School Leaders Building Capacity From Within : Resolving Competing Agendas Creatively

"The book allowed me to explore my own leadership practices regarding instructional capacity building. It′s a must for individuals looking to examine ways to improve teaching and learning."
Royce Avery, Principal
Woodsboro High School, TX

"Vision and focus are intertwined, and I think this book does an exemplary job of showing the distinctions between the two while depicting their close relationship.
Very motivating . . . as a principal, I was inspired."
Dana Trevethan, Principal
Turlock High School, CA

Transform your school with "Structural Dynamics" strategies!

Anything built to last needs a clear plan, a solid foundation, the right tools, and strong structural integrity to withstand threatening elements that arise. Unfortunately, most school reform programs do not meet these basic requirements and crumble as quickly as they appear. To offset such mishaps, this guide empowers you to be an architect of long-lasting, positive change using proven "Structural Dynamics" strategies.

Through user-friendly definitions, illustrative points, and indispensable how-to′s, the book enables you to easily apply the principles prescribed, safeguard your plans against failure, and lead your school to reach its maximum potential.

Highlights include:

• Real-life examples of schools that have improved using "Structural Dynamics" principles
• Specific strategies for overcoming obstacles
• Tips for creating a results-oriented plan and meeting shared goals
• Straightforward discussion of the four key elements that propel your school toward achievement

As the educational system increasingly focuses on accountability, this resource provides the support, insight, and guidance needed to meet rising demands and create a springboard for enduring, soaring success.

Leonard C. Burrello is Professor of Education and Chair of Educational Leadership Program and Executive Director of The Forum on Education at Indiana University. He is currently studying school improvement in rural schools within a distributive leadership framework and consulting with the Gates Initiative on Small Schools for the University of Indianapolis in the Indianapolis Public Schools.

With co-author Lauren Hoffman he completed at three organizational consultation project in Washtenaw County, Michigan where they helped create a new planning framework using the work of Robert Fritz. They are also working with the Illinois Cooperative Leadership project in Illinois to help build more learner-centered schools.

With Lynn Murray, his collaboration began in 1993 in a study of her leadership in a suburban district in Vermont and she has consulted with both authors helping to build a new organizational structure and planning process in a large urban Midwestern school district. He teaches courses on moral and distributive leadership, and organizational change at Indiana University.

Lauren P. Hoffman is Assistant Professor of Education at Lewis University. After a 27 year career as a practicing speech and language specialist, supervisor, professional development specialist, and assistant director of special education in two large suburban Chicago cooperatives, Dr. Hoffman joined the faculty at Lewis University and also serves as an Visiting Professor at Indiana University. She co-developed and co-directs the TECnet project that focuses school teams building unified systems to support all students.

In addition she consults with school districts and school teams on issues related to curriculum, instruction, and assessment and has recently completed a new manual on Linking IEPs to State Learning Standards (2002). She has applied her Fritz training in Michigan, Illinois, and Indiana school districts over the past four years. She has published an article with Professor Burrello for the Education Administrative Quarterly on Foster’s (1989) critical leadership theory based upon her work in Michigan. She is currently helping to develop Lewis’s new doctoral studies in leadership and is teaching courses on development and learning, instructional strategies, and performance-based assessment.

Lynn E. Murray is the Principal Investigator on an Instructional Leadership and Comprehensive School Reform project and the former Co-director of the Vermont Teacher Quality Project both housed at the Vermont Institutes in Montpelier, Vermont. She recently collaborated with her colleagues in the Teacher Quality Project in the publication of the Vermont Field Guide to Educator Mentoring.

For the past 30 years, she has served as principal of both a large suburban K-8 elementary and middle school and a smaller rural elementary school, served as a director of special education, and Vermont state department consultant and grant writer, Professor of Education and Chair of Teacher Education at Trinity College, Burlington, Vermont. She co-developed and co-directed the first Northeast Regional Resource Center that served New England, New York and the Puerto Rico, and was a member of the research and development staff of the Northeast Regional Lab. She has studied intensively with Robert Fritz for the past three years, and is an experienced trainer for his organization.