:  www.edtrust.org.

Eight reports have been published since 1998:

Good Teaching Matters: How Well-Qualified Teachers Can Close the Gap (Summer 1998)

Not Good Enough: A Content Analysis of Teacher Licensing Examinations (Spring 1998)

Ticket to Nowhere: The Gap Between Leaving High School and Entering College and High Performing Jobs (Fall 1999)

Honor in the Boxcar: Equalizing Teacher Quality (Spring 2000)

Youth at the Crossroads: Facing High Schools and Beyond (Winter 2001)

New Frontiers for a New Century: A National Overview  (Spring 2001)

Add It Up: Mathematics Education in US Does Not Compute (Summer 2002)

A New Core Curriculum for All:  Aiming High for Other People’s Children (Winter 2003)

The Real Value of Teachers: Using New Information About Teacher Effectiveness to Close the Achievement Gap  (Spring 2004)

This is a treasure trove of information for the busy educational leader.  The reports summarize the issues related to the topic and offer suggestions.  The entire website is a great find.  The Education Trust provides resources and tools that uses can download and distribute.  They have fact sheets and resources explaining national policies and laws.  They also offer PowerPoint presentations and interactive data tools.  This is  a rich site to consult as one thinks about the resource management dimension of the educational leaders job.

School Leadership That Works: From Research to Results
© 2005 by Robert Marzano, Timothy Waters, and Brian McNulty
Alexandria, VA: ASCD

Based on a meta-analysis of 69 studies over the last 33 years (1978-2001), the authors identify 21 responsibilities of balanced school leadership. They describe each responsibility citing relevant research, articulating specific behaviors and characteristics, and providing a practical example. We list them alphabetical order:

1. Affirmation – recognizes and celebrates school accomplishments – and acknowledges failures.

2. Change Agent – is willing to challenge and actively challenges the status quo

3. Contingent Rewards – recognizes and rewards individual accomplishments

4. Communication – establishes strong lines of communication with and among teachers and students

5. Culture – fosters shared beliefs and a sense of community and cooperation

6. Discipline – protects teachers from issues and influences that would detract from their teaching time or focus

7. Flexibility – adapts his or her leadership behavior to the needs of the current situation and is comfortable with dissent

8. Focus – establishes clear goals and keep those goals in the forefront of the school’s attention

9. Ideals/Beliefs – communicates and operates from strong ideals and beliefs about schooling

10. Input – involves teachers in the design and implementation of important decisions and policies

11. Intellectual Stimulation – ensures faculty and staff are aware of the most current theories and practices and makes the discussion of these a regular aspect of the school’s culture

12. Involvement in Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment – is directly involved in the design and implementation of curriculum, instruction, and assessment practices

13. Knowledge of Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment – is knowledgeable about current curriculum, instruction, and assessment practices

14. Monitoring/Evaluating – monitors the effectiveness of school practices and their impact on student learning

15. Optimizer – Inspires and leads new and challenging innovations

16. Order – establishes a set of standard operating procedures and routines

17. Outreach – is an advocate and spokesperson for the school to all stakeholders

18. Relationships – demonstrates an awareness of the personal aspects of teachers and staff

19. Resources – provides teachers with materials and professional development necessary for the successful execution of their jobs

20. Situational Awareness – is aware of the details and undercurrents in the running of the school and uses this information to address current and potential problems

21. Visibility – has quality contact and interactions with teachers and students

Next, the authors discuss two types of change: first versus second-order changes. First-order change is incremental; second-order change involves dramatic departures from the expected (deep change). Incremental change fine-tunes the system through a series of small steps that do not depart radically form the past. Deep change alters the system in fundamental ways, offering a dramatic shift in direction and requiring new ways of thinking and acting. Only seven of the 21 responsibilities are positively related to second order change (listed in rank order): knowledge of curriculum, instruction, and assessment; optimizer; intellectual stimulation; change agent; monitoring/evaluating; flexibility; and ideals/beliefs. Four responsibilities are negatively affected by second-order change: culture, communication, order, and input.

Marzano and colleagues provide a five-step plan for effective school leadership. While they advocate developing a strong school leadership team, they identify nine responsibilities that must remain with the principal: optimizer, affirmation, ideals/beliefs, visibility, situational awareness, relationships, communication, culture, and input.

The Different Drum: Community Making and Peace
©1987 by M. Scott Peck, MD
New York: Touchstone

”The Different Drum” followed Peck’s most notable book, the blockbuster best-seller, “The Road Less Traveled” by eleven years. Peck was a respected and popular psychiatrist whose theories and insights about the process of human interaction are still respected around the world. Rather than focusing on personal mental health, as did “The Road Less Traveled,” this book analyzes key issues that prevent organizations and groups from functioning properly. It also suggests solutions to these issues.

Peck asserts that most communities, or groups of people, are dysfunctional to varying degrees due to their inability to create true communal cooperation within their group. Instead of cooperation, there is conflict, and achieving positive results is more difficult in that situation.

The process of moving from dysfunctional to functional group is classified in four stages: Pseudo Community, Chaos, Emptiness, and True Community.

* Pseudo Community is the situation where the group pretends everything is fine, when it is not. The consensus is that everyone is in agreement, everyone is happy with the status quo, and problems are glossed over. Since no one will admit to existing problems, they are never addressed, and the organization is an inefficient body guided by mistrust, complicated work-arounds, and apathy. It is not a happy place, but dissatisfactions are only aired in the parking lot, where they cannot be solved.
* Chaos is the condition where an individual finally admits to the group that there are problems, refuses to go along with the status quo’s silence, points a finger, or raises an uncomfortable question. Since the group has no coping skills, it descends into chaos. It this situation, groups choose to revert to Pseudo Community, or move to the next developmental step, Emptiness.
* Emptiness is a time-out. It is defined more by what it is not than it is. The group refuses to cooperate or move on. But it does do some work. It is a time for reflection, fact checking, research, to “seek and understand than be understood.” This meditative, contemplative period can return to chaos, or spontaneously move into the fourth stage, True Community.
* True Community is the stage where the group flourishes. There is honest communication. Participants lose their mask of composure. People start to enjoy being with one another.

