For central offices to become full partners with schools in improving teaching and learning, simply defining new roles or creating new reporting structures is not enough. Through the authors' recent central-office research, they have confirmed that creating the conditions for improved teaching and learning districtwide demands new practices within…

Benchmarking against similar districts, ideally higher-performing ones, can be a valuable tool for determining the appropriate level of central-office investment. Unfortunately, reliable benchmarks on district spending in teaching and learning support are not readily available. This should not preclude districts from using this valuable method to…

As the charter school movement has come to scale within the United States, it poses new questions about how to govern public education. With a significant rural contingent, charter schools are no longer just an urban phenomenon. Partly in response to the growth in charter schools, Paul Hill, director of the Center on Reinventing Public Education,…

In this article, the author explains why she took an unpaid leave for a year from her central-office administrative role in an upstate New York school district, and shares two defining moments that helped her find her way back to public education. The first was an academic exercise and the second was less academic and more emotional. Through the…

Describes how to upgrade a school district's central-office facilities without incurring taxpayer enmity. Includes case studies from Harford County, Maryland; Orange and Broward Counties, Florida; South Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Mt. Baker, Washington; Chicago, Illinois; and Rochester, New Hampshire. (PKP)

Central-office administrators can help counter principals' defeatist attitudes about teacher dismissal by communicating their values and standards, helping principals gain confidence, providing training, minimizing contractual restraints, and providing social and emotional support. Examining barriers to action from the principal's viewpoint is…

AASA began an inquiry in 2001 to understand how barriers to effective after-school programs could be overcome by school district leaders. The issue, well-known anecdotally, had not to date been researched. School leaders tend to agree that after-school programs are sound educationally but struggle to operate and sustain such programs.…

When two former principals in central office positions set out to improve administrative communications, their goal was to achieve the quality of exchanges often occurring in the faculty room. With the superintendent's support, they successfully approached district principals with the idea of scheduled, informal, open agenda meetings between them…

Central-office administrators might consider developing new volunteer policies to ensure students' health and safety. Suggestions for soliciting, selecting, and using school volunteers include using community resources, developing selection and evaluation guidelines, determining a volunteer's suitability, and publicizing good deeds. (MLH)

In this article, the author discusses the importance of continuing to engage with students even when in an administration position. He states that a good superintendent has to be the personification of the resilient, reflective lifelong learner he or she wants the graduates to be. Sections in the article include: (1) Compelling Need; (2)…

Discusses results of a study of four "downsizing" Colorado school districts characterized by annual budget cuts, increasing enrollments, stable superintendencies, and reasonable school boards. Strategic cost-cutting options included reviewing accounts for "loose change," instituting tighter budget control, cutting central…

AASA's new "Professional Standards for the Superintendency" specifies benchmarks for improving selection, preparation, development of America's school superintendents. Superintendents will be expected to work more as decentralized enablers than centralized controllers. Standards will increase respect for superintendency, encourage the…

Recently, the National Center for Educational Leadership surveyed 35 Kentucky superintendents about changing roles since passage of the 1990 Kentucky Education Reform Act. Results showed that superintendents were learning to lead from the background, enhancing all stakeholders' participation, and working hard to manage reform requirements. Many…

In this article, the author relates how he initiated a systemic improvement to Half Hollow Hills school district when he became its superintendent. He relates that although he came to Half Hollow Hills with a deep understanding of the models of systemic change, he did not bring with him a specific prescriptive plan for improvement. His plan for…

A central office administrator describes her emerging role as coordinator and facilitator of professional development programs at Rochester (New York) City Schools. In a newly decentralized setting, she acknowledges and accepts responsibility for all district staff, responds to all staff members' identified and stated needs, and remains well…