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Learning for Leadership
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Learning for Leadership
Developmental Strategies for Building Capacity in Our Schools



August 2013 | 320 pages | Corwin

Prepare education leaders to support adult professional growth with this comprehensive guide!

Supporting adult professional development—or capacity building—is a challenge in today’s high-accountability atmosphere, especially with new teacher and principal evaluations. Help prepare leaders to nurture human potential and build internal capacities with this one-of-a-kind resource. Through the authors’ practical advice, you’ll learn to

  • Employ practices that support leadership development in your schools and districts
  • Teach on-the-ground applications for effective professional learning initiatives
  • Design and implement action plans based on Four Pillar Practices for Growth that comprise a learning-oriented model of school leadership: Teaming, Providing Leadership Roles, Collegial Inquiry, and Mentoring with Developmental Intentionality
  • Help leaders bridge theory and practice with first-hand case study analyses

If you want to improve student achievement, then make schools and districts havens for learning for both students and educators with this comprehensive, highly adaptable, and accessible resource!

"Ellie Drago-Severson is one of our most insightful experts on the development of adult educational leaders. She is unique in her ability to move back and forth comfortably between powerful ideas and promising practices."
—Howard Gardner, Professor of Cognition and Education
Harvard University

“This is not another book about education reform to be read and cast aside—this is a book to be savored. It contributes profoundly to our understanding about how adults learn, the differences in the ways that adults learn, and how we can support and challenge adults as continuous learners within the context of the school day.”
—Deanna Burney, Executive Director
Leading by Learning, LLC

“Can those who teach in and lead our schools dramatically improve the development of their students without a new commitment to their own ongoing development? Drago-Severson and her co-authors think not. But more than this, they provide an expansively intelligent, intensely practical, research-based route to realizing this new commitment.”
—Robert G. Kegan, Meehan Professor of Adult Learning and Professional Development
Harvard Graduate School of Education


 
Acknowledgments
 
About the Authors
 
Part I. Foundations
 
Chapter 1. New Imperatives for Change in Support of Building Teaching and Leading: The Promise of Supporting Adult Development--Capacity Building--in Today's Complex Educational World
Orientation

 
Connecting This Book to Hopes and Urgent Needs in the Field

 
Situating This Book in the Context of Education Today

 
A Note About the Cover

 
Research Informing This Book

 
Organization of This Book

 
Our Hopes for You: Enhancing Your Learning and Noble Practice

 
Reflective Questions

 
 
Chapter 2. Leadership for Transformational Learning: A Developmental Model for Building Human Capacity in Diverse Contexts
Introduction and Overview

 
Constructive-Developmental Theory: A Sneak Peak

 
Leadership for Transformational Learning (LTL): Course Overview

 
The Promise of Learning Oriented Leadership

 
Chapter Summary

 
Reflective Questions

 
 
Chapter 3. A Close-up on Constructive-Developmental Theory: Using Theory to Guide Adult Learning in Schools, Districts, and University Preparation Programs
Introduction and Overview

 
Informational and Transformational Learning: Why Might This Distinction Matter to You?

 
Foundational Principles of Constructive-Developmental Theory

 
Why Ways of Knowing and Holding Environments Matter

 
Chapter Summary

 
Reflective Questions

 
 
Part II. Lessons and Examples From Leaders in the Field
 
Chapter 4. Learning about Leadership for Adult Development: LTL Ideas and Practices That Made a Difference for Leaders
Introduction and Overview

 
New Understandings of Learning-Oriented Leadership and Supporting Adult Development

 
Helpful and Meaningful Course Learnings

 
Helpful and Meaningful Course Practices

 
Chapter Summary

 
Reflective Questions

 
 
Chapter 5. Transferring Powerful Learnings: Supporting Professional Growth from University Classrooms to Real-Life Practice
Introduction and Overview

 
Hopes for Developmentally Oriented Leadership Practice

 
Transfer to Practice

 
Chapter Summary

 
Reflective Questions

 
 
Chapter 6. Integrated Lessons from the Field: Three In-Depth Cases of Developmentally Oriented Leadership Practice
Introduction and Overview

 
Matt's Leadership Case: Nurturing the Preconditions and Collegial Inquiry Through Developmentally Oriented, Data-Driven Discussions of Practice

 
Tara's Leadership Case: Building Teams for Collaboration and Collegial Inquiry

 
Adrian's Leadership Case: Supporting Professional Learning Through Reciprocal Mentoring and Providing Leadership Roles

