District Administration - January 2009 - (Page 23)

LeadershipBooks • CORWIN PRESS Brain-Based Learning: The New Paradigm of Teaching, 2nd ed. www.corwinpress.com, $35.95 Using research from neuroscience, biology and psychology, brain expert Eric Jensen offers an easy-to-understand explanation of the relationship between learning and the brain, with the intention of helping educators increase student motivation and achievement. Useful for classroom teachers, district administrators or professional development trainers, this book includes empirical data and provides in-depth information about the impact of physiological effects, sensory stimuli and emotions on learning. This second edition also offers a set of brain-based principles for informed decision-making, and low-cost teaching strategies that can be implemented immediately. Kurt O. Dyrli RESOURCES FOR DISTRICT LEADERS SIMON & SCHUSTER The Leader in Me: How Schools and Parents around the World Are Inspiring Greatness, One Child at a Time www.simonsays.com, $24.99 Best-selling author Stephen R. Covey proﬁles schools that are incorporating the leadership philosophies found in his inﬂuential book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People into their core curricula. Covey believes that the demands of the 21st century require a new philosophy of education to help students succeed, one that includes strong teamwork, communication, analytical, technological and organizational skills to create young people who are self-motivated, creative and hardworking. The Leader in Me describes examples from around the United States and other nations where struggling schools implemented practical, principle-based leadership skills instruction in the classroom and saw dramatic results. GUILFORD PRESS Effective School Interventions: Evidence-Based Strategies for Improving Student Outcomes, 2nd ed. www.guilford.com, $46.00 Professor of psychology and former administrator Natalie Rathvon presents 70 interventions that have been demonstrated to improve academic achievement, the classroom learning environment, student behavior and social competence. This second edition has been substantially revised and expanded to reﬂect signiﬁcant advances in research and practice, is fully compatible with an RTI framework, and includes 42 entirely new interventions. Guidelines are spelled out for coordinating intervention assistance teams, selecting appropriate interventions, and combining multiple strategies to create a comprehensive program at the individual, class and school levels. Additional features include a chapter on preschool interventions, coverage of curriculum-based measurement procedures, quick-reference appendices and illustrative case studies. HARVARD EDUCATION PRESS Learning from L.A.: Institutional Change in American Public Education www.harvardeducationpress.org, $29.95 Drawing on a fouryear study of the last 40 years of education reform in the Los Angeles Uniﬁed School District, authors Charles Taylor Kerchner, David J. MenefeeLibey, Laura Steen Mulﬁnger and Stephanie E. Clayton put forth a provocative argument: While school reformers and education historians focus on the success or failure of individual initiatives, they fail to realize that the institution of public education itself has changed dramatically in the past several decades. The book focuses on four key ideas that emerged in L.A. after a succession of reforms: decentralization, standards, school choice and grassroots participation. The authors draw clear distinctions between reform “projects” and systemic, institutionalized reform movements in the L.A. district and explain how both are necessary to propel improvement. SOLUTION TREE The Collaborative Administrator: Working Together as a Professional Learning Community www.solution-tree.com, $29.95 This collection of essays by a diverse group of respected administrators provides a variety of leadership strategies drawn from years of successful experience. Themes include fostering teacher leadership in a district; building, maintaining and repairing trust; moving staff from compliance to commitment; promoting activities to reignite educators’ passion for teaching; and more. Each author stresses the vital importance of quality leadership to district success, practical advice and strategies for transforming theory into practice, and the importance of building a collaborative culture, all consistently grounded in proven research. www.DistrictAdministration January 2009 23 http://www.corwinpress.com http://www.simonsays.com http://www.harvardeducationpress.org http://www.guilford.com http://www.solution-tree.com http://www.DistrictAdministration.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of District Administration - January 2009

District Administration - January 2009
Contents
Editor’s Letter
Letters
News Update
Security
Facilities & Construction
Administrator Profile
District Profile
Conversations
Leadership Books
Research Center
District Web Site Essentials
The Second Annual X-Factor Student Achievement Grant
Social Studies for the 21st Century
Tech Disruptions
Professional Opinion
New Products
Product Focus
Understanding the Times

District Administration - January 2009