Based on the authors' research on the behaviour and thinking of school leaders, this volume presents arguments about the natue of expert school leadership. It parallels developments in the field from the early 1980s when the emphasis was on identifying the behaviours of effective principals, to the early 1990s, when the focus shifted to understanding the thinking underlying those behaviours. The ideas contained in this book should be useful in helping practising educationalists develop the skills involved in school leadership.

This book presents a series of related empirical studies about the thinking and problem solving processes of expert educational leaders. It describes the nature of expert thinking and provides substantial explanations for the cognitive processes associated with expert thinking. Differences in the thinking and problem solving of male and female; novice and experienced; elementary, secondary, district administrators are all explored. In addition, the book provides a glimpse of the school administrator's world from a problem solving perspective and clarifies the kinds of experiences that give...

School districts in both Canada and the United States provide the sites for this research. Many of these districts were in the midst of reform or restructuring initiatives and these initiatives became an important context within which to understand the work of district leaders. The authors describe how effective superintendents work with their immediate staffs, elected trustees, and school-based administrators. Each chapter examines the meaning of effective district leadership from different perspectives. Common to almost all of the chapters is an appreciation of the exquisitely "political"...

This collection of essays offers an international perspective on educational accountability effects. Issues addressed include: market-driven approaches to accountability; decentralization approaches to accountability; management approaches to accountability; and more.

The first International Handbook of Educational Leadership and Administration (Leithwood et al.) was published in 1996 and quickly became something of a best seller for reference works within education. Such success, we suggest, was at least partly due to the unprecedented global waves of concern for improving schools launched in the mid 1980's, combined with a widespread belief in leadership as the single most powerful contribution to such improvement. The roots of this belief can be found in evidence produced by the early "effective schools" research, although there is a "romance" with...

The change in paradigm in our field is away from the great man or woman theory of leadership and the teacher in his or her own classroom to the development of learning communities which value differences and support critical reflection and encourage members to question, challenge, and debate teaching and learning issues.
How to achieve such learning communities is far from clear, but we believe the areas of problem-based learning (PBL) and organizational learning (OL) offer valuable clues. The indications are that the successful educational restructuring agenda depends on teams of...

Achieve a workable model for effectively reshaping today's school districts for positive outcomes by addressing three of the most central challenges in district and school leadership.

This well-researched resource draws on the collaborative work between researchers and school practitioners to offer teaching strategies that promote deep understanding and higher-order thinking in students.

This research-based study helps administrators create a school environment that responds to teacher emotions and results in higher teacher retention, instructional effectiveness, and student achievement.

This research-based study helps administrators create a school environment that responds to teacher emotions and results in higher teacher retention, instructional effectiveness, and student achievement.