District Leadership That Works: Striking the Right Balance

Bridge the great divide between distanced administrative duties and daily classroom impact. This book introduces a top-down power mechanism called defined autonomy, a concept that focuses on district-defined, nonnegotiable, common goals and a system of accountability supported by assessment tools. Defined autonomy creates an effective balance of centralized direction and individualized empowerment that allows building-level staff the stylistic freedom to respond quickly and effectively to student failure. Benefits: Initiate second-order change to promote student achievement. Set nonnegotiable district-defined goals for achievement and instruction through a collaborative process with stakeholders. Create defined autonomy that allows teachers creative freedom while ensuring student achievement. Monitor progress through formative assessment tools. Counteract any resistance to second-order change. Contents: Chapter 1: Does District Leadership Matter? Chapter 2: Putting Our Findings in Perspective Chapter 3: Setting and Monitoring Nonnegotiable Goals for Achievement Chapter 4: Setting and Monitoring Nonnegotiable Goals for Instruction Chapter 5: Collaborative Goal Setting, Board Alignment, and Allocation of Resources Chapter 6: Defined Autonomy in a High-Reliability District Chapter 7: The Perils and Promises of Second-Order Change