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Bestseller!

Turning Around Failing Schools

Leadership Lessons From the Organizational Sciences

By: Joseph F. Murphy, Coby V. Meyers

This insightful resource integrates research, strategies, and lessons from business, government, and not-for-profit organizations that have transformed their substandard performance into a proactive approach for renewal. Ideal for district administrators, superintendents, policy makers, and individuals interested in organizational accountability and meaningful school reform, this indispensable text offers:

A comprehensive overview of the literature on organizational deterioration
An in-depth examination of the causes and symptoms of degeneration
A two-part model for preventing educational collapse and crafting an effective turnaround
A review of the efficacy of educational reform initiatives

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Product Details

Grade Level: K-12
ISBN: 9781412940979
Published By: Corwin
Year: 2007
Page Count: 368
Publication date: August 29, 2007

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Description

"This book provides critical understandings on the causes of organizational decline, a comprehensive conception of the turnaround process, and powerful insights for transforming failing schools into the kind we all want for our children."
—Kenneth Leithwood, Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education

"Murphy and Meyers do a first-rate job of mapping the territory of school turnarounds and identifying the options for educators to consider and researchers to investigate."
—Daniel L. Duke, Professor of Educational Leadership and Research
University of Virginia

The guide to successfully restructuring schools in trouble!

A comprehensive overview of the literature on organizational deterioration
An in-depth examination of the causes and symptoms of degeneration
A two-part model for preventing educational collapse and crafting an effective turnaround
A review of the efficacy of educational reform initiatives

This indispensable text is ideal for district administrators, superintendents, policy makers, and individuals with an interest in organizational accountability and meaningful school reform.

Key features

Rather than just offering solutions, Murphy and Meyers explore the root causes behind school failure, an essential component of successful change
Includes lessons learned from churches, hospitals, universities, government entities, for profit firms, and non-profit firms that have undergone a turnaround
Explores the efficacy of current educational turnaround initiatives

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.\

Coby V. Meyers

Coby V. Meyers is a doctoral student in the Leadership, Policy,
and Organizations program at Vanderbilt University. His current
research interests include school improvement, sociology of education,
and Islamic school education. Previously, he taught middle
school and high school English at an Islamic school in the Chicago
suburbs.

Table of Contents

Preface

About the Authors

Part I. An Introduction

1. A Framework for Understanding Turnaround

Part II. Decline and Failure

2. Symptoms of Decline

3. Causes of Organizational Failure

4. Crisis, Consequences, and Dysfunctional Reactions

5. Context and Analytic Frames for Turnarounds

Part III. Retrenchment

6. Getting the Right Leadership

7. Diagnosing the Situation and Taking Emergency Action

Part IV. Recovery

8. Pathways to Recovery: Operational Vision, Efficiencies, and Organizational Processes

9. Organizational Work Ethic and Products

Part V. Understanding Turnarounds in Schools

10. Turning Around Failing Schools: The Landscape

11. Turning Around Failing Schools: The Evidence

References

Index

Reviews

"Written for educators but drawing on evidence from many sectors, this book provides critical understandings on the causes of organizational decline, a comprehensive conception of the turnaround process, and powerful insights for transforming failing schools into the kind we all want for our children."

Kenneth Leithwood, Professor of Educational Leadership & Policy
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto

"Murphy and Meyers do a first-rate job of mapping the territory of school turnarounds and identifying the options for educators to consider and researchers to investigate."

Daniel L. Duke, Professor of Educational Leadership and Research
University of Virginia

“Chapters cover the basics of educational reforms as they apply in real-world situations, making this an invaluable pick for any administrator or policy maker interested in reform processes.”

California Bookwatch, January 2008
Midwest Book Review

Other Titles in: Urban Education | School Change, Reform, & Restructuring | Standards & Accountability

Select Format:

Review Copies

This book is not available as a review copy.