District Leadership That Works begins by expunging the myth that district leadership and high-level school administrators are useless and deter educational progress. Rather, it shows how district leaders can unite a school district through establishing common goals that will improve overall student achievement, while maintaining teachers stylistic freedom. The authors introduce the concept of a top-down power mechanism called defined autonomy. Rather than decentralizing authority, defined autonomy puts the focus on district-defined non-negotiable goals and a system of accountability supported by assessment tools. With district-defined goals and assessment tools, schools can successfully address student achievement and respond more quickly and effectively to student failure. The authors then delve into setting and monitoring non-negotiable goals for achievement and instruction, both at the district and school levels. When setting goals for achievement, they suggest, leaders must look past typical standardized testing and create formative assessment tools that add more variables to measurement. Leaders should focus on programs that monitor the progress of failing students and on processes for taking action. Regarding non-negotiable goals for instruction, the authors suggest that focusing only on teacher certification and subject-matter expertise is insufficient for school improvement; rather, goals should be set and actions monitored for improving teachers instructional skills as well. Attainment of these skills can then be measured by the progress of student achievement using assessment tools. District Leadership That Works goes on to assure educators that district leadership is not a unilateral decision-making process; rather, leadership involves schools, teacher unions, students, and community members in collaborative goal-setting. Leaders must also ensure that the school board is accountable for appropriately allocating resources to support these goals; school board decisions regarding expenditures and resource allocation directly impact student achievement levels. Defined autonomy does not mean self-determination; school must follow non-negotiable goals. The authors outline the inter-relationship between the two levels how district goals impact school instruction and policies. They acknowledge the challenges of second-order change to transform schools, since this involves a mental and procedural break with past educational paradigms. They explain how district leaders can tactfully and successfully deal with any resistance to the changes and the new role that district leadership must play. In the final analysis, the authors argue, the ultimate goal of stronger district leadership and non-negotiable goal-setting is student achievement, since that is why educational systems exist in the first place.
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Bob Marzano and Tim Waters have made sense of a vast amount of research on the impact of school leadership at the district level. They have proven that clear direction and focused leadership through defined autonomy have a positive impact on student achievement. Marzano and Waters have an uncanny ability to translate theory into action, and they have done it again in District Leadership That Works. This book can guide the ongoing efforts at the district level to support the work going on in schools. --Bill Harrison, Chairman/CEO, State Board of Education and the Public Schools of North Carolina
About the Author
Dr. Robert Marzano is cofounder and CEO of Marzano Research Laboratory in Centennial, Colorado, and Senior Scholar at Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning in Denver, Colorado. He is the author of thirty books, one hundred and fifty articles and chapters in books, and one hundred sets of curriculum materials for teachers and students in grades K-12. During his forty years in public education, Dr. Marzano has worked in every state and in many countries in Europe and Asia. The central theme in his work has been translating research and theory into practical programs and tools for K-12 teachers and administrators. His works include: The Art and Science of Teaching, Classroom Assessment and Grading That Work, What Works in Schools: Translating Research Into Action, School Leadership That Works, Building Background Knowledge for Academic Achievement, Classroom Management That Works, Classroom Instruction That Works, Transforming Classroom Grading, and A Different Kind of Classroom. Dr. Timothy Waters is executive director of Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning (McREL) and has been with the organization since 1993. Prior to joining McREL, Dr. Waters was superintendent of schools in Greeley, Colorado, where he led a seven-year effort of systemic reform to ensure the success of every student. This standards-based effort resulted in dramatic achievement gains for students and, in particular, for minority students and disadvantaged children. Dr. Waters has expertise in the theory and application of systemic change processes in educational systems and in the implementation of effective reform. Previous positions also include special adviser for education to the governor of Arizona, assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction, principal, assistant principal, dean of students, and teacher.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Educational Accidents,
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This review is from: District Leadership That Works: Striking the Right Balance (Paperback)
In this study, Marzano and Waters (MW) used meta-analysis to investigate the relationship between district leadership and student achievement at the school building level. Their study found that there were positive effects between school district leadership and student achievement. Meta-analysis has many critics. Some describe the process as mixing apples and oranges to discover how tomatoes grow. MW provides technical notes from pages 117 to 139. These notes were inscrutable since I have not yet acquired the specific research skills to understand them.Their research has led them to advance five district responsibilities (or initiatives). They are: ensuring collaborative goal setting, establishing nonnegotiable goals for achievement and instruction, creating board alignment and support of district goals, monitoring achievement and instructional goals, and allocating resources to support goals for achievement and instruction (p. 6). MW also made a perplexing finding, called Defined Autonomy. "Defined autonomy means that the superintendent expects building principals and all other administrators in the district to lead within the boundaries defined by the district goals (p. 8). How Defined Authority should be implemented takes up the rest of the book. MW advocates that school districts become high reliability school districts by tight coupling regarding achievement and instruction (p. 18). The authors draw on the model of high reliability organizations (HROs). A HRO is an organization that has succeeded in avoiding catastrophe in an environment where normal accidents are expected due to risk factors and complexity (Wikipedia). MW cites organizations such as electric power grids, commercial aircraft maintenance, air traffic control, and nuclear power plants. MW acknowledges that HROs are far removed from education, but uses the concept to advocate for high reliability schools districts. This begs the question: what educational accidents need to be avoided? The authors did not make a list of educational accidents to be avoided. Uppermost in the minds of parents, students and teachers are the issues of bullying, violence and school shootings. Perhaps MW in their next study could develop a list of educational accidents to be avoided through the development of high reliability school districts. Schools are social institutions established by law. HROs are technical organizations managed by humans. HROs need high reliability or people may die in accidents. MW tries to combine insights from technical organizations with school districts, similar to meta-analysis. The authors manage to confuse first-order change with second-order change. HROs require first-order change since changes to avoid accidents are technical in nature. Second-order change requires changes outside of current paradigms. Second-order change will not occur when first-order change, as advocated by MW, is implemented. The authors would benefit from reading Leadership & Sustainability: System Thinkers in Action. What MW miss, as many educational researchers do, is that schools are almost totally impervious to change. First, they do not take into account that children are legally compelled to attend school. Children are human beings. Making technical changes does not affect their motivation and frequent resentment for being in school. Second, schools are mostly staffed by teachers who are fallible human beings and who can be resistant to change in the conditions of their employment. What MW proposes as nonnegotiable goals for achievement and instruction is regarded by teachers as control of their workplace. The authors are typical in bemoaning the Teachers' Union. Unions came into existence in order to redress workplace conditions. Marzano and Waters would benefit from reading Who Controls Teachers' Work?: Power and Accountability in America's Schools and The Human Side of School Change: Reform, Resistance, and the Real-Life Problems of Innovation (Jossey-Bass Education Series). These studies help the reader discover the effects of implementing nonnegotiable goals. Teachers are professionals who are sometimes managed by leaders who do not grasp the impact of the resistance and resentment of teachers who do not buy in to change. This does not even take into account the response of students to such "noble" nonnegotiable goals. I do hope Marzano and Waters will research and report on educational accidents. Dr. John Merks Teacher Riverview High School Riverview New Brunswick Canada
3.0 out of 5 stars
compilation of Marzano research,
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This review is from: District Leadership That Works: Striking the Right Balance (Kindle Edition)
This book provides a connection between research on teaching, administration and best teaching practices. I recommend to anyone who is in education.
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