There are important lessons here for the education community, where groups face un-ending, often massive issues. Peck suggests that only a True Community can solve problems, and that attempts at problem solving should only occur after True Community has been achieved by the group. This applies to school staff and school boards. Boards often jump to problem solving, before understanding their group dynamics or the individuals in their group. The consequence is turfism, constituency protection, suspicion, constituency politics and single issue agendas. First and foremost, skilled board leaders put problems aside and create a trusting environment that is the absolute pre-requisite of consistent, efficient problem solving.

Engaging All Families
©2003 by Steven M. Constantino
Lanham, Maryland: ScarecrowEducation

Recipient of the Washington Post Distinguished Educational Leadership Award, voted Virginia Principal of the Year, and founder/president of Family Friendly Schools, Steven Constantino shares a step-by-step process to create family friendly programs in schools. Under Constantino’s leadership, Stonewall Jackson High School moved from a troubled high school to the 2001 Time “High School of the Year” and was listed in Newsweek’s 2000 “Top 100 High Schools” in America. In this book, readers are provided with numerous resources and references, along with the necessary resources to assess the current level of family engagement in any school.

Using Stonewall Jackson High School as a backdrop, Constantino begins by describing a framework for leadership that is necessary to create a positive school culture and a vision for the school that includes the beliefs and attitudes of the people inside and outside of the school. He emphasizes that the catalyst for engaging families in school is the leader. Chapter 2 presents a literature review and concludes with the author’s conceptual framework for family engagement. This model illustrates the five forces of engagement (desires, attitudes, motivation, behaviors, and actions) that emerge from four over-lapping spheres representing the influences on schools (peers, individual students, school, and family).

In Chapters 3 and 4, the role of the community and technology in shaping family engagement programs is discussed. Constantino stresses the importance of telecommunication and the Internet in involving families in school. “Schools as the center of communities” is key to reconnecting the public-to-public education. Additionally, he notes the significance of using technology to support partnerships between home and school.

Constantino presents an evaluation instrument for schools to use in Chapter 5 (Comprehensive Evaluation for Family Engagement). The evaluation provides a framework for assessing levels of family engagement, policies, procedures, and practices. Divided into segments (Does your school say welcome?, Engaging all families, Community outreach, and Engaging families with students), this evaluation provides a tool for successful implementation of family engagement programs.

Chapters 6-10 are structured responses to each of the components of the evaluation framework. After completing the evaluation, school leaders can consult these chapters for ideas on the family engagement processes. Chapter 11 connects the research and practice that supports the pursuit of engaging all families and students in learning.

An easy read, this book offers 100 ways to make a school “family friendly,” a program planner for engaging all families, and other resources for communicating, involving, and engaging families in meaningful programs. Constantino believes that family involvement is a key to academic success for all students and is crucial for improving a school’s culture. In his stories, Constantino shares his vision for ensuring that all students learn. A true inspiration, Engaging All Families supports the notion that “The values we hold as educational leaders ultimately determine the kind of school we shape and lead.”

What School Boards Can Do: Reform Governance for Urban Schools.
McAdams, D. R. (2006).
Teachers College Press: Columbia University, New York, NY: Teachers College Press

In today’s urban school systems, a common reality that strikes at the core is reform governance. This reality lends credence to the idea that urban school districts as they have been organized and managed for more than 50 years are not up to the job required in the 21st century. It is common knowledge that schools in America must educate all their children to high levels. Urban school districts, which disproportionately educate America’s marginalized student populations (i.e., those left most vulnerable and disenfranchised), must be redesigned for this task. This is the fundamental message in Donald R. McAdams book, What School Boards Can Do: Reform Governance for Urban Schools.

McAdams presents an immensely valuable work that captures the many dimensions of urban school reform issues. Based on rich experience and thought-provoking circumstances, he offers a governance theory that provides more than best practices about how effective school boards work. Moreover, he offers suggestions that can guide school boards to provide the leadership required to redesign urban districts. As suggested in the foreword by former U.S. Secretary of Education, Rod Paige, board members, due to their position of community representation, have the power to act. Furthermore, superintendents have the level of professional expertise and responsibility required to lead and manage. They are close enough to communities and schools to see what needs to be done and powerful enough to do it.

Ethical Leadership and Decision Making in Education: Applying Theoretical Perspectives to Complex Dilemmas
© 2005 by Shapiro, J. P., and Stefkovich, J. A.
Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.

Shapiro and Stefkovich’s Ethical Leadership and Decision Making in Education: Applying Theoretical Perspectives to Complex Dilemmas is an engaging, perceptive, and savvy text provoking conscious ethical reflection by educational leaders, their instructors, and other stakeholders. Shapiro and Stefkovich take a multi-paradigm approach to case study analysis. They offer four distinct lenses through which to view contemporary educational dilemmas: (a) the ethic of justice, (b) the ethic of critique, (c) the ethic of care, and (d) the ethic of the profession. The authors agree with Dewey’s (1902) definition of ethics as the science of determining whether conduct is considered good or bad, right or wrong. The multi-paradigm approach enables readers to make and defend tough ethical choices by responding to critical questions: “Ethics approved by whom? Right or wrong according to whom?”

In their expanded discussion of professional ethics, the authors differentiate between their paradigmatic approach and previous codified systems, such as the Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium (ISLLC) Standards for School Leaders. Shapiro and Stefkovich call here for a dynamic individuated process where professional educators “formulate and examine their own professional codes of ethics in light of individual personal codes of ethics, as well as standards set forth by the profession.” Professional educators are urged to keep students at the center of the decision making process and analyze issues from multiple dimensions, including the wishes of the community. The authors acknowledge clashes within and between personal, professional, and community ethical codes, and incorporate these conflicts into their holistic model for moral practice.

The implications of this volume for education are several. Ethical Leadership and Decision Making in Education: Applying Theoretical Perspectives to Complex Dilemmas is an instructive and approachable resource for facilitating discourse among stakeholders. Shapiro and Stefkovich’s practical, no-nonsense feel for sorting out complex, multi-layered quandaries removes much of the emotional Sturm und Drang from ethical analysis.

