Urban School Leadership E-Book

Tom Payzant

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Bildung
• Serie: JB Leadership Library in Education
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 299

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2010

Beschreibung

This important book, written by educational expert and urban school leader, Tom Payzant, offers a realistic understanding of what urban school leadership looks like from the inside. Payzant shares his first-hand knowledge of the unique managerial, instructional, and political tasks of this role. Effectively combining practical lessons and research, Urban School Leadership includes in-depth analysis of various leadership concerns. The book covers topics such as improving student achievement, working with unions, building community, and maintaining and developing resources. Most importantly, it offers stories of real school leaders whose successes and missteps reveal the inherent "messiness" of this difficult job. Urban School Leadership is part of the Jossey-Bass Leadership Library in Education series. "This important book provides compelling examples of how effective leaders can have hope, see progress, and achieve success for all children in the schools and districts they lead."--Richard Riley, former United States Secretary of Education "Tom Payzant is one of the few people who could provide such a comprehensive, useful book for educational leaders at all levels. This very practical book is grounded in the important experiences and impressive judgment of one of our nation's most successful school superintendents"--Jon Schnur, co-founder and CEO, New Leaders for New Schools "Tom Payzant is one of the finest urban educators of our generation. Urban School Leadership is compelling, crisp, and wise--providing a clear path for those dedicated to improving the trajectory of children's lives."--Timothy F.C. Knowles, executive director, Center for Urban School Improvement, University of Chicago "Urban School Leadership is a must read for anyone interested in the landscape of urban public education in America."--Beverly Hall, superintendent, Atlanta Public Schools

Leseprobe

Contents

The Authors

Chapter 1: Our Urban Schools

The Challenge of Urban Scale

Globalization and Technology

Equity and Ambiguity

Competition, Choice, and Public Perception of Schools

Human Capital

School and District Reform

Chapter 2: The Legal, Political, and Fiscal Landscape

Governance Structures

Governance of Charter and Pilot Schools

Cogovernance Structures

The Principal’s Role Expanded

Resource Allocation

The Art of Politics

Policies

Collective Bargaining, Contracts, and Compensation

The Roles of the Superintendent and School Board

Chapter 3: Serving Urban School Children

Racial and Ethnic Composition

Poverty

Low-Performing Schools: Effects of Poverty and Racism

Understanding the Inner Workings of Urban Schools

What’s a School Community to Do?

A Story of Success

Conclusion

References

Chapter 4: Managing People

Preparation Programs

Pre-Service Training

Certification for Teachers and Leaders

Hiring Strategies for Urban School Districts and Schools

Other HR Challenges

Teacher and Principal Residency Programs

Assignment

Induction and Staff Support

Teacher and Leader Retention

Conclusion

Chapter 5: Urban School Leadership Skills

The Risk of Stagnation and the Need for Change

Empowering People

Common Leadership Roles

Difficult Speeches

Tough Decisions

Chapter 6: Challenges Facing the Next Generation of Urban School Leaders

Race

Analysis of Data: Number Crunching

Instructional Improvement

Achievement Gaps

Strategies to Close Achievement Gaps

Special Education

English Language Learners

Leading from the Middle

Federal and State Roles

Conclusion

Chapter 7: Conclusion

Characteristics of Leaders

Frameworks and Strategies for Improving Student Achievement

Key Elements for the Design and Implementation of Systemic Reform Plans in Urban Schools

Index

More Praise for Urban School Leadership

“Leadership in America’s schools and school districts is a critical element in bringing high-quality education to all children in America. Tom Payzant is widely recognized for his stellar work as one of America’s top educational leaders. In Urban School Leadership, he provides current and aspiring school and school district leaders, school board members, and other education policymakers with answers to key questions they must identify to educate all children to meet high standards—which, in previous times, were expected only of the select few. This important book provides compelling examples of how effective leaders can have hope, see progress, and achieve success for all children in the schools and districts they lead.”

—Richard Riley, former United States Secretary of Education

“Tom Payzant is one of the finest urban educators of our generation. Policy makers, practitioners, and parents should all read this book. Urban School Leadership is compelling, crisp, and wise—providing a clear path for those dedicated to improving the trajectory of children’s lives.”

—Timothy F. C. Knowles, Executive Director, Center for Urban School Improvement, University of Chicago

“Tom Payzant’s Urban School Leadership is must reading for anyone interested in the landscape of urban public education in America. It constitutes a one-stop, comprehensive picture of a truly American institution that is challenged on numerous fronts today more than ever before.”

