Full Description
"This second edition is moving, realistic, and candid. New chapters on how to negotiate accountability pressures and the seasons of an educational leader's life are excellent. Every would-be and present administrator would benefit from reading this book."
-Seymour B. Sarason, Professor Emeritus of Psychology, Yale University
Identify and prevent potential career derailment!
School leaders deal with pressures, pitfalls, and opportunities every day. The authors maintain that creative leaders can keep schools moving in the right direction by reflecting on their natural talents and maximizing the strengths of their staff.
This completely updated guide helps you assess your role as an administrator, shows how you might sabotage your prospects for promotion or retention, and provides strategies to remedy the situation. Two new chapters address the political realities of the No Child Left Behind Act and answer these queries:
What causes an educational leader to derail?
What are potential accountability and high-stakes testing derailment factors?
What skills are most important for improving data-driven decision making, student achievement, and test results?
This new edition will help you start, or keep, your forward momentum and get you closer to your ideal job.
Contents
Contents
Preface
Acknowledgments
About the Authors
Prologue: A Cautionary Tale
1. Accountability and High-Stakes Testing
The National Level
The State Level
The School-System Level
The School Level
Conclusion
2. Self-Assessment Checklists
Checklist A
Checklist B
Conclusion
3. What Causes Educational Leaders to Derail?
Causes of Assistant Principal and Principal Derailment
Causes of Superintendent Derailment
Conclusion
4. Antiderailment Strategies
The Recommendations
Conclusion
5. Professional and Personal Plans for Development
What Works and Doesn't Work in Professional Development
Professional Development Recommendations for a School or School System
A Personal Development Plan for Improvement
Conclusion
6. Preparing Teacher Leaders for Tomorrow's Leadership Positions
A Grounding for Teacher Leader Development
The Realities of Context in Which Teachers Lead
The Teacher Leader and the Presentation of Self
The Teacher Leader and Meetings
The Teacher Leader as Networker
Conclusion
7. The Seasons of An Educational Leader's Career
Preparing the Way to Become an Educational Administrator
Entering Educational Administration
Settling In—The Middle Years
The Later Years as an Educational Administrator
Conclusion
Afterword
Resources
References
Index
