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The Architecture of School Improvement

Lessons Learned

By: Joseph F. Murphy

More than 70 humorous and thought-provoking lessons guide improvement-minded educators toward what works, what doesn’t, and what matters most in school improvement.

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Product Details

Grade Level: PreK-12
ISBN: 9781452268224
Published By: Corwin
Year: 2013
Page Count: 136
Publication date: May 17, 2013

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Description

Sound bites of wisdom for successful school improvement

From the opening pages, readers know The Architecture for School Improvement: Lessons Learned is no ordinary how-to manual. Joseph F. Murphy, a leading researcher in educational leadership, infuses experiences from his 35-year career and humor into oft-debated and polarizing theories of school improvement.

Reading like a collection of daily reflections, this book over 70 short, digestible lessons with themes such as:

Prevention trumps remediation
Context always matters
School improvement is about layering small gains

School leaders, teachers, and improvement-minded audiences will find wisdom about school change in clear, readily accessible lessons. Discover what works, what doesn’t and what matters most in the world of high-stakes testing and accountability!

“There are many books that provide quick-fix lists of a few strategies to promote comprehensive, large-scale change in schools. Professor Murphy has taken a different approach that acknowledges the complexity of creating lasting improvements. Using both humor and his deep understanding of the research and practice of school leadership, he provides us with a memorable fable and short summaries of the lessons that any leader must keep in mind if they hope to make an enduring difference.”
—Karen Seahore Louis, Regents Professor
University of Minnesota

Key features

This gold mine of wisdom from top education researcher and best-selling author of Turning Around Failing Schools and Connecting Teacher Leadership and School Improvement contains key tips and strategies every school leader should know about School Improvement. Award-winning professor and former school administrator, Joseph F. Murphy's concise and instructive lessons will help school leaders stay focused on what matters most as they navigate the hectic world of high-stakes testing and accountability:

It really is all about the kids
Optimism is essential
Caring counts a lot
Don't confuse excuses and explanations

Each lesson is coupled with context in a few sentences taken from Murphy's extensive real-world experiences. This collection is ideal for use in daily reflections, speeches, staff meetings, presentations, or as a guide to boosting student achievement.

Author(s)

Joseph F. Murphy

Joseph F. Murphy is the Frank W. Mayborn Chair and associate dean at Peabody College of Education at Vanderbilt University. He has also been a faculty member at the University of Illinois and The Ohio State University, where he was the William Ray Flesher Professor of Education. In the public schools, he has served as an administrator at the school, district, and state levels, including an appointment as the executive assistant to the chief deputy superintendent of public instruction in California. His most recent appointment was as the founding president of the Ohio Principals Leadership Academy. At the university level, he has served as department chair and associate dean.

He is past vice president of the American Educational Research Association and was the founding chair of the Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium (ISLLC). He is co-editor of the AERA Handbook on Educational Administration (1999) and editor of the National Society for the Study of Education (NSSE) yearbook, The Educational Leadership Challenge (2002).

His work is in the area of school improvement, with special emphasis on leadership and policy. He has authored or co-authored 18 books in this area and edited another 12. His most recent authored volumes include Understanding and Assessing the Charter School Movement (2002), Leadership for Literacy: Research-Based Practice, PreK-3 (2003), Connecting Teacher Leadership and School Improvement (2005), Preparing School Leaders: Defining a Research and Action Agenda (2006), and Turning Around Failing Schools: Lessons From the Organizational Sciences.\

Table of Contents

The DNA of School Improvement

Preface

About the Author

Tales of School Improvement

The Mournful Tale of the Death of Mr. School Improvement

The Case of the Remarkable Reappearance of Mr. School Improvement

The Return of Mr. School Improvement

Framework for School Improvement

Essential Lessons

Epilogue

References

Index

Reviews

"There are many books that provide quick-fix lists of a few strategies to promote comprehensive, large scale change in schools. Professor Murphy has taken a different approach that acknowledges the complexity of creating lasting improvements. Using both humor and his deep understanding of the research and practice of school leadership, he provides us with a memorable fable and short summaries of the lessons that any leader must keep in mind if they hope to make an enduring difference. In doing so, he reminds us of the importance of “steady work” as a mantra for changing schools. This little book should be mandatory reading for all students of school reform, irrespective of their position and their experience."

Karen Seahore Louis, Regents Professor
University of Minnesota

"This is a refreshingly accessible treatment of a serious subject, the means and mysteries of improving education in our schools. Murphy’s long-term engagement with research and practice in school improvement shines through in his willingness to grapple with the dilemmas that confront the best-intentioned efforts to bring about change in schools. The book affords us with insights drawn from the experience of one of America’s leading
education scholars of the past several decades."

Philip Hallinger, Joseph Lau Professor of Leadership and Change
Hong Kong Institute of Education

"Indicting, elucidating, and inspiring. Wrapped in an engaging, satirical, CSI-like investigation of the death and reincarnation (again!) of Mr. School Improvement, Murphy’s proverbs ring true to the best of our knowledge from decades of research and toil in the school improvement vineyard. This book will challenge and guide those who take school improvement seriously—teachers, principals, superintendents, designers and consultants, captains of the school improvement industry, civic leaders, policy makers, and researchers alike. I will keep this volume within short reach and refer to it often. I strongly recommend it to all who aspire to better understand, lead, and succeed at this most important work."

Mark A. Smylie, Professor of Education
University of Illinois at Chicago

Other Titles in: Leadership | School Change, Reform, & Restructuring

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