This book is recommended for use at school sites amongst school administrators, faculty, staff and site-council members, either in an ongoing roundtable setting or as a periodic spur to discussion when applicable. Teachers can use this text as a model for introducing ethics into secondary and post-secondary curricula; the paradoxes explored are germane to nearly every discipline. Though assistance in ethical decision making, it is most progressive in framing problems as true dilemmas—ongoing states of uncertainty formed by deep, broad currents of history, culture, and society. The authors help practitioners see their challenges as part of a much bigger picture, and can assist them as they navigate a sensible, ethical, and professional course through them. Educational leaders in search of an elegant articulation of professional ethical processes will find one within this book.

School, Family, and Community Partnerships: Caring for the Students We Share.
© 1995 by Joyce Epstein
Phi Delta Kappan (May issue)

School, Family, and Community Partnerships: Preparing Educators and Improving Schools.
© 2001 by Joyce Epstein

Joyce Epstein from John Hopkins University has been interested in factors that influence student learning for over 25 years. Her specific research focus has been on the impact of parent and community involvement on student learning and development. In 1995, she wrote a seminal article in Phi Delta Kappan (September issue) on her framework for schools, family, and community partnerships. She summarized the theory, research, and guidelines for assisting schools in building partnerships, identifying six levels of involvement:

Type 1: Parenting Learning – help all families establish home environments to support children as students.

Type 2: Communication – design effective forms of school-to-home and home-to-school communication about school programs and children’s progress.

Type 3: Volunteers – recruit and organize parent help and support.

Type 4: Learning at Home – provide information and ideas to families about how to help students at home with homework and other curriculum-related activities, decisions, and planning.

Type 5: Decision Making – include parents in school decisions, developing parent leaders and representatives.

Type 6: Community Partnerships – identify and integrate resources and service from the community to strengthen school programs, family practices, and student learning and development.

In 1996, Epstein formed the National Network for Partnership Schools (NNPS) at John Hopkins University. NNPS aims to increase knowledge of new concepts and strategies; use research results to develop tools and materials that will improve policy and practice; provide professional development conferences and workshops; share best practices of parental involvement and community connections; and recognize excellent partnership programs at the school, district, organization, and state levels. Each year since 1998 NNPS has published an annual best practices volume and sponsored an awards program.

Epstein and her colleagues at the Center on School, Family, and Community Partnerships continue to study and document the development and implementation of best practices in family and community involvement. On the website, readers can track the research on this topic at John Hopkins University back to 1981. In 1991 Epstein initiated the International Network of Scholars (US and 40 other nations) to bring together researchers from around the world who share her interest in partnerships with families and communities in support of student learning and development.

Website: http://www.csos.jhu.edu/P2000/center.htm

Enhancing Professional Practice: A Framework for Teaching
© 2005 by Charlotte Danielson
Alexandria, VA: ASCD

Danielson provides a framework for teaching based on the PRAXIS III: Classroom Performance Assessments criteria. The framework identifies aspects of a teacher’s repertoire that have been documented through both empirical studies and theoretical research to promote student learning. It is organized around four domains, 22 components, and 81 elements. The four domains provide the big ideas, the components describe specific aspects of teaching, and elements are important features of each component. Common themes apply to most of the components: equity, cultural sensitivity, high expectations, developmental appropriateness, accommodating students with special needs, and appropriate use of technology. Danielson writes a chapter on creating a professional portfolio to collect and organize artifacts demonstrating the domains and competencies.

Domain 1: Planning and Preparation – defines how the teacher organizes the content that students are to learn and how the teacher designs instruction. Skills in Domain 1 are demonstrated primarily through lesson plans. There are six components in Domain 1:
1a. demonstrating knowledge of content and pedagogy
1b. demonstrating knowledge of students
1c. selecting instructional goals
1d. demonstrating knowledge of resources
1e. designing coherent instruction
1f. assessment student learning

Domain 2: The Classroom Environment – consists of interactions that occur in the classroom. Skills in Domain 2 are captured through observation, either in person or on videotape. There are five components in Domain 2:
2a. creating an environment of respect and rapport
2b. establishing a culture for learning
2c. managing classroom procedures
2d. managing student behavior
2e. organizing physical space

Domain 3: Instruction – contains the components that are at the heart of teaching – the actual engagement of students in content. Skills in Domain 3 are demonstrated in the classroom, either observing or on video tape. There are five components in Domain 3:
3a. communicating clearly and accurately
3b. using questioning and discussion techniques
3c. engaging students in learning
3d. providing feedback to students
3e. demonstrating flexibility and responsiveness

Domain 4: Professional Responsibilities – consists of a wide range of professional responsibilities from self-reflection and professional growth to contributing to the school, district, and professional as a whole. There are six components in Domain 4:
4a. reflecting on teaching
4b. maintaining accurate records
4c. communicating with families
4d. contributing to the school and district
4e. growing and developing professionally
4f. showing professionalism

For each of the 22 components, there is a rationale and explanation, as well as a rubric outlining levels of performance (unsatisfactory, basic, proficient, and distinguished) for each specific element of the domain. The framework is designed for novice, experienced, and exemplary teachers. It provides a “roadmap” for novices seeking initial certification, an “organizer” to focus observations and discussion of experienced teachers, and “guidelines” for experienced teachers who are moving toward advanced certification.

Danielson’s framework is perfect for the educational leader. It identifies the “content” to guide both the management and development of teachers. It provides concrete descriptions of excellence in teaching as well as what is unacceptable. The book provides a common picture for us all to guide observation, discussion, and reflection. It is a foundation upon which many of the other books in our annotations can build.

The Principal as Instructional Leader: A Handbook for Supervisors.
Zepeda, S.J. (2003),
Larchmont, NY: Eye on Education.

In her book, The Principal as Instructional Leader: A Handbook for Supervisors, Sally Zepeda provides an in-depth and practical look into the principal’s role as an instructional leader. It is easy to see why the University Council for Educational Administration recently recognized Zepeda with the first Master Professor Award for her outstanding contributions to the field. This book continues where Zepeda’s previous book, Instructional Supervision: Applying Tools and Concepts left off. In her previous book, she provided tools and strategies to help supervisors work effectively with teachers through links between instructional supervision, staff development and teacher evaluation via the model of clinical supervision.

