Principals wear many hats, but the most significant role they have is improving teaching and learning so all students are successful. Bridging Leadership and School Improvement: Advice from the Field features narratives of successful principals across multiple states in the US, who have not only improved their schools but have created supportive and inclusive learning communities for both teachers and students. Each practitioner-author discusses an improvement practice that they successfully implemented in their school and key theories that support their practice. This book highlights how successful school leaders bridge theory and practice to improve school cultures, teaching, and learning.

"Trust is the single greatest indicator of successful leadership." This research-based observation is a definitive and shared conclusion within a wide range of industry sectors (e.g., manufacturing, retail, technology, government, non-profit organizations). Research also indicates that when high levels of trust mark school leadership, positive and significant influences on schoolwide improvement occur and are sustainable. Toby Travis utilizes a suspension bridge analogy to explain the roles and functions of trusted leadership, which are critical to school improvement initiatives. Dr. Travis outlines the six trusted school leadership components that must be in place for leaders to positively affect and direct school improvement. If any of the components are not securely in place, successful transit over the bridge to school improvement can be hazardous or even catastrophic. Learn how to assess, develop, repair, and ensure that all six leadership components are properly in place so that your school or district is TrustED®. View the TrustED Framework Overview video at https://videopress.com/v/oRcHsEmZ. About the Author: Dr. Toby A. Travis is the founder of TrustED®, a framework for school improvement focused on developing trusted leaders. The application of his research serves as the basis for the TrustED® School Leader 360 Assessment, which schools worldwide utilize to inform school improvement initiatives. In addition, he is an Executive Consultant with the Global School Consulting Group, an Adjunct Professor for the International Graduate Program of Educators for the State University of New York College at Buffalo, and an experienced teacher and administrator of PS-12 schools.

Too much change, not enough improvement Planned changes often fail because those designing them underestimate the complexity of implementation. Reduce Change to Increase Improvement provides a practical structure for helping system and school leaders increase improvement while reducing ineffective change and innovation. By drilling down to the beliefs and values that inform the actual practice of change leaders, Robinson identifies the mindset, processes, and actual behaviors that contribute to successful reform efforts and, importantly, provide school leaders with concrete tools that enable them to be more effective. The structures described in the book are illustrated by numerous examples, cases, and conversation extracts and center on four phases of engagement: Agreeing about the problem to be solved Revealing the beliefs that sustain the current practices Evaluating the relative merit of the existing practices and proposed theory Implementing and monitoring the new theory of action "Finally, a serious, evidence-proven book about educational change that takes a different tact – beginning with the impact on the learner. Reduce Change to Increase Improvement is a treasure-trove of concrete information for educational leaders. Robinson, always cautious about "change for change sake", brilliantly delineates each step of the way for leaders using authentically-documented conversations and practical discussion-starters that guide us through this collective inquiry approach towards student improvement. All leaders need this concise, clearly-stated text to guide their intentional improvement practices. —Dr. Lyn Sharratt, International Consultant and Author OISE, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada

This book is a descriptive treatment of the Professional Standards for Education Leaders (PSEL), developed by several professors in Kentucky who teach graduate ed leadership courses, and their colleagues at the Kentucky Department of Education. PSEL has been adopted by the Kentucky Educational Professional Standards Board as the leadership standards that drive instruction and practice. This resource is an excellent guide for any school leader, as it breaks down PSEL, and follows with bulleted examples and scenarios that illustrate ‘best practice’ in serving a school effectively and creating a culture of school improvement.

Bridge the gap between good intentions and real results Instructional Leadership is one of the most researched and discussed leadership practices, but most school leaders don’t know where to begin or how to balance this role with all of their other responsibilities. Peter DeWitt’s Instructional Leadership provides practical tools for delivering lasting improvement through small, manageable changes over time. This step-by-step, how-to guide presents the six driving forces of instructional leadership—implementation, focus on learning, student engagement, instructional strategies, efficacy, and evaluation of impact—within an easy-to-follow, multi-stage implementation model. It also includes: · Practical strategies grounded in research · "Entry point" sections highlighting the best places to start · Help working with PLCs, faculty meetings, teacher observations, and walkthroughs · Study questions As a leader, you are the guide for your teachers, staff, and students. Let this book guide you to a vision of instructional leadership that really works.

