This book is designed to improve the education of elementary school children with low school-readiness skills (low SES children) by preventing their misidentification as learning disabled. It is built on the premise that the time and money spent on special education services will be better used if educators focus on the needs of children with low school readiness skills before their deficits become so great that neither intervention nor remediation will work, and before the childrenAEs self perceptions are so badly damaged that they quit trying to succeed and accept failure.Poverty Is NOT a Learning Disability challenges educators and parents to consider how low expectationsua odeficit perceptionoeucan affect a child's achievement and stresses optimism as a central tenet of elementary schoolsAE day-to-day teaching/learning programs and school-community relationships. The authors emphasize that an attitude of optimism is strongly connected to hope for the future and crucial to providing children with a positive vision of what they can accomplish. This resource also covers how to build trusting relationships throughout the school community, among teachers, administrators, the school staff, and parents.aChildren inevitably endeavor to fit the words, actions, and deeds of those around them into narratives of their own. The authors conveyahow vitally important it is foramembers of the education community to work togetherato ensure that youngstersareceive a view of the future that inspires hope and validates the potential of each child.

Foreword by Roland S. Barth 'The author's observation and analyzing of the various aspects of listening certainly point out the 'art of administration.'" Knowing how to listen and accurately interpret what is heard is a true art. Readers should study this very closely' - Richard Flynn, Assistant Professor, College of Education, Murray State University 'The author understands and listens to the needs of the educational leader and provides useful tools for coping with the diverse needs and challenges of the educational environment' - Michael Purdy, Professor of Communication, Governors State University 'Tate provides insights into the needs of the speakers and strategies to improve listening effectiveness, illustrating how enhancing listening skills would benefit the entire school culture' - Katherine Taber, Elementary Principal, Jefferson Elementary School, Norman, OK Develop strategic listening skills to help advance your overall communication expertise! The ability to communicate effectively is an essential characteristic of effective leaders. Listening strategically is a way of making colleagues, parents, students, and others feel that their ideas and beliefs are of value. Jeannine Tate and Dennis Dunklee's practitioner friendly book concentrates on the importance of listening as a critical interpersonal skill for school leaders in guiding their organizations. Strategic Listening for School Leaders offers valuable, practical insights and research on how listening, serious conversation, and thoughtful dialogue strengthens school leaders' ability to understand others' strengths, weaknesses, and motivations. By learning to listen, the authors demonstrate how a leader can "bring out the best" in everyone. Focusing on an effective style of listening, the authors present: - The basic theories underlying strategic listening - Succinct examples of strategic listening in practice - The positive impact of strategic listening on school leadership and school climate Strategic Listening for School Leaders will help to advance your overall communication expertise and will open a whole new world of possibilities for student success. A powerful way to build a professional learning community is to build a community of strategic listeners!

This case study offers a situation-based approach to the study of school administration, leadership and management as it examines the professional life of a school principal through a series of distinct episodes. Each episode presents typical problems, challenges, and rewards that school-based administration at all levels encounter. Questions for discussion at the end of each section compliment this highly readable book.

Foreword by Roland S. Barth 'The author's observation and analyzing of the various aspects of listening certainly point out the 'art of administration.'" Knowing how to listen and accurately interpret what is heard is a true art. Readers should study this very closely' - Richard Flynn, Assistant Professor, College of Education, Murray State University 'The author understands and listens to the needs of the educational leader and provides useful tools for coping with the diverse needs and challenges of the educational environment' - Michael Purdy, Professor of Communication, Governors State University 'Tate provides insights into the needs of the speakers and strategies to improve listening effectiveness, illustrating how enhancing listening skills would benefit the entire school culture' - Katherine Taber, Elementary Principal, Jefferson Elementary School, Norman, OK Develop strategic listening skills to help advance your overall communication expertise! The ability to communicate effectively is an essential characteristic of effective leaders. Listening strategically is a way of making colleagues, parents, students, and others feel that their ideas and beliefs are of value. Jeannine Tate and Dennis Dunklee's practitioner friendly book concentrates on the importance of listening as a critical interpersonal skill for school leaders in guiding their organizations. Strategic Listening for School Leaders offers valuable, practical insights and research on how listening, serious conversation, and thoughtful dialogue strengthens school leaders' ability to understand others' strengths, weaknesses, and motivations. By learning to listen, the authors demonstrate how a leader can "bring out the best" in everyone. Focusing on an effective style of listening, the authors present: - The basic theories underlying strategic listening - Succinct examples of strategic listening in practice - The positive impact of strategic listening on school leadership and school climate Strategic Listening for School Leaders will help to advance your overall communication expertise and will open a whole new world of possibilities for student success. A powerful way to build a professional learning community is to build a community of strategic listeners!

This hands-on guide to being a principal is disguised as an engaging novel. It?s filled with real situations that happen to school leaders every day. The main character?s common sense, sensitive intuition, and passion for his students? welfare propel and underscore his actions. Through the actions of Grant Sterling you?ll learn to:

• Examine what effective school leadership means to you
• Blend the crucial skills of leadership, management, and administration into your Principalship
• See how the best decisions always involve what?s right for students
• Build your solutions from the tools and materials in the community

Use the "real-life? scenarios here to help you polish the talents you need as a school leader. Get comfortable with having to present and defend your viewpoint and having to persuade and convince others. Fine-tune your abilities in collaborative work and building on the ideas and knowledge of others.

You?ll learn how to look for the best answers ? rather than the right ones ? to resolve situations. Find out how to use your own good instincts, knowledge, and courage to enhance your daily decision-making process.

For school leaders who want to understand how they can better serve students, community, and staff, this book is a must read. For courses in educational administration, it will stimulate ideas and further reflection. Questions at the end of each episode invite debate and discussion.

Our society has always been drawn to the subject of jury trials with a mixture of fascination and anxiety, and we often tend to associate the jury process with criminal trials. In real life, including the world of public, private and parochial education, school leaders are much more likely to get involved in a civil trial. This generally means a case involving liability for alleged negligence. However, school leaders are not immune from involvement in criminal actions. A few examples of the hundreds of situations in which school leaders have recently been involved as defendants, plaintiffs, witnesses, or respondents include: o Criminal defendant: sexual assault o Civil defendant: employment discrimination o Criminal plaintiff: coach assaulted by parent o Civil plaintiff: teacher alleging defamation o Character witness: student seeks diversion agreement o Factual witness: administrator passing in hallway when science lab explodes o Respondent to interrogatories: principal required to compile and produce employment records, curriculum guides, test scores, and more o Consulting expert witness: school leaders helping attorneys understand high-stake testing procedures o Testifying expert witness: explaining proper methods of instruction in the use of industrial art shop equipment The book examines similar situations and others that have arisen out of, or due to, civil or criminal negligence on the part of school leaders, and provides examples, some of which were handled correctly with positive outcomes and others in which specific errors caused significant problems.