Case Studies on Educational Administration, 6th edition
Title overview
- 24 open-ended case studies that allow students to think critically about the role of a key school administrator and the issues faced by school leadership each day.
- An emphasis on problem solving and decision making teaches readers how to both approach a problem and how to find the best solution for the school at large.
- Case study introductions, each containing selected aspects of professional knowledge base and explanations of key concepts, are presented before each case.
- A problem framing feature, including questions, suggested activities, and suggested readings, are provided are provided at the end of each case study.
- An Educational Leadership Constituents Council (ELCC) Standards Matrix at the beginning of the text identifies the alignment of the cases with the Standards.
- Four new case studies:
- “School Improvement through Better Grading Practices” explores one of the greatest contemporary challenges–rules for assigning grades to high school students.
- “Let’s Get Strategic” details the leadership challenges faced by a new principal of a low-performing urban school.
- “The Career-Center’s Revolving Door” describes a career center that has had an especially high turnover rate of teachers in academic areas, most notably in English and mathematics.
- “Individualizing Staff Development” tells the story of the efforts of a new principal to move a middle school away from traditional staff development and toward the idea of individual career plans that are integrated with teacher teams and the school’s vision.
- An updated introduction provides the reader with new and expanded information about using cases to engage in problem solving and decision-making.
- Revisions to all cases studies have been made throughout the book, including elements of background information, case content, questions, and suggested readings.
Table of contents
Preface
Matrix
Introduction
1 Who Needs Lesson Plans?
2 Who Should Create the School’s Vision?
3 A Bully’s Threat
4 Lounge Talk
5 The Career Center’s Revolving Door
6 Let the Committee Decide
7 Old School Culture and a New Principal
8 School Improvement through Better Grading Practices
9 Sally’s Socialization
10 A Matter of Honor
11 Individualizing Staff Development
12 Break the Rules and Pay the Price
13 An Ambitious Assistant Principal
14 Let’s Get Strategic
15 Even on Saturdays
16 Appropriate Punishment versus Political Expediency
17 The Passive Principal
18 A Disillusioned Assistant Principal
19 Who Needs Career-Technical Education?
20 Illegal Drugs, In-School Suspension, and the Novice Principal
21 Let’s Not Rap
22 Is the Devil Teaching Spelling?
23 The Dark Side of Decentralization
24 The Maverick School Board Member
Author bios
Theodore J. Kowalski holds the Kuntz Family Chair in Educational Administration, an endowed professorship at the University of Dayton. A former school superintendent, he previously taught at Purdue University, Saint Louis University, and Ball State University, where he also served as dean of the Teachers College. Professor Kowalski is the author or co-author of 18 books and over 135 book chapters and journal articles. He has published in leading journals such as Educational Administration Quarterly, Phi Delta Kappan, Leadership and Policy in Schools, and Planning and Changing. He also is editor of the Journal of School Public Relations and serves on the editorial boards of two other professional journals.