This more recent book examines the work that must be accomplished by principals as the instructional leaders of their schools. It focuses on the areas of developing a vision and culture that support supervisintg instructional program, staff development, and other processes to help teachers further develop their teaching.

Zepeda ‘s overall message asserts that principals should exert their instructional leadership to assist teachers in further developing as professionals while meeting the day-to-day needs of their students. The heart of the school is the classroom. Because the responsibilities of the principal are so multi-dimensional, the principal does not need to stand alone to support the professional development of teachers. The principal must examine the pool of potential supervisory personnel at the school and work to build new roles for these professionals.

In developing an instructional leadership team, the principal can multiply efforts to assist teachers. However, the principal must provide staff development to transition administrative team members into an instructional leadership team. Indeed, Zepeda articulates the necessary framework for such a design and the necessary components needed to bring about change in the school’s framework.

Classroom Instruction That Works: Research Based Strategies for Increasing Student Achievement
© 2001 by Robert J. Marzano, Debra J. Pickering, and Jane E. Pollock
Alexandria, VA: ASCD

Using a meta-analysis research technique Marzano and colleagues at the Mid-continental Research for Education and Learning (McREL) analyzed selected research studies on instructional strategies. A meta-analysis combines the results from a number of studies to determine the average effect of a given technique. An effect size expresses the increase or decrease in student achievement of the students who are exposed to a specific instructional technique. The researchers identified nine strategies that have a high probability of enhancing student achievement of all students. The effect sizes range from 1.61 to .59. We provide a brief overview of the nine strategies listed in order of effect size:

1. Identifying Similarities and Differences. The authors found this strategy to be highly correlated with student achievement. This involves the cognitive tasks of comparing and classifying. Metaphors and analogies are also included.

2. Summarizing and Note Taking. Another set of powerful instructional strategies, the authors argue for intentional and systematic teaching of the skills across the curriculum and instructional levels.

3. Reinforcing Effort and Providing Recognition. With regard to effort, the authors conclude that (a) not all students realize the importance of believing in effort, and (b) students can learn to change their beliefs to an emphasis on effort. They infer three generalizations about rewards from the research: (1) Rewards do not necessarily have a negative effect on intrinsic motivation, (2) Reward is more effective when it is contingent on the attainment of some standard of performance, and (3) Abstract symbolic recognition is more effective than tangible rewards.

4. Homework and Practice. They draw three conclusions about homework, which they find to be very productive when used effectively. First, the amount of homework assigned to students should be different from elementary to middle to high school (Note: The authors report that 50-60 minutes per day is most often recommended for middle school students.) Second, parent involvement in homework should be kept to a minimum. Third, the purpose of homework should be identified and articulated.

5. Nonlinguistic Representations. The authors point to the variety of activities that produce non-linguistic representations, including graphic organizers, physical models, pictures and pictographs, and engaging in kinesthetic activities. They caution that nonlinguistic representations, which reinforce knowledge and are particularly important for certain learning styles, should elaborate on knowledge related to learning targets, and not be undertaken as “ends in and of themselves.”

6. Cooperative Learning. This potentially powerful learning strategy is often misused. To be effective cooperative learning must meet certain criteria, including Johnson and Johnson’s five elements: (a) positive interdependence, (b) face-to-face interaction, (c) individual and group accountability, (d) interpersonal and small group skills, and (e) group processing.

7. Setting Objectives and Providing Feedback. These two must occur in tandem to produce desired results. Students need clear learning targets for feedback to be meaningful.

8. Generating and Testing Hypotheses. This skill involves the application of knowledge and moves students to higher cognitive levels.

9. Cues, Questions, and Advance Organizers. This set of strategies relate primarily to student retrieval of information. The authors identify strategies associated with effective questioning, including the use of higher levels of questions and wait times.

The busy school leader may want to consider this book or a companion book Handbook for Classroom Instruction That Works (Marzano, et al., 2001) for a book study.

How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School
© 2000 by John D. Bransford, Ann L. Brown, Rodney R. Cocking, Editors
National Research Council, Committee on Developments on the Science of Learning
Washington, DC: National Academy Press.

Bransford, Brown, and Cocking compile an impressive and broad overview of research on learners and learning and teachers and teaching in this important book.   Three key findings about learning are outlined in the opening chapter:

1. Students come to the classroom with preconceptions about how the world works. If their initial understanding is not engaged, they may fail to grasp new concepts and information, or they may learn them for purposes of a test but revert to their preconceptions outside the classroom.
2. To develop competence in an area of inquiry, students must: (a) have a deep foundation of factual knowledge, (b) understand facts and ideas in the context of a conceptual framework, and (c) organize knowledge in ways that facilitate retrieval and application.
3. A “meta-cognitive” approach to instruction can help students to learn to take control of their own learning by defining learning goals and monitoring their progress in achieving them.
   
   Basically, the authors offer three implications for teaching:

1. Teachers must draw out and work with the preexisting understandings that their students bring with them. 
2. Teachers must teach some subject matter in depth, providing many examples where the same concept is at work, therefore providing a firm foundation of factual knowledge.
3. The teaching of meta-cognitive skills should be integrated into the curriculum in a variety of subject areas.

The second part of the book is about learners and learning. Chapter two, “how experts differ from novices”, is fascinating. “Transfer”, the ability to extend what has been learned in one context to new contexts, is chapter three's topic. Chapter four concerns “how children learn” and chapter five summarizes the “mind and brain”. All chapters have short descriptions of research studies on learning accompanied by concrete teaching applications.  The research studies are in boxes and very easy to read. The teaching suggestions are clear and lend to immediate implementation.

The third part of the book is about teachers and teaching. Chapter six describes the How People Learn model (learner-centered, knowledge-centered, assessment-centered, community-centered) for organizing learning environments.  Chapter seven focuses on effective teaching and provides examples from history, mathematics, and science.  “Teacher learning” and “technology to support learning” are discussed in the next two chapters. 

How People Learn is a comprehensive work (374 pages) that references seminal works and over a hundred studies about learning.  It is not an easy read, but it contains information that all teachers need to know. There are so many ideas and strategies for improving teaching and, in turn student learning, that dedicated educators should read, discuss, reflect, and digest this volume. It should be read over time as part of a study group.