—Beverly Hall, Superintendent, Atlanta Public Schools

“Tom Payzant’s unparalleled experience as an educational leader is clearly reflected in Urban School Leadership. He describes the increasingly complex landscape today’s district and school leaders need to understand in order to shape urban systems capable of educating all students. Astute and practical!”

—Naomi Cooperman, Ed.D., Director of Curriculum and Instruction, Teaching Matters, Inc.

The Jossey-Bass

Education Series

THE JOSSEY-BASS

Leadership Library in Education

•

Andy Hargreaves

Consulting Editor

The Jossey-Bass Leadership Library in Education is a distinctive series of original, accessible, and concise books designed to address some of the most important challenges facing educational leaders. Its authors are respected thinkers in the field who bring practical wisdom and fresh insight to emerging and enduring issues in educational leadership. Packed with significant research, rich examples, and cutting-edge ideas, these books will help both novice and veteran leaders understand their practice more deeply, and make schools better places to learn and work.

Andy Hargreaves is the Thomas More Brennan Chair in Education in the Lynch School of Education at Boston College. He is the author of numerous books on culture, change, and leadership in education.

For current and forthcoming titles in the series, please see the last pages of this book.

Tom Payzant

Copyright © 2011 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

Published by Jossey-Bass

A Wiley Imprint

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Payzant, Thomas W.

Urban school leadership / by Thomas W. Payzant.

p. cm.—(The Jossey-Bass leadership library in education)

Includes index.

ISBN 978-0-7879-8621-6 (pbk.) ISBN 978-0-4709-1835-7 (ebk.)

ISBN 978-0-4709-1836-4 (ebk.) ISBN 978-0-4709-1837-1 (ebk.)

1. Education, Urban. 2. Educational leadership. 3. School management and organization. I. Title.

LC5115.P39 2010

371.2009173’2—dc22

2010023121

The Authors

Tom Payzant is currently a professor of practice at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. The focus of his work is leadership and systemic reform in urban school districts and schools. He served as superintendent of the Boston Public Schools from 1995 until his retirement in 2006. For most of the 1980s, Payzant was superintendent of the San Diego public schools, then became Assistant Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education during the Clinton administration. In 1998, he was named Massachusetts Superintendent of the Year. He also received the McGraw Prize for his leadership of the San Diego school system from 1982 through 1993. Throughout his career Dr. Payzant has kept abreast of the professional and research literature and contributed to it regularly. His essays, book chapters, book prefaces, and book reviews have been directed to both professional educators and policy makers.

Janice Jackson is an independent education consultant with a focus on leadership and organizational change in public schools and districts, equity strategies, teaching and learning, teachers’ and principals’ professional identity, and reflective judgment of principals and teachers. Her last roles were Lecturer on Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and the Senior Associate on the Wallace funded Executive Leadership Program for Educators. Dr. Jackson is also a faculty member in the Leadership for Change Program in the Carroll School of Management at Boston College. She entered higher education after serving as the Deputy Superintendent for the Boston Public Schools. During the first term of the Clinton Administration she served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education.

Urban School Leadership

Chapter 1

Our Urban Schools

Leaders are shaped in part by the context in which they lead. By context I mean the different environments and settings wherein leaders engage with others. Successful leaders are often able to effect changes in context, which are prerequisites for altering what is and creating the conditions for what could be. Whether results are positive or negative depends on many factors. Leaders may be able to control some factors; others defy their influence. Followers will often disagree with leaders as to what should be sustained and what should be changed, why change is necessary, what the pace of change should be, or whether change should occur at all. Understanding context is essential to principals’ and superintendents’ ability to develop strategies for leading change and improvement in urban schools and school districts.

The focus of this book is leadership in America’s urban schools and school districts, particularly the principals and superintendents who, with teachers and other staff, educate millions of children in elementary, middle, and high schools across America. The quality of instruction in classrooms and the effectiveness of leadership in schools and school districts are the most important variables that schools can influence to improve student achievement. I believe that there are both generic characteristics of effective leadership and particular characteristics that are defined by the purposes of the organizations or institutions leaders lead, and by the contexts in which these organizations function. I will use both my general experience with leadership and my own work and experience serving as a superintendent in five school districts—Springfield Township, Pennsylvania; Eugene, Oregon; Oklahoma City; San Diego; and, most recently, Boston—to convey to aspiring and current school and school district leaders the importance of this work, the challenges they face in doing it, and how it is possible to make a positive difference in the lives of the students they serve.