Addressing the urgent challenges of school leadership in our divided, post-pandemic landscape, "The Governance Core 2.0" is an essential guide for school trustees and superintendents dedicated to making a meaningful difference in their districts. Davis Campbell, Michael Fullan, and Babs Kavanaugh provide useful tools and techniques to…

A vital resource for educational leaders, "Entry Planning for Equity-Focused Leaders" introduces an equity-minded process for intentional entry planning that sets the stage for sustainable change within organizations. In this practitioner-focused and action-oriented work, Jennifer Perry Cheatham, Rodney Thomas, and Adam Parrott-Sheffer…

Educational leaders must be prepared to lead during crisis. Leadership has been challenged with multiple crisis in recent years, including issues of school safety, school shootings, medical crises such as SARs, HINI, and the ongoing pandemic. While each of these situations has resulted in multiple plans of actions, none has impacted our society as…

Effective teacher professional development is defined as structured professional learning activities which result in changes in teacher practice and improvements in student learning outcomes. Superintendents face common challenges unique to the rural environment which hinder the delivery of effective teacher professional development in rural…

In a world yearning for change, "Roses from Concrete" delivers a blueprint for educational transformation. Through the compelling stories of Black women superintendents and heads of schools, it reveals the power of intersectional leadership to dismantle systemic inequities and inspire a more just and equitable future. This groundbreaking…

Effective teacher professional development is defined as structured professional learning activities which result in changes in teacher practice and improvements in student learning outcomes. Superintendents face common challenges unique to the rural environment which hinder the delivery of effective teacher professional development in rural…

With a visionary approach to school improvement, "Equity-Based Leadership" proposes a framework to support system leaders seeking to organize change and achieve more equitable education. In this ambitious yet pragmatic work, Joshua P. Starr makes the case that intentional and attentive district leadership can bring about continuous…

As recently as 1990, if a person wanted to become a public school teacher in the United States, he or she needed to attend an accredited university education program. Less than three decades later, the variety of routes into teaching is staggering. In "Teaching Teachers," education historians James W. Fraser and Lauren Lefty look at…

In this case, I share my process of analyzing data in a multiple case study. The study looked at the interconnections between contexts, leadership, and educational equity to better understand how superintendents lead systems that offer equitable educational experiences for all students. Data included 16 one-on-one interviews with four…

Based on in-depth interviews, "Striving for Equity" brings to light the complex and illuminating stories of thirteen longtime superintendents--all leaders of the Minority Student Achievement Network (MSAN)--who were able to make progress toward narrowing opportunity and achievement gaps in traditional school districts with diverse…

In "Building Relationships, Yielding Results," the seasoned superintendent of an urban school district provides a clear road map for effective collaboration with school boards and the type of relationship-building required to achieve long-term, sustainable reforms. Instead of keeping school board members at arm's length or inundating…

"Improving School Board Effectiveness" offers a clarifying and essential look at the evolving role of school boards and how they contribute to efforts to improve student learning. It examines how board members can establish effective district priorities, and it explores those board policies and actions that result in shared, districtwide…

Too often, new superintendents--even if they have succeeded in other administrative positions--can undermine their successes by making critical novice mistakes, such as failing to recognize political stumbling blocks or unintentionally inviting school board member micromanagement. "Moving into the Superintendency: How to Succeed in Making the…

At the heart of the effort to enact and scale up successful school reforms is the need for more robust links between research and practice. One promising approach is design development, a methodology widely used in other fields and only recently adapted to education, which offers a disciplined process for identifying practical problems, assessing…

Armed with real-world examples and out-of-the-box ideas, Levenson challenges conventional thinking about school budgeting and offers a compelling way forward for school superintendents, central office leaders, building principals, and school board members. Virtually every school district in the nation is experiencing an extended period of…