The Institute of Medicine study Crossing the Quality Chasm (2001) recommended that an interdisciplinary summit be held to further reform of health professions education in order to enhance quality and patient safety. Health Professions Education: A Bridge to Quality is the follow up to that summit, held in June 2002, where 150 participants across disciplines and occupations developed ideas about how to integrate a core set of competencies into health professions education. These core competencies include patient-centered care, interdisciplinary teams, evidence-based practice, quality improvement, and informatics. This book recommends a mix of approaches to health education improvement, including those related to oversight processes, the training environment, research, public reporting, and leadership. Educators, administrators, and health professionals can use this book to help achieve an approach to education that better prepares clinicians to meet both the needs of patients and the requirements of a changing health care system.

"In 100-Day Leaders: Making a Difference Right Now in Every School, authors Robert Eaker and Douglas Reeves suggest a new way of thinking about leadership. Whether the project is large in scope, such as changing the orientation of a school to Professional Learning Communities, or smaller in scope, such as the development of formative assessments or new grading practices in a single semester, the 100-Day Leader brings a sense of daily accomplishment, feedback, mid-course corrections, focus, and encouragement to the organization--from the classroom to the board room. Eaker and Reeves offer an integrated approach in which the leader sees connections that may not be apparent to others in the organization. Curriculum, assessment, facilities, transportation, food service, teacher evaluation, board relationships and a host of other complex interactions are at the heart of the 100-Day Leader. This book offers a practical guide for leaders at every level to make immediate transformations in culture, practice, and performance"--

Crisis and Pandemic Leadership: Implications for Meeting the Needs of Students, Teachers, and Parents provides the theoretical and practical strategies necessary for a school leader to confront many crises that inevitably occur. A major theme is that an effective school leader must possess several characteristics and skills including, among others, intestinal fortitude, foresight and insight, a positive long-term outlook, and organizational and interpersonal competencies.

Preparing Principals for a Changing World provides a hands-on resource for creating and implementing effective policies and programs for developing expert school leaders. Written by acclaimed author and educator Linda Darling-Hammond and experts Debra Meyerson, Michelle LaPointe, and Margaret Terry Orr, this important book examines the characteristics of successful educational leadership programs and offers concrete recommendations to improve programs nationwide. In a study funded by the Wallace Foundation, Darling-Hammond and the team examined eight exemplary principal development programs, as well as state policies and principals' experiences across the country. Using the data from the study, they reveal how successful programs are structured, the skills and knowledge participants gain, and what they are able to do in practice as school leaders as a result. What do these exemplary programs have in common? Aggressive recruitment; close ties with schools in the community; on-the-ground training under the wing of expert principals, and a strong emphasis on the cutting-edge theories of instructional and transformational leadership. In addition to highlighting the programs' similarities, the study also explains the differences among the programs and sheds light on the effectiveness of approaches and models from different states and contexts?East, West, North, and South; urban and rural; pre-service and in-service. The authors analyze program outcomes for principals and their schools, including illustrative case studies and educators' voices on the influence of programs' strategies for recruitment, internships, mentoring, and coursework. The ideas and suggestions outlined in Preparing Principals for a Changing World are presented with the goal of increasing the number of highly qualified, thoughtful, and innovative educational leaders.

Successful principals today need skills in both management and leadership because both are essential to achieve success in all facets of running a school—one is not necessarily more important than the other. However, there are not many books solely devoted to school management. Most work on school management is part of larger works on school administration. Managing Today’s Schools: New Skills for School Leaders in the 21st Century is unique in that the focus on managerially operating a school does not hinder discussion on the interconnectedness between management and leadership. Additionally, emphasis is placed on 21st- century cutting-edge ideas about school management. Each chapter includes case study-type scenarios with thought-provoking questions that simultaneously summarize the chapter while also helping readers think about the ways they might put the ideas of the chapter into practice.