 
Chapter Summary

 
Reflective Questions

 
 
Chapter 7. Growing from, through, and beyond Obstacles: Leaders' Big Challenges and Their Strategies for Overcoming Them
Introduction and Overview

 
Challenging Norms: Confronting "The Way It's Always Been"

 
Facing Resistance: Pushing Forward Despite "Pushback" From Colleagues and/or Supervisors

 
The Urgency of Time: A Common Challenge

 
Professional Isolation: The Loneliness of Leadership

 
Growing Oneself: A Fundamental Need and Responsibility of Leadership

 
Chapter Summary

 
Reflective Questions

 
 
Part III. Implications for Practice and Policy
 
Chapter 8. In the Spirit of Closing Well: Implications for Leaders, Schools, Districts and Systems
Looking Back and Ahead: Reflecting on Our Journey Together

 
Leaders' Requested Supports: Making Space for Renewal, Deep Connection, and Authentic Learning

 
Implications: What Schools, Districts, and Systems Can Do . . . and What You Can, Too

 
New Beginnings

 
 
Resource A. Research Appendix
 
Resource B. Leadership for Transformational Learning (LTL) Course Topics
 
Resource C. Leadership for Transformational Learning (LTL) Citations for Course Readings
 
Glossary
 
References
 
Index

"Can those who teach in and lead our schools dramatically improve the development of their students without a new commitment to their own ongoing development? Drago-Severson and her co-authors think not. But more than this, they provide an expansively intelligent, intensely practical, research-based route to realizing this new commitment."

Robert G. Kegan, Meehan Professor of Adult Learning and Professional Development
Harvard Graduate School of Education, MA

"Ellie Drago-Severson is one of our most insightful experts on the development of adult educational leaders. She is unique in her ability to move back and forth comfortably between powerful ideas and promising practices."

Howard Gardner, Professor of Cognition and Education
Harvard University

"This is not another book about education reform to be read and cast asidethis is a book to be savored. It contributes profoundly to our understanding about how adults learn, the differences in the ways that adults learn, and how we can support and challenge adults as continuous learners within the context of the school day—a must if we are truly dedicated to improving teaching and learning for every child in every classroom in every school."

Deanna Burney, Executive Director
Leading by Learning, LLC

"This book is unique in its approach to bridge theory and practice regarding leadership in our schools. The stories, examples, and vignettes are grounded in the real world of leadership and provide concrete, specific examples."

Jane Ellison, Educational Consultant

"This book provides school leaders with the theoretical framework and practical applications to better support teachers’ professional growth and learning. The authors teach us how to create meaningful change through the development of a safe, trusting, respectful environment that encourages reflection, collaboration and professional growth within schools. This book will enable educational leaders to understand and overcome resistance to change and will transform the way they facilitate professional development and guide adult learning in schools."

Kara Popiel, Teacher
Yonkers Public Schools, NY

“A powerful new framework for supporting leaders.  I see Learning for Leadership becoming the foundation for many leadership development programs. Using the adult learning lens, the authors offer a powerful approach to supporting the development and increasing the impact of school leaders.This will serve as a great reference for educators charged with the responsibility to design leadership development programs that make a difference for the participants as well as their staff and students.”

Stephanie Hirsch, Executive Director
Learning Forward

Learning for Leadership brings right to life the experiences school leaders have had as a result of their work with TC’s LTL course!  Dr. Drago-Severson provides a tremendously active and learning oriented model for school leadership. Her examination of real –life lessons learned from her adult students is action oriented in itself. These testimonies not only focus on how intentionally these leaders implemented their learning from LTL but they also put forth the challenges encountered by these thoughtful leaders as well.

Drago-Severson’s work has highly influenced the practice of School Leaders Network in school districts across the nation. As Drago-Severson notes: “ School leaders “ yearn for on-going support” and this book, while clearly illustrating learning, also prescribes critically important lessons for district practice and policy.”

Elizabeth Neale, CEO
School Leaders Network
Key features
(1) Provides a practical, field-tested portrait of promising practices for human capacity building in K-12 schools as well as guide to effective and immediate implementation.

(2) Focuses promising new leadership preparation practices that are grounded in constructive developmental theory.

(3) Includes examples of common obstacles and problems faced by leaders who strive to support adult development in their work context. 

Sample Materials & Chapters

Sample Material


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