Two other books on the same theme are noteworthy.  First, a short book (78 pages) How People Learn: Bridging Research and Practice published in 2001 summarizes the lessons learned from the larger book.  A follow-up book, How Student Learn: Math, Science, and History in the Classroom was published in 2005.  This book includes: one chapter on the research, one chapter on strategies, and one chapter with classroom examples. It is a must read for math, science, and history teachers as well as for school leaders who want to provide more effective feedback to those teachers.

Beyond Monet: The Artful Integration of the Science of Teaching
© 2001 by Barrie Bennett and Carol Rolhesier
Ajax, ON: Bookation

Beyond Monet is an educators’ “encyclopedia” of research and practical ideas for implementing instructional theories and strategies. Bennett and Rolhesier argue that teachers need to continuously develop and hone their “instructional intelligence” over the stages of their career. They urge educators to be “consciously competent” about the science of instruction so they can artistically integrate and weave instructional concepts, skills, and strategies into the ever changing repertoire of effective educators. They begin with discussing expertise, creativity, and the complexity of teaching and learning. They have masterfully compiled and summarized a great deal material into twelve chapters, which allow school leaders and teachers a quick reference for a range of instructional topics. The book includes numerous one-page summaries, descriptions of dozens of instructional strategies, lesson plans, and examples of student work.

Beyond Monet presents a five-part framework for understanding the writing and research on instruction: instructional concepts, instructional skills, instructional tactics, instructional strategies, and instructional organizers.

1. Instructional concepts (levels of thinking, active participation, motivation) are those qualities of effective teaching that guide teachers as they orchestrate learning activities for students.
2. Instructional skills (wait time, framing and responding to questions) are specific and relatively simple instructional actions of teachers.
3. Instructional tactics (deBono’s CORT program strategies and Kagan’s cooperative learning structures) cut across most subject areas and grade levels; they are less complex than strategies.
4. Instructional strategies (cooperative learning, mind-maps and concept maps) involve a sequence of steps or a number of related concepts.
5. Instructional organizers (multiple intelligences, learning styles, gender, ethnicity, children at risk research) provide frameworks teachers need to consider and integrate as they make instructional decisions.

Beyond Monet is a well-researched and constructed book. Bennett and Rolhesier provide school leaders with a great resource for understanding instruction and guiding teachers in improving instruction. It is both theoretical and practical. This professional reference should be in every principal’s library and should be used on a regular basis to build instructional intelligence.

Primal Leadership
© 2002 by Daniel Goleman, Richard Boyatzis, and Annie McKee
Boston: Harvard Business School Press

Great leaders move us. They ignite our passion and inspire the best in us. Great leadership works through the emotions. Goleman, Boyatzis, and McKee explore the role of emotional intelligence (EI) in leadership. They draw on decades of research to study leadership behaviors and their impact on organizational success as measured by two criteria: productivity (financial returns) and climate. They argue that a leader’s emotions are contagious and set the tone for the organization. They show that resonant leaders – whether CEOs or managers, coaches, or politicians – excel not through skill and smarts, but by connecting with others using EI like empathy and self-awareness.

Resonant vs. Dissonant Leadership. When leaders drive emotions positively, they bring out everyone’s best. This is resonant leadership. Dissonant leadership produces groups that feel emotionally discordant (lack of harmony); in which people have a sense of being continually off-key. Laughter offers a ready barometer of resonance at work, while rampant anger, fear, apathy, and even sullen silence signal the opposite.

Revised Emotional Intelligence Framework. The authors explain EI competencies as the vehicles of primal leadership. There are four categories (see Emotional Intelligence review for the original EI framework).

Personal Competence: These capabilities determine how we manage ourselves.

* Self-Awareness (emotional self-awareness, accurate self-assessment, self-confidence
* Self-Management (emotional self-control, transparency, adaptability, achievement, initiative, optimism)

Social Competence: These capabilities determine how we manage relationships.

* Social Awareness (empathy, organizational awareness, service)

* Relationship Management (inspirational leadership, influence, developing others, change catalyst, conflict management, teamwork and collaboration)

Goleman et al. also describe the leadership repertoire they found in their investigation. They identified six leadership styles. The first four have positive impacts (resonant leadership) and the last two produce results (dissonant leadership).

* visionary – moves people toward shared dreams; has the strongest impact on climate; appropriate when change requires a new vision or when a clear direction is needed

* coaching – connects what a person wants with the organizational goals; has a highly positive impact on climate; appropriate to help an employee improve performance by building long term capability

* affiliative – creates harmony by connecting people to each other; has a positive impact on climate; appropriate to heal rifts in a team, motivate during stressful times, or strengthen connections

* democratic – values people’s input and gets commitment through participation; has a positive impact on climate; appropriate to build buy-in or consensus, or to get valuable input from employees

* pacesetting – meets challenging and exciting goals; because too frequently it is poorly executed, often has a highly negative impact on climate; appropriate to get high-quality results from a motivated and competent team

* commanding – soothes fears by giving clear direction in an emergency; because it is so often misused, it has highly negative impact on climate; appropriate in a crisis, to kick-start a turnaround, or with problem employees

The authors unpack the six leadership styles. They caution about using dissonant styles (pacesetting and commanding) and reveal five discoveries about becoming a resonant leader. People who successful change in sustainable ways cycle through five discoveries:

* the first discovery: my ideal self – who do I want to be?
* the second discovery: my real self – who am I am? What are my strengths and gaps?
* the third discovery: my learning agenda – how can I build on my strengths while reducing my gaps?
* the fourth discovery: experimenting with and practicing new behaviors, thoughts, and feelings to the point of mastery.
* the fifth discovery: developing supportive and trusting relationships that make change possible.

The authors provide numerous examples of different kinds of leaders and insert study excerpts in the text. They outline a proven process for leaders to: inspire and motivate people, cultivate resonant leadership through teams and organizations, and leverage resonance to increase bottom-line performance.

