Skills for Successful 21st Century School Leaders provides a complete overview of the knowledge base and skills for successful school leaders. The publication is based on the standards developed by AASA, ISLLC, NPBEA, NCATE, and state education agencies.

This resource is the most important book in years focusing on the preparation and development of school leaders. Comprehensive in scope and extremely readable, Skills for Successful 21st Century School Leaders provides a complete overview of the knowledge base and skills for successful school leaders. The publication is based on the standards recently developed by the American Association of School Administrators (AASA), the Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium (ISLLe, the National Policy Board for Educational Administration (NPBEA), the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE), and state education agencies.

This guide presents a description of the standards and related skills school leaders must master and apply. Since every school leader needs a well-defined philosophy to make decisions, the guide emphasizes philosophical, performance, and ethical dimensions of school leadership. The book's 10 chapters address such issues as visionary leadership, including the skills and disposition needed to lead others to peak performance; the political skills needed for school governance in a democracy; the proficiency in communication and community relations required for articulating a vision; the skills in organizational management; insights on developing a curriculum design and delivery system for diverse school communities; expertise in instructional management and the development of a data-based student-achievement system; the related need to focus on staff evaluation and staff development; the knowledge that school leaders need to make the most of educational research, evaluation, and planning; and the importance of understanding and modeling appropriate value systems, ethics, and moral leadership. Two appendices offer an overview of major advances in standard settings and an overview of future trends. (RJM)

Accessible, engaging, and highly acclaimed as the sole book of its kind,Keys To Successful 21 st Century Educational Leadershippresents critical lessons to transform individuals into visionary, educational leaders that are skillful agents with ethical credibility. This is an original book represents perspectives derived from years of research and the authorsrsquo; unique partnership and practical experience providing guidance for effective educational leadership in public and private schools and successful preparation of competent educational leaders.Keys to Successful 21 st Century Educational Leadershipis a book that will find its place on the desks of practicing educational leaders to aid them in meeting the numerous and unexpected educational challenges they face everyday.

This text presents a thorough and current best practice treatment of Educational Leadership in schools and school districts that addresses the complex use of quantitative and qualitative evidence in the decision making process. The text covers the full range of introductory issues faced by school leaders today and emphasizes areas that are critical and timely. The authors address standard leadership topics and also further explore current social, cultural, technological and economic realities. This text utilizes ISLLC/ELCC guidelines so that students can develop a leadership approach that reflects current standards and is organized around the processes and procedures necessary for implementing effective learning environments.

Public education has been criticized for under-achieving schools and one key phrase for long-term school success is school leadership. Taken comprehensively, leadership emphasizes the importance of where the leader stands at times of decision, challenge, and conflict. The Art of War, written by Sun Tzu, a Chinese military strategist more than 2500 years ago, represents a very complex work of philosophy and military strategy. A good part of the work describes the pivotal role of a leader and his understanding and application of the winning factors. The Art of War application to education is about solving (i.e. fighting) problems (i.e. the enemy) to improve student and school success. The Art of War describes the significance of a leader and his knowledge and prudent application of the strategies. At the core of theses strategies is the non-negotiable moral purpose of the leader to be reinforced by other fine qualities as wisdom, commitment, discipline, and courage. Readers will be amazed and rewarded by finding the relevance and practicality of this ancient Eastern philosophy.

A survey of school district superintendents sought to gather data on a number of characteristics and compare the data to studies conducted in 1971 and 1982. From a random sample of 2,536 superintendents, stratified by district size, usable survey responses were received from 1,724, for a return rate of 68 percent, or 11 percent of all United States superintendents. In the study sample of 1,724 superintendents, only 115 are women, and only 66 are minority. The 1992 study includes data on the following: (1) personal profiles of superintendents, including gender, age, family status, education, and area of residence; (2) relationships with board members, including evaluation and terms of employment; (3) characteristics of school districts, including staffing, hiring practices, programming, and size; (4) selected community characteristics, including their involvement and influence in district decision making; (5) superintendents' opinions on key problems and issues in education; (6) issues surrounding the preparation of superintendents and professional development of practicing superintendents; and (7) career patterns of superintendents. (Contains 91 references.) (MLF)

Included in the second edition are new activities covering ISLLC, NCATE, ELCC, NAESP, NCLB, and IDEIA standards