A Guide to Managing and Leading School Operations: The Principal's Field Manual

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Description

The job of school leader has become progressively more demanding. The role includes increasingly complex problems to be solved and increasingly deep piles of paperwork to complete. Unfortunately, the managing of employees, the preparing and justifying of resource both personnel and financial - projections, and the complexities involved in operating facilities safely and legally are the most frequently mentioned reasons for why school leaders begin to question their career choice. And, while faculties and colleges of education as well as principals professional associations offer courses and workshops, very few adequately address the gaps that exist between theory and practice in a way that would mitigate this reticence to lead in this climate. A Principled Guide to Managing and Leading School Operations fills a gap in the training of educational leaders by orienting them to the vitally important business operations required to run a school. This book therefore is for all school leaders who wish they had been given a school operations field manual, and it is for those who prepare them who might wish to rebalance anew the current propensity of principal preparation programs that blindly privilege leadership identity over developing the requisite management acumen teachers, parents and the public expect.

Reviews

Schools are complex and complicