5 Essential Skills for Successful School Leaders: Moving from Good to Great

(Hardback, Second Edition)

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In today's changing environment, leaders need a concrete guideline to help meet new challenges and update standards and assessments. New educational regulations and laws pertain to accountability issues, testing methods, assessment, teacher certification requirements, and safety in schools, and they also serve to update preexisting methods in leadership skills. This book will help leaders develop skills to successfully adopt new techniques that are vital when dealing with national and state requirements and enacting new laws that pertain to education. 5 Essential Skills for Successful School Leaders provides a detailed and comprehensive look at theories of leadership styles and behaviors, and it presents the reader with five characteristics that enable a rising or veteran leader to become proficient and effective in his or her role. Using real life stories and examples, the authors illustrate how to bring about change and be a successful leader utilizing these five traits: insight, interpersonal skills, self-growth, flexibility, and keeping in touch with the community. This book is a useful tool for all administrators and professors of educational leadership.

Reviews

Insightfulness, interpersonal skills, and flexibility! Just a few of the essentials skills that Jacobs and Langley teach you how to use in combination to become a more effective school leader. Packed with common sense observations and advice, this book is a great guide for todays educational leaders. -- John D. Carlevatti, superintendent, Penfield Central Schools, New York
In todays fast-changing education environment, one needs to remain ready to navigate through any issue that may arise. This book is exactly the guide for every teacher leader and for all those involved in our education system. Especially helpful is its clear and concise strategies, which made a positive difference on my leadership abilities. -- Scott D. Loube, MBA, MHA, MEdLe, teacher leader, Fairfax County Public Schools, Virginia
As Superintendent of public schools, I am honored to support this work. Dr. Mark Jacobs and Nancy Langley have hit the bulls eye on the leadership target. Their thorough analysis of leadership styles combined with practical insights should be a must read for any professional considering the complex (and often tumultuous) waters of leadership. Their book also offers hope that through better understanding and practical application, improvement to the educational system remains possible. -- John Walker, superintendent, North Rose-Wolcott Central Schools, New York
I wish I would have had this guide to leadership in my comprehensive and challenging career as a K-12 Coordinator of Staff Development and Community Relations. It makes accessible ALL that a leader needs. The book provides the tangible, practical skills and authentic traits essential in leading education forward. It holds examples and advice for every day lived in our schools as well as vision and inspiration for the stamina and optimism needed in the long run. There could neither be a more challenging time for educational leaders nor a better guide to step up and into those challenges. -- Mary Winsky, former Teacher of Excellence, public school change agent, staff developer, teacher and administrative mentor, and graduate professor, Westchester County, New York
Langley and Jacobs second edition book on school leadership is full of timely and practical recommendations for dealing with the challenges and opportunities faced by school leaders. The five essential characteristics for successful leaders make this work a must-read for administrators, faculty, parents, and school board members. The book is easy-to-read and practical, relyingheavily on case studies of actual issues thatimpact schools today. It illustrates how leadership plays an important role in achieving successful outcomes. -- W. Gary McGuire, Ed.D., retired provost, School of Continuing Education, North Orange Community College District, Anaheim, California

Author Bio

Nancy Langley has been a World Languages teacher in Fairfax County, Virginia and a department chair and member of several school, district, and state-wide committees. She has developed curriculum and has worked on school planning, extra-curricular activities, and policy. Mark M. Jacobs worked his way up from classroom teacher to district-level administrator. In Webster Central Schools, New York, he was involved in curriculum, safety, attendance, residency and other legal issues of the school system.