In the 1950s and 1960s, students practiced ducking under their desks in case of an atomic bomb attack. We know that this was silly and provided no protection and many school practices that are popular today are equally silly. This book explores a wide range of what the authors label "duck and cover" policies-ideas that may have started for good reasons but whose usefulness has declined over time, ideas that may lack sound theoretical foundations or long-term evidence, ideas that violate basic logic and reasoning or cause serious and proven damage. Ginsberg and Zhao explore how and why these policies were adopted, along with the underlining factors that push school leaders to maintain them. They also offer recommendations for reconsidering, replacing, or just removing these dubious strategies from practice. Topics include standardized testing, kindergarten readiness, college and career readiness, social and emotional learning, teaching evaluations, class size, professional development, time management, and much more. Duck and Cover will help readers to think about their schools' policies and practices in new ways, encouraging ongoing consideration and feedback about what actually works. Book Features: Invites K-12 educational policymakers, researchers, and practitioners to question the effectiveness of everyday practices. Shows that some commonly practiced and even sacred beliefs in education are not scientifically sound or even logical. Points to actions that leaders can take to remove, reconsider, or revise detrimental practices-a duck-and-cover audit guide with questions readers can use to examine what they do.

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 sustaining and retaining quality leaders at the school and district levels. Beginning with a foreword by Michelle D. Young on the importance of administrative leadership in schools, subsequent chapters address: six steps of critical organizational supports for leaders; the need for socializing assistant principals into their roles; administrators' perceptions of their administrative teams; school routines and rituals; the need for administrator mentoring of Latina/Latino leaders; the relationship between superintendent leadership and principal job satisfaction and efficacy. Concluding with thoughts about retaining and sustaining the best leaders in dynamic environments, the various chapters offer contemporary views on retaining and encouraging school administrators throughout the life cycle. The chapters provide needed insight into what should and must be done to grow the best leaders for U.S. schools.

In the 1950s and 1960s, students practiced ducking under their desks in case of an atomic bomb attack. We know that this was silly and provided no protection and many school practices that are popular today are equally silly. This book explores a wide range of what the authors label "duck and cover" policies—ideas that may have started for good reasons but whose usefulness has declined over time, ideas that may lack sound theoretical foundations or long-term evidence, ideas that violate basic logic and reasoning or cause serious and proven damage. Ginsberg and Zhao explore how and why these policies were adopted, along with the underlining factors that push school leaders to maintain them. They also offer recommendations for reconsidering, replacing, or just removing these dubious strategies from practice. Topics include standardized testing, kindergarten readiness, college and career readiness, social and emotional learning, teaching evaluations, class size, professional development, time management, and much more. Duck and Cover will help readers to think about their schools' policies and practices in new ways, encouraging ongoing consideration and feedback about what actually works. Book Features: Invites K–12 educational policymakers, researchers, and practitioners to question the effectiveness of everyday practices. Shows that some commonly practiced and even sacred beliefs in education are not scientifically sound or even logical. Points to actions that leaders can take to remove, reconsider, or revise detrimental practices—a duck-and-cover audit guide with questions readers can use to examine what they do.

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 sustaining and retaining quality leaders at the school and district levels. Beginning with a foreword by Michelle D. Young on the importance of administrative leadership in schools, subsequent chapters address: six steps of critical organizational supports for leaders; the need for socializing assistant principals into their roles; administrators' perceptions of their administrative teams; school routines and rituals; the need for administrator mentoring of Latina/Latino leaders; the relationship between superintendent leadership and principal job satisfaction and efficacy. Concluding with thoughts about retaining and sustaining the best leaders in dynamic environments, the various chapters offer contemporary views on retaining and encouraging school administrators throughout the life cycle. The chapters provide needed insight into what should and must be done to grow the best leaders for U.S. schools.

Despite the ubiquitous nature of emotions as part of the human psyche, the emotional side of leadership is largely ignored in formal and informal training of managers, often resulting in miscommunication and contributing to stress in the workplace. Though concepts such as emotional intelligence have entered the mainstream, they are often marginalized in managerial practice. This book argues that without acknowledging the powerful influence of emotions-your own as well as others'-managers are doomed to fail in their interactions with employees, peers, and bosses, and ultimately in their ability to manage and lead effectively. Ginsberg and Davies draw from primary research, including interviews with managers in a variety of settings, to introduce readers to the emotional side of leadership and demonstrate its positive effects on individual and organizational performance. They present practical tools for honing emotional navigation skills and applying them toward decision making, problem solving, communication, feedback, and performance improvement. Any management decision that involves people (in other words, any management decision) has an emotional component. Given the ubiquitous nature of emotions as part of the human psyche, one would expect leaders and managers to be well-trained and equipped to deal with emotions in the workplace. On the contrary, the emotional side of being a leader is largely ignored in formal and informal training programs, often resulting in miscommunication between managers and their employees, and contributing to workplace stress. Though concepts such as emotional intelligence have entered the mainstream, systematic development of skills in managing emotions in the workplace have yet to emerge, and are often relegated to the touchy-feely end of the spectrum. This book argues that without acknowledging the powerful influence of emotions-their own as well as others'-managers are doomed to fail in their interactions with employees, peers, and bosses, and ultimately in their ability to manage and lead effectively. Ginsberg and Davies draw from primary research, including interviews with managers in a variety of settings, to introduce readers to the emotional side of leadership and demonstrate its positive effects on individual and organizational performance. They present practical tools for honing emotional navigation skills and applying them toward decision making, problem solving, communication, feedback, and performance improvement.

The editors have collected original papers dealing with the impact of commissions on educational policy and reform. This book is a combination of the perspectives of practitioners directly involved with writing or reacting to commission reports, and scholars analyzing the significance and impact of educational policy. Chapters are written by some of the country's leading authorities on education. This book will prove to be a valuable resource for educators, administrators, political scientists, sociologists, and others interested in the state of education. Includes a foreword by Paul E. Peterson of Harvard University.

Historians of urban education have concentrated their attention on the cities of the Northeast, leaving a major gap in the historiography of American schooling. This work, the first to focus on southern cities, makes an important contribution to the field. It presents case studies of growth and change in the public school systems of six cities in the deep South, together with several essays that place the southern experience in a comparative historical and historiographical context. Plank and Ginsberg examine the impact of conditions that have shaped public education in the urban South from the antebellum era to the present time, including racism, segregation, evangelical Protestantism, poverty, ruralism, and the slow pace of industrialization. Among the issues explored are struggles over progressive school reforms in both curriculum and administration, continuing battles for financial support and organizational autonomy, the impact of city politics, and the politics of black education. This book opens a new area of historical research and provides fresh perspectives on political and racial issues that continue to challenge American educators.