Leading With Administrator Clarity

Learn and grow as a more effective administrator and help shape student lives for the better with Leading with Administrator Clarity. This resource, made just for aspiring, new, and veteran school leaders, principals, superintendents, and even teacher leaders, will help you lead your school using intentionality as a key to create sustainable success and impact. Practicing administrative clarity, or the idea that transparent expectations lead to increased teacher and student achievement, has never been more accessible. In combination, the factors which make up Administrator Clarity can set the stage for a good staff to become great and a great staff to become unstoppable. Inside you'll find: - Research-based practices to assist in creating a culture that fosters student achievement - Personal anecdotes and stories from practicing school leaders - Hands-on, practical, and easily portable resources for school administrators in their daily work and life. - Details on the tools and competencies needed to be intentional and clear in order to cultivate communication, foster a responsive culture, and inspire teachers and teacher leaders Let Leading with Administrator Clarity guide you to learn and grow as an effective administrator and to increase your positive impact for all members of your campus community.

To make a lasting impact, start with your own learning. What’s better: a rigorous system that emphasizes traditional academics, or an innovative one that prepares students for tomorrow’s world? With McDowell’s new model of educational leadership, you don’t have to choose. You can create an impactful system that ensures growth for all students in both core academic content and 21st-century skills. The Lead Learner shows you how starting with your own professional learning helps you plan for and meet the unique learning needs of staff and students—while getting the biggest impact from your limited time. You’ll also find ways to: Ensure clarity in strategic planning Establish coherence throughout the system Enact system-wide capacity-building processes Craft your personal leadership skills With practical examples, stories from the field, and numerous activities and reflective questions, this insightful book takes you step-by-step through the work of the learning leader—so you can ensure engaged learning for all. The enduring contribution of this book is in the guidance it provides leaders to recognize that they are part, an important part, but just a part, of a networked system. As such, their decisions and actions send messages throughout the system about what is valued and what is not. Take heed to McDowell’s advice and you’ll have a healthy, growth-producing system that will be the envy of those around you. The work is possible, the information is available, and the results are clear. Douglas Fisher San Diego State University

While leaders may desire or have been told that they must put certain structures into place in order to enhance their leadership capabilities, they may not know exactly what structures are needed, or the skills that are required for implementation. Authors Michael Fullan and Lyle Kirtman go beyond simply telling you what you need to put in place to enhance leadership—they detail the route to successful leadership. Coherent School Leadership will show you how to combine the components of Fullan's Coherence Framework (the Framework) with Kirtman's 7 Competencies for Highly Effective Leaders (the Competencies) to drive coherence—the shared depth of understanding about the nature of the work and how it impacts the results desired for student achievement—to change the culture in schools from reactive to proactive. Fullan and Kirtman, whose work is based in practice, will: - Show you how to use specific competencies to drive coherence - Provide examples that show how other leaders have successfully created coherence - Guide you through the day-to-day distractions/stresses so that you can stay on course - Show you how to use the Competencies in relation to the Framework Taking a world view of the forces that could destabilize education and the work of coherence, Coherent School Leadership will show how proven frameworks such as the Framework and the Competencies can help you cope with even the most complex scenarios.

Sharpen your instructional leadership skills and guide your school toward equity and excellence for all. Just think about how great schools could be if every instructional leader exercised their influence to create change—maximizing the efforts of others and mobilizing those efforts to work toward a shared goal. How Leadership Works: A Playbook for Instructional Leaders walks educators through the processes of clarifying, articulating, and actualizing instructional leadership goals with the aim of delivering on the promise of equity and excellence for all. Grounded in Visible Learning® research, the exercises in this easy-to-use playbook illuminate the essential mindframes necessary for effective instructional leadership and prompt veteran, new, and aspiring educators to identify challenges and determine next steps. It includes: Ten essential mindframes for leaders, together with the leadership practices that illustrate each mindframe in action Teaching practices, such as teacher clarity or student engagement in learning, that support teachers in delivering quality instruction, along with tools to document the impact of those practices on learning Strategies for leading learning, including establishing school culture, utilizing feedback, and supporting professional learning communities as a pathway to building collective teacher efficacy. Tools for applying the principles of change, conducting an initiative inventory, and implementing and de-implementing initiatives Exercise-by-exercise, educators and front office staff will deepen their knowledge, frame their priorities and practices, and gain new tools for supporting the instructional focus and initiatives designed to support learning at your school.

Learn how to become a leader who truly empowers and inspires others. This practical book shows you how to move from being a manager or administrator who simply gets things done to a leader who motivates others to succeed, creating a more positive work environment. The book covers 15 keys to success that can be used by those in any type of leadership position, from superintendent to principal to department chair or teacher-leader. You’ll discover how to... • Determine your own leadership style; • Develop your strengths; • Develop those you lead; • Be a leader, not just a manager; • Find your voice; • Influence school culture; • Be accountable to those you lead; • Communicate effectively; • Lead with EQ vs IQ; • Be flexible, adaptable, and creative; • Respond effectively to crisis; • and much more! Each chapter provides a variety of strategies for building a particular skill. It also features interviews with well-known leaders from different fields. These experts offer advice that will teach and inspire you as you learn to maximize your own leadership potential.

