With dwindling funds and resources, tougher state and federal standards, and fatigue from more regulations and testing, many school administrators are giving up _or 'crashing' and leaving their posts. This book examines the process of preparing, encouraging, and retaining quality leaders at the school and district levels. Beginning with a chapter outlining six steps of critical organizational supports, subsequent chapters address factors in preparing administrator candidates effectively; improving novice teacher retention through principal support and mentoring; utilizing more fully mid-career teachers who come to schools having worked outside of education; the role of isolation in new principals' sense of efficacy; research findings about assistant superintendents about job satisfaction, efficacy, and ambitions for promotion; and finally, contemporary leadership challenges existing at the superintendent level. Concluding with thoughts about administrator accountability, the various chapters offer contemporary views on the preparation, utilization, and retention of school administrators throughout the life cycle. The chapters provide needed insight into what should and must be done to grow the best leaders for US schools.

Reforming schools in an information-based society has made communication an even more crucial skill for district and school administrators. Although communication has been identified as an essential area of practice, it has largely been ignored in the study of school administration. In Effective Communication for School Administrators: A Necessity in an Information Age, Kowalski, Petersen, and Fusarelli blend research, theory, and practice as they examine the critical nature of communication in contemporary practice for administrators. Divided into two parts, this book examines relationships among communication, public relations, and school reform and addresses effective communicative behavior in learning organization, democratic leadership, organizational networks, conflict, positive relationships, and site-based management. Effective Communication for School Administrators is truly a unique text for education professionals and school administrators, as well as those wishing to communicate more successfully.

With dwindling funds and resources, tougher state and federal standards, and fatigue from more regulations and testing, many school administrators are giving up _or 'crashing' and leaving their posts. This book examines the process of preparing, encouraging, and retaining quality leaders at the school and district levels. Beginning with a chapter outlining six steps of critical organizational supports, subsequent chapters address factors in preparing administrator candidates effectively; improving novice teacher retention through principal support and mentoring; utilizing more fully mid-career teachers who come to schools having worked outside of education; the role of isolation in new principals' sense of efficacy; research findings about assistant superintendents about job satisfaction, efficacy, and ambitions for promotion; and finally, contemporary leadership challenges existing at the superintendent level. Concluding with thoughts about administrator accountability, the various chapters offer contemporary views on the preparation, utilization, and retention of school administrators throughout the life cycle. The chapters provide needed insight into what should and must be done to grow the best leaders for US schools.

Reforming schools in an information-based society has made communication an even more crucial skill for district and school administrators. Although communication has been identified as an essential area of practice, it has largely been ignored in the study of school administration. In Effective Communication for School Administrators: A Necessity in an Information Age, Kowalski, Petersen, and Fusarelli blend research, theory, and practice as they examine the critical nature of communication in contemporary practice for administrators. Divided into two parts, this book examines relationships among communication, public relations, and school reform and addresses effective communicative behavior in learning organization, democratic leadership, organizational networks, conflict, positive relationships, and site-based management. Effective Communication for School Administrators is truly a unique text for education professionals and school administrators, as well as those wishing to communicate more successfully.