An objective discussion of educational leadership from both inside and outside the school system, focusing on ethical issues, dominant models, and today's unprecedented commitment to community involvement. During the last decade of the 20th century, the United States entered a new era of educational leadership. The seat of educational authority shifted from the district office to the individual school, from the principal-as-manager to the stakeholders: students, teachers, families, community members, school boards, politicians, and corporate and philanthropic foundations. In Educational Leadership, educator Pat Williams-Boyd traces these changes from their roots in the 19th century to the present day. She shows readers what leadership looks like when it is distributed throughout a community and explains how collaborative relationships can be forged. She also examines techniques for effective leadership during the hazardous process of school reform and presents a critical discussion of 20 leading school reform models.

An expert guide to the development of the middle school model as the best educational environment designed to address students' developmental and social needs as well as educational needs. Middle Grades Education: A Reference Handbook explores the distinctive middle school approach to helping adolescents develop as human beings and citizens as well as students, with coverage that ranges from the conceptual foundations of the middle school model, to research-based best practices, to sample lesson plans and activities. Edited by Pat Williams-Boyd, with contributions from experienced, frontline educators, the book showcases a number of places where the ideal middle school has become reality, where individual talents are nurtured, families are involved, teachers serve as role models and advocates, and crucial health and developmental needs are met. Readers will experience classrooms where students dance their math, sing their science, and breathe the winds of history, and where the joy of learning is bounded only by the educator's imagination. Learning activities for all instructional strategies including differentiated instruction, inquiry-based and concept-based education, critical thinking and problem-solving strategies, the use of multiple intelligences, learning styles and cultural congruence, and cooperative learning Planning guides and step-by-step presentations of academic service-learning, which connects the classroom to the community