Leadership is an activity that not only manifests itself in formal positions, but also bubbles up in various places within an organization. Perhaps given the importance of leadership to any endeavor, the literature on this topic has burgeoned. Yet among these titles, Learning to Lead stands out as one of the best texts available on leadership for college and university administrators. Critical skills such as managing people, resolving conflict, and making rational (and legal) decisions are explored within the context of the campus. The book also addresses the needs of those who facilitate leadership workshops, serve as mentors to potential leaders, and teach courses on higher education leadership and administration. While presenting all sides of key issues, the author calls for the reader to define his or her own position through a series of provocative reflection questions in each chapter. Thus the book invites interaction and teaches administrators not what to think about leadership, but how to think about it.

Effective leadership reflects both art and science. Background, theory, and knowledge is the science. Appropriate and effective application is the art. Conceptual and practical, this concise, easy to understand book is an excellent resource. The intent of The Art and Science of Leading is to support those educators who work to realize the mission of education: to educate all children to become thoughtful, independent, successful, and happy adults, ones who make positive contributions to the well-being of their community, their country, and the world. It discusses the theory of leadership, includes beliefs and skills critical to effective leadership, and provides specific examples that illustrate the practical, real-life applications of those theories, beliefs, and skills. Institutions and individuals with an interest in planning, group dynamics, and leadership, both inside and outside the field of education, will find The Art and Science of Leading to be highly valuable, including incumbent administrators, college professors, and districts with leadership development programs. This book will stimulate thought and discussion while providing specific, helpful tips for current and future leaders.

Sharpen your instructional leadership skills and guide your school toward equity and excellence for all. Just think about how great schools could be if every instructional leader exercised their influence to create change—maximizing the efforts of others and mobilizing those efforts to work toward a shared goal. How Leadership Works: A Playbook for Instructional Leaders walks educators through the processes of clarifying, articulating, and actualizing instructional leadership goals with the aim of delivering on the promise of equity and excellence for all. Grounded in Visible Learning® research, the exercises in this easy-to-use playbook illuminate the essential mindframes necessary for effective instructional leadership and prompt veteran, new, and aspiring educators to identify challenges and determine next steps. It includes: Ten essential mindframes for leaders, together with the leadership practices that illustrate each mindframe in action Teaching practices, such as teacher clarity or student engagement in learning, that support teachers in delivering quality instruction, along with tools to document the impact of those practices on learning Strategies for leading learning, including establishing school culture, utilizing feedback, and supporting professional learning communities as a pathway to building collective teacher efficacy. Tools for applying the principles of change, conducting an initiative inventory, and implementing and de-implementing initiatives Exercise-by-exercise, educators and front office staff will deepen their knowledge, frame their priorities and practices, and gain new tools for supporting the instructional focus and initiatives designed to support learning at your school.

Pedagogically rich, demographically inclusive, and culturally sensitive, Ethical Decision Making in School and District Administration exposes educational leaders to an interdisciplinary array of theories from the fields of education, economics, management, and moral philosophy (past and present). Authors Paul A. Wagner and Douglas J. Simpson demonstrate how understanding key concepts can dramatically improve management styles and protocols. Key Features Contains numerous case studies that apply the book′s concepts to relevant ethical issues faced by school administrators Reveals possibilities for thinking outside the box in terms of morally informed and effective leadership strategies aimed at securing organizational commitment and shared vision Presents multiple theories of ethics, demonstrating how they inform decision making and culture building in school districts Incorporates a range of in-text learning aids, including figures that clarify and critique ideas, a complete glossary, and end-of-chapter activities and questions

You are a school administrator—a principal or maybe a district leader. You're doing everything "right"—poring over data, trying new strategies, launching annual initiatives, bringing in outside trainers. So why do the outcomes you seek still seem so far away? The problem isn't you; it's that you were trained in school leadership, and school leadership just isn’t up to the challenge. Each year, Robyn R. Jackson helps thousands of administrators stop wasting time and energy on flawed leadership approaches that succeed only with the right staff, students, parents, budget, and boss. As they have discovered, it's possible to transform your school with the people and resources you already have. The secret? Stop leading and start building! In this book, you'll learn to use Jackson's breakthrough Buildership Model™ to escape the "school improvement hamster wheel" and finally create the school your students and teachers deserve. The work involves a handful of simple shifts in how you approach . . . • Purpose: Instead of chasing tiny gains or the "next new thing" every year, you'll establish and use an ambitious vision, mission, and set of core values to galvanize your staff, keep everyone focused, and create true accountability for achieving your goals. • People: You’ll discover new ways to help every teacher grow one level in one domain in one year or less and, ultimately, develop high levels of both will and skill. • Pathway: Instead of trying to tackle every problem at once, you'll identify the biggest obstacle standing in your way right now and figure out exactly how to remove it once and for all. • Plan: You'll learn a new process for solution implementation that is iterative, cyclical, and capable of powering both short-term wins and ongoing transformation, year over year. When you stop leading and start building, you let go of the idea that you need to work harder to make your school "work better." You no longer settle for incremental improvement when what you really want is dramatic change and better learning outcomes for all. It's time to make the shift from leadership to buildership. Get ready to turn your school into a success story.