Reframing Organizations: Artistry, Choice, and Leadership
© 1991, 1997, 2003 by Lee Bolman and Terrence Deal
San Francisco: Jossey Bass

Boleman and Deal wrote Reframing Organizations to answer the question: What does organizational theory and research say that is genuinely important and useful for practitioners? They provide a clear and readable synthesis and integration of the major theoretical traditions in the field of organizations. Rather than offering solutions, they propose powerful ways of thinking about organizations and understanding the managerial problems they present. They introduce four basic lenses or frames for organizational analysis: structural, human resources, political, and symbolic. They use examples and case studies of different organizations (schools, sports, military, business) to illustrate their principles.

The structural frame describes the basic issues that managers need to consider in designing structural forms that fit an organization’s goals, tasks, and context. They also explain the major structural pathologies and pitfalls often encountered in organizations. They provide guidelines for diagnosing the structural configuration needed for a given situation and apply structural concepts using cases and examples (Harvard, McDonalds, Ceramics Limited).

The human resource frame focuses on the relationship between organizations and human beings. It shows how manager’s beliefs and practices lead to commitment or alienation. Boleman and Deal address conflict management and basic issues of effective group process. Strategies and practices that human resources managers need to consider are provided: participative management, job enrichment, self-managing work groups, organizational development, and Theory Z.

The political frame uses the case of the loss of the space shuttle Challenger to illustrate the political dynamics in organizational decision-making. This frame discusses how scarcity and diversity lead to conflict, bargaining, and power. It distinguishes between constructive and destructive political dynamics. The authors explain basic skills for the constructive politician: diagnosing political realities, setting agendas, building networks of support, negotiating, and making choices that are both effective and ethical. Political leaders shape the playing field to influence how the game is played, who the contestants are, and what rules are followed.

The symbolic frame demonstrates the power of symbol and culture in organizations. The basic symbolic elements are spelled out: myths, metaphors, stories, humor, play, rituals, and ceremonies. Organizational culture and its central role in determining organizational effectiveness is defined. Case examples of the U.S. Congress, Procter and Gamble, Scandinavian Air Systems, and a computer company are used to illustrate the symbolic frame.

The final part of the book has several chapters on “improving leadership practice.” The four-frame perspective is situated in the organizational research and scholarship. The authors write two chapters on reframing change; one on training and realignment and one on conflict and loss. They talk about leaders as architects and catalysts and as advocates and prophets. This comprehensive book on leadership requires time for reflection, time for analysis, and time to reframe one’s thinking and behavior. It provides much substance for a school leaders training program.

Leadership is An Art
© 1989 by Max dePree
New York: Doubleday

This is a wonderful little book full of gold nuggets. Max dePree, chairman and CEO of Herman Miller, Inc. (named by Fortune magazine as one of ten “best managed” and “most innovative” companies) shares his leadership wisdom in a clear and elegant manner using convincing language.

The art of leadership is “liberating people to do what is required of them in the most effective and humane way possible.” The leader is the “servant” of his followers in that he removes the obstacles that prevent them from doing their jobs. The true leader enables his or her followers to realize their full potential. Leadership is not a science or a discipline. It is an art; it must be felt, experienced, created.

dePree sums up the essence of being an artful leader: “The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between the two, the leader must become a servant and a debtor.” In chapter one he asserts that:

* leaders should leave behind them assets and a legacy
* leaders are obligated to provide and maintain momentum
* leaders are responsible for effectiveness
* leaders must take a role in developing, expressing, and defending civility and values

Throughout the book, he articulates his beliefs and principles, and offers guidelines as he introduces us to Herman Miller employees, tells stories, and reflects on great leaders in our time. We share a few samples here to entice you:

* having a say differs from having a vote (participative management)
* relationships count more that structures – structures do not have anything to do with trust – people build trust
* any concept of work rises from an understanding of the relationships between pitchers and catchers (theory fastball)
* roving leaders are those indispensable people in our lives who are there when we need them (roving leadership)
* intimacy is at the heart of competence – intimacy is about passion (intimacy)
* giants see opportunity where others see trouble (giant tales)
* tribal storytellers remind us of our history, our values, and our direction (tribal storytellers)
* everyone is an owner and an employee in every position (who owns this place)
* everyone has a right to, and an obligation for, simplicity and clarity in communication
* leaders need to learn to recognize the signs of impending deterioration

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team
© 2005 by Patrick Lencioni
San Francisco: Jossey Bass

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team is a quick and delightful read. The lessons about teamwork are presented in a leadership fable. The book tells the story of how Kathryn (a 57 year old school, blue-collarish executive) builds teamwork in a young upstart Silicon Valley technology company. We learn about the characters, the dysfunctions, and how she skilful teaches about and rebuilds the team to perform. The five dysfunctions (and ensuing results) are revealed as the fable unfolds.

Absence of Trust – Trust is the foundation of real teamwork. The first dysfunction is a failure on the part of the team members to understand and open up to one another. They admit their mistakes, their weaknesses, and their concerns without fear of reprisal. (The result is invulnerability.)

Fear of Conflict – If people don’t trust one another, then they aren’t going to engage in open, constructive, ideological conflict. (So instead, people observe a sense of artificial harmony.)

Lack of Commitment – Failure to commit to a plan and failure to buy into decisions is the third dysfunction. (And the evidence is ambiguity). When people don’t unload their opinions and feel like they have been listened to, they won’t really get on board.

Avoidance of Accountability – Team members holding each other accountable for the plan, the decisions, and for high standards of performance and behavior. Many people avoid confrontation because of interpersonal discomfort. (This leads to low standards.)

Inattention to Results – The tendency of team members to seek out individual recognition (status) and attention (ego) at the expense of results (collective results – the goals of the entire team).

The book ends with a chapter explaining the overall model, a team assessment instrument, and concrete, specific strategies for over coming the five dysfunctions of teams. A wise leader will organize a book study as part of his or her team building strategy.

Confidence: How Winning and Losing Streaks Begin and End
© 2004 by Rosabeth Moss Kanter
New York: Crown Publishers

“Confidence is the sweet spot between arrogance and despair. Arrogance involves the failure to see any flaws or weaknesses; despair is the failure to acknowledge any strengths.” “Where human effort and skill make a difference, success and failure easily become self-fulfilling prophecies.”

