In 1949, as postwar Texas was steadily becoming more urban and calls for education reform were gathering strength throughout the state and nation, State Representative Claud Gilmer and State Senator A. M. Aikin Jr. sponsored a bill designed to increase salaries for Texas schoolteachers. Also tied to the bill, however, were provisions related to sweeping changes in school funding and access to education for minorities. In To Get a Better School System, Gene B. Preuss examines not only the public policy wrangling and historical context leading up to and surrounding the Gilmer-Aikin legislation, but also places the discussion in the milieu of the national movement for school reform.

An urgent case for protecting public education, from one of America's best-known education experts In this landmark book, Diane Ravitch - former assistant secretary of education and a leader in the drive to create a national curriculum - examines her career in education reform and repudiates positions that she once staunchly advocated. Drawing on over forty years of research and experience, Ravitch critiques today's most popular ideas for restructuring schools, including privatization, the Common Core, standardized testing, the replacement of teachers by technology, charter schools, and vouchers. She shows conclusively why the business model is not an appropriate way to improve schools. Using examples from major cities like New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Denver, and San Diego, Ravitch makes the case that public education today is in peril and includes clear prescriptions for improving America's schools. The Death and Life of the Great American School System is more than just an analysis of the state of play of the American education system. It is a must-read for any stakeholder in the future of American schooling.

In this volume, a team of national experts address the major elements key to system redesign and long-lasting reform, describing in detail the steps needed at the community, school, district and state-level by which to achieve long-lasting reform.

America’s citizens want children to receive a high-quality education in clean, orderly and safe schools staffed with quality teachers, support staff and courageous educational leaders. In many communities, such a school experience is something the students will never have. Why? One or more members of the governing board desire to use their elected position for personal gain. They are Exploiters. Some desire to exploit a little. Others crave total domination of the school system and become the petty tyrants of education. Whether the exploitation is minimal or extreme, exploitative board members are highly detrimental to the effectiveness of the local school system. They destroy teamwork, morale, careers and many times entire school systems. They steal a high-quality education from children. The predominant governance structure of public education dictated by law is seriously flawed. What thousands of citizens and educators strongly desire for their schools can be discarded and replaced with the unscrupulous will of one individual. Exploitive school board members must be understood and stopped. The governance structure of public education must be changed.

The Little School System That Could is a story about transformation. In 1995, equipped with not much more than a vision of the quality education that urban students deserved, Tom DeBolt, the new superintendent of the Manassas Park School System, set into motion a series of reforms that transformed the district. By 2005 every school was accredited, passing rates on state tests had doubled, and the school system was attracting national attention. Daniel L. Duke examines the district's ten-year turnaround, from four organizational perspectives and addresses the critical role of professional and political leadership in overcoming the challenges of low morale, scarce resources, changing demographics, and dysfunctional school-community relations.

How can school leaders shape organisations that offer consistently high quality, rounded and equitable education in the context of rapid change? How can wider school systems support and encourage all schools to succeed in this way? School Leadership and Education System Reform considers the ways in which school leadership and its practice has changed and developed in response to a rapidly changing educational scenario over the last decade to meet the ever-growing and changing demands of children, policy-makers and other stakeholders and considers future developments. Drawing together leading thinkers and researchers in the field of leadership and management this text takes an international perspective to consider what we know about school leadership and learning, and its practice. Theoretically and conceptually informed, the contributors draw on recent empirical research studies into leadership, learning and system reform to explore the key areas of school leadership and management with specific reference to student, adult and organisational learning. Key topics covered include: · The relationship between leadership and student learning · How leaders foster professional learning and evidence-informed improvement · The changing role and nature of accountability · System leadership and governance in networked systems · The balance between accountability, markets, and networks in 'self-improving' school systems · Emerging challenges and opportunities for leaders, such as the implications of new technologies Essential reading for those on postgraduate courses on leadership and management and those looking to develop their leadership practice, School Leadership and Education System Reform clearly sets out the key issues and provides discussion points and suggests resources to support and guide the reader through the wealth of information.