In face of increased scrutiny on the preparation of educational leaders, this book provides a much-needed resource, exploring the role and use of authentic performance assessment for evaluating leader readiness and performance. Framed by theory and research on school leader performance assessment, Designing Performance Assessments for School Leader Readiness provides an in-depth description of one fully tested performance assessment called the Performance Assessment for School Leaders (PAL). The authors explore how to assess four components of leadership proficiency -- developing a plan for an area of school improvement, creating a professional learning culture among school staff, supporting individual teacher development, and engaging families and community in improving student learning. This book provides real examples and practical guidance on designing and managing performance assessment for aspiring educational leaders, and how the PAL can be used in regional, state and local contexts.

In face of increased scrutiny on the preparation of educational leaders, this book provides a much-needed resource, exploring the role and use of authentic performance assessment for evaluating leader readiness and performance. Framed by theory and research on school leader performance assessment, Designing Performance Assessments for School Leader Readiness provides an in-depth description of one fully tested performance assessment called the Performance Assessment for School Leaders (PAL). The authors explore how to assess four components of leadership proficiency -- developing a plan for an area of school improvement, creating a professional learning culture among school staff, supporting individual teacher development, and engaging families and community in improving student learning. This book provides real examples and practical guidance on designing and managing performance assessment for aspiring educational leaders, and how the PAL can be used in regional, state and local contexts.

A volume in UCEA Leadership Series Series Editors: Michelle D. Young, Executive Director of UCEA Series The official book series of the University Council for Educational Administration (UCEA) This collection of award-winning research in Learning and Teaching in Educational Leadership is sponsored by the Learning and Teaching in Educational Leadership Special Interest Group of the American Educational Research Association (LTEL SIG of AERA). The research includes superintendent preparation, a grow-your-own principal program, and an investigation into the instructional leadership practices of principals with respect to special education. The LTEL SIG brings together professors and graduate students of educational leadership and administration, discipline specialists, educational theorists, curriculum developers, instructional technology specialists, learning specialists, educational researchers, classroom experts, practitioners, policy makers, and others concerned with Learning and Teaching in Educational Leadership.

A volume in UCEA Leadership Series Series Editors: Michelle D. Young, Executive Director of UCEA Series The official book series of the University Council for Educational Administration (UCEA) This collection of award-winning research in Learning and Teaching in Educational Leadership is sponsored by the Learning and Teaching in Educational Leadership Special Interest Group of the American Educational Research Association (LTEL SIG of AERA). The research includes superintendent preparation, a grow-your-own principal program, and an investigation into the instructional leadership practices of principals with respect to special education. The LTEL SIG brings together professors and graduate students of educational leadership and administration, discipline specialists, educational theorists, curriculum developers, instructional technology specialists, learning specialists, educational researchers, classroom experts, practitioners, policy makers, and others concerned with Learning and Teaching in Educational Leadership.

This is a case study of one teacher's decision to add multicultural children's books to her social studies curriculum and an analysis of how her ideologies about race shaped the classroom discourse. A class of fourth and fifth grade students in a small, Midwestern city work to understand American history and racial tolerance through reading and discussing fiction. By applying critical discourse analysis techniques to the dialogue between the teacher, the students, and the text itself, this work explores how an elementary teacher balances the need to manage the classroom conversation and to create a safe classroom environment at the same time she attempts to explore the issue of social inequity through classroom discourses.

Finally, a responsible approach to reading instruction that does not require teachers to abandon everything they know about teaching students how to be literate and how to LOVE reading! Test preparation worksheets and drill and kill activities do not make children into life-long readers. Hollingworth and Drake provide research from the academic community to support the instructional strategies that are offered in this very practical book. In addition, they include stories from the field about the ways the accountability movement is influencing teaching practice and what can be done about it. These authors mix an insiderAEs perspective on assessment research and development with a practitionerAEs experience in achieving reading outcomes at the elementary and secondary levels. Their aim is to show how all students can be prepared for standardized tests, without oteaching to the test.oe The key components of their approach are: 1) aligning instruction to the state or national core standards, 2) using formative assessment, 3) connecting units to real-world contexts, 4) motivating students effectively, and 5) holding on to best practice in literacy instruction. This book affirms the professionalism of the classroom teacher without vilifying standardized tests.