Drawing on sports, business, and education examples, Kanter reveals the characteristics and psychology of winning and losing streaks. Winning streaks motivate those inside organizations and attract greater investment from the outside. Losing streaks demotivate people and create a downward spiral of investment. She identified “”confidence as the link between expectations, performance and results.”

Kanter discusses four levels of confidence related to winning: self-confidence (an emotional climate of high expectations), confidence in one another (positive team-oriented behavior), confidence in the system, and external confidence (attracting resources). She also describes the nine pathologies that occur in losing streaks: communication decreases, criticism and blame increase, respect decreases, isolation increases, focus turns inward, rifts widen, initiatives decreases, aspirations diminish, and negativity spreads.

When a company is on a winning streak internal confidence is characterized by good moods, positive behaviors, good problem solving, and discipline and practices. External confidence is characterized by positive attention, increased resources, good deals, and continuity and self-determination. Alternatively, when an organization is on a losing streak, internal confidence is characterized by bad moods, dysfunctional behaviors, poor problem solving, and the erosion of disciplines and practices. External confidence is characterized by bad press, declining resources, poor deals, disruptions and distractions.

Kanter offers three cornerstones for turning losing streaks around. The first stone is “facing facts and reinforcing responsibility.” People need to get beyond denial, face facts, and restore responsibility. This means:
* straight talk about problems and expectations
* having the courage to admit responsibility for problems
* open dialogue and widespread communication
* setting priorities and attending to details
* providing performance feedback

The second stone is “cultivating collaboration.” Restoring people’s confidence in one another, requires four kinds of action:
* getting connected in new ways through new conversations
* carrying out important work jointly
* communicating respect
* demonstrating inclusion

The third cornerstone involves “inspiring initiative and innovation.” Four guiding principles include:
* believe in people and their power to make a difference
* direct energy tied up in negativity, into positive action
* make initiative possible and desirable
* start with small wins, things that people can control

The work of leaders, asserts Kanter, is to build the confidence of others. Leaders build confidence by espousing high standards in their messages, modeling their standards in their behavior, and establishing formal structures and strategies for achieving standards. Attracting human and financial resources, motivating for excellence, and ensuring a coherent direction are the work of leaders who strive to create winning streaks.

Kanter teaches us these lessons in her typical story telling way. She uses many examples of effective (winning) and ineffective (losing) companies and organizations. Her analytic descriptions paint a clear picture of possibilities all leaders can implement.

Student Achievement Through Staff Development
© 1988, 1995, 2002 by Bruce Joyce and Beverly Shower
Alexandria, VA: ASCD

Joyce and Showers are two of the definitive researchers on staff development. In the early 1980s, they published a review of research on training design and a set of hypotheses relating to transfer of new learning to classroom practice. For over three decades, they have been working with practitioners and studying the effects of staff development.

In this third edition of their book, they assert that four conditions must be present if staff development is to significantly affect student learning. The book is organized around the study of these four elements:

* A community of professionals comes together who study together, put into practice what they are learning, and share the results.

* The content of staff development develops around curricular and instructional strategies selected because they have high probability of affecting student learning – and, as important, student ability to learn. The selection of content for staff development is a critical decision and should be driven by student achievement concerns.

* The magnitude of change generated is sufficient that the students’ gain in knowledge and skills is palpable. What is taught, how it is taught, and the social climate have to change to the degree that the increase in student ability to learning is manifest

* The processes of staff development enable educators to develop the skill to implement what they are learning. Coaching is critical to changing and implementing teaching practices.

They describe six case examples of the staff development programs that resulted in student achievement gains (Just Read, Second Chance/Read to Succeed, Success for All, The River City School Improvement Program, University City, and The Schenley School Project.

They provide detailed a framework and guidelines for organizing powerful staff development programs: study of theory, demonstration, practice, and coaching. They offer the school leader frameworks for understanding levels of transfer (imitative use, mechanical use, routine use, integrated use, and executive use) and the growth states of educators (gourmet omnivores, active consumers, passive consumers, reticents). They also describe three staff development studies and their implications for leadership.

These are only some of the highlights of the book; there is much more for those interested in how to support teacher and administrator learning. School development ultimately depends on the individual development of its members. Joyce and Showers lead the way in helping us understand how to organize and evaluate staff development programs that impact student achievement.

Leadership for Learning, How to Help Teachers Succeed
© 2002 by Carl D. Glickman

Carl Glickman has been writing for over 25 years about teacher supervision, growth, and development. His first book, Developmental Supervision, was published in 1980. When ASCD invited him to write a follow-up book 20 years later, he took the opportunity to share his accumulated thinking on teachers and leaders engaged in the work of improving teaching to improve student learning. Leadership for Learning is an excellent book written in a positive tone. Glickman offers concise descriptions of approaches, structures, and practical applications of leadership for continuous improvement of classroom teaching and learning within the context of whole-school improvement.

A model presented in chapter one frames the organization of professional knowledge for school leaders. Chapter two provides a brief overview of four structures (clinical supervision, peer coaching, critical friends, classroom action research or study groups) for classroom assistance that are most useful in schools. Chapter three presents formats (Danielson’s framework, using student work, using open ended questionnaires) for understanding and observing teachers in action. Particularly helpful is the Instructional Leader Behavioral Continuum presented in chapter four. Glickman discusses the range of behaviors and approaches (nondirective, collaborative, directive-informational, directive-control) a leader can adopt. An instructional leadership beliefs inventory is also provided. Each of the four approaches is described in chapter five with clear examples and scenarios.

In chapter six, teachers’ levels of commitment and levels of abstract thinking are discussed and presented in a figure with quadrants defining four types of teachers (teacher dropouts, unfocused workers, analytical observers, and professionals). In the final chapter, Glickman returns to the big picture of classroom and school improvement. He finishes with a strong statement about the importance of separating teacher supervision (growth and professional development) from teacher evaluation (for tenure, contract continuation, and contract renewal).

This short book is powerful and full of specific suggestions, descriptions, frameworks, and examples for promoting the continuous development of teachers and improvement of instruction. Another keeper for the school leader’s library.

Powerful Designs, New Approaches Ignite Professional Learning
© 1999,  Volume 20, No. 3, Journal of Staff Development, National Staff Development Council

When teachers are learning, students learn more. When we think about teachers learning, we often think about workshops, conferences, and courses. This book offers alternative strategies for engaging teachers in job embedded professional learning. The first three chapters are devoted the explaining the National Staff Development Council (NSDC) context, process, and content PD standards (12 in total). The remaining chapters are written by 21 different authors, recognized national experts on the different professional development approaches. Each chapter begins with a scenario, then provides an overview and rationale of the strategy, followed by detailed instructions. Each chapter ends by identifying critical elements. Resources and references for further reading are also included. The CD in the book jacket has handouts to supplement the text. Here is a sampling for the curious reader.

Classroom Walk-Throughs (Margaret Ginsberg) – CWT are four- to five-minute regular visits to classrooms by instructional leaders that provide a school-wide snapshot, over time, of classroom environments, learning experiences, and student perspectives. The purpose of walk-throughs is to view the entire school, not to evaluate individual schools. Walk-throughs are most influential when they serve as a catalyst for reflective school-wide discussion.

Critical Friends Groups (Stevi Quate) – A CFG is a group of six to ten educators who meet monthly for at least two hours for structured professional conversations about their work and to deepen their knowledge of their craft. CFGs are generally facilitated by a trained lead teacher. Teachers bring copies of student work and protocols focus the discussions.

Lesson Study (Catherine Lewis) – Originating in Japan, lesson study is a cycle of instructional improvement focused on planning, observing, and revising research lessons. Research lessons are classroom lessons that provide an opportunity for teachers to plan together, observe each other teaching, provide feedback,and revise, and polish lessons, followed by re-teaching.

Peer Coaching (Pam Robbins) – Peer coaching is a confidential process in which two or more colleagues work together to reflect on current practices and give one another feedback based on observation. Peer coaching, whether formal or informal, involves observations of classroom teaching and discussions (before and after). The coach provides another set of eyes and serves as a mirror.

Study Groups (Carlene Murphy) – Study groups are a form of job-embedded professional learning and informal research in which teachers meet to read, research, and share knowledge about a topic. Study groups can choose a topic and review a variety of resources or focus on reading a book together.

The reader looking for articles on the various strategies will also want to consult the 1999 summer issue of the Journal of Staff Development (see below). This theme issue was a forerunner to the book. The articles are concise and provide brief overviews of various strategies. The two make a nice companion set for a busy school leader.

Powerful Designs, New Approaches Ignite Professional Learning
© 1999, Volume 20, No. 3, Journal of Staff Development
Oxford, OH: National Staff Development Council

Now, Discover Your Strengths
© 2001 by The Gallup Organization
New York: The Free Press

The “now” in this title refers back to the authors, Marcus Buckingham’s and Donald O. Clifton, PhD’s, preceding title on this topic, “First, Break All The Rules.” Both are based on the immense research database compiled by famed Gallup Organization, which interviewed over a million employees from 160 companies. They concentrated on compiling common traits of successful people, from all walks of life. They included teachers, CEOs, CFOs, secretaries, artists, managers, planners, and more. Surprisingly, only 20% said they used their strengths everyday. This suggests that a huge reserve of human capital is underutilized. A solution is to encourage leaders and managers to pursue professional development in an employee’s strongest field.

The author’s research revealed two common themes in the lives of successful workers. First, they break the rules frequently, and do not rely on convention. Second, they discover and capitalize on their strengths rather than dabble in different fields, partially developing different skills. They are people who choose to consistently fill in the gaps of their weaknesses rather create something new.

More specifically, for organizations, the authors present the following concepts:

* Most organizations operate on two flawed assumptions
                  - Anyone can become competent in anything
                  - A person’s greatest room for improvement is found in their greatest weakness.
* Peak performers capitalize on their strengths and manage around their weaknesses. This can be accomplished by:
                 - Solving problems small steps at a time.
                 - Designing a support system, that is finding short cuts to get around problems e.g. writing notes in a notebook and not on sticky notes, if you tend to lose small pieces of paper or never sending a critical email before sleeping on it, if you have a short temper.
                 - Finding a partner who is good at things you are not.
                 - Overwhelming a weakness with a strength e.g. golfer Tiger Woods is not good in sand traps, so he has developed a powerful swing that avoids them.
                 - Simply bypassing tasks where you have little talent or expertise.
* The notion that excellent performers are well rounded is a myth. Most people who are good at one thing cannot transfer that skill to another area, e.g. a good teacher may not be a good website developer, and should not spend time working on that skill at the expense of developing instructional skills.

These concepts are important because they guide education leaders to discover their strengths and develop those strengths to increase their teaching skills, deep knowledge and understanding their students.

An interesting and important feature of this book is that it provides a keycode to access an Internet assessment based on the Gallup research. Readers can answer a list of 180 questions that help uncover their primary “talent themes.” In fact, some have suggested that “Discover Your Talents” might be a more appropriate title, since talents are somewhat innate. Talents become strengths, and people from all walks and ages should discover their talents early. Then they can develop those talents to become their strengths.

Developer of HR
National Staff Development Council
www.nsdc.org

The National Staff Development Council has been a key organization devoted to professional development for over thirty years.  This is the professional organization for staff developers, teacher leaders, and consultants. NSDC has several publications, two annual conferences, academy training, and offers customized professional develop assessments and training for districts and state. 

The Journal of Staff Development is published quarterly. There is always a theme for each issue as well as regular columns (leading edge, group wise, book reviews, an interview).  Some recent themes:

• Improving High-Performing Schools (spring 2006)
• Writing (Summer 2006)
• How Culture Affects Learning (Fall 206)
• Support for School-Based Coaches (Winter 2007)

NSDC also publishes four other newsletter eight times a year.  They provide stories, tools, and reviews.

• The Learning Principal
• The Learning System
• Tools for Schools
• Teachers Teaching Teachers (electronic)

Each  NSDC organizes an annual conference in December. This past year was there 29th.  Each summer the organization organizes a conference for school based coaches. The third annual will be in Denver in July 2007.

Principals should seriously consider joining NSDC.