Full Description
Presents an easy-to-read, practical guide to effectively leading school improvement. This book walks leaders through each step of 'The School Improvement Cycle' developed by Bendikson and Meyer, providing case studies, examples, and helpful tools from primary and secondary schools for the implementation of each step. The book will support school leaders in implementing improvement cycles without making the classic mistakes of failing to develop measures of improvement and test change actions before scaling up. Schools and system leaders will benefit greatly from this practical guide, in which Bendikson and Meyer demonstrate that implementing improvement cycles is not a difficult process. While the book uses examples from Australian and New Zealand schools, the lessons that the book teaches can be applied to school leaders everywhere. The authors show how to make the complex work of improving student learning and outcomes at least somewhat simpler. They do this by describing and illustrating improvement steps that they have found to work in practice, providing examples from their work in schools to show the application of these ideas. If implemented properly, the cycles become "self-propelling," thus reducing the cognitive load involved in planning how to improve. A range of evidence from international research and the authors' own research and development work in schools explains the cycle and illustrate it. The book is entitled It's Not Rocket Science because this is the common reaction from leaders once they understand the improvement cycle process. The book is perfect for a variety of courses in Education Leadership, Professional Development, and any other curriculum devoted to improving schools and student performance.
Contents
List of Figures
List of Tables
Acknowledgements
Foreword by Helen Timperley, PhD
Introduction
Chapter One: Introducing the School Improvement Cycle
Chapter Two: A Case Study of Gauguin Primary
Chapter Three: A Case Study of O'Keeffe College
Chapter Four: Defining the Problem and the Goal
Chapter Five: Developing the Theory for Improvement
Chapter Six: Narrowing the Focus to Quick Wins
Chapter Seven: Developing the Measures and Establishing the Baseline
Chapter Eight: Analysing Causes and Designing Strategies
Chapter Nine: Implementing Strategies
Chapter Ten: Checking and Refining
Chapter Eleven: Leading Improvement—The Human Side of Change
About the Authors
Index
NOTE: Info subject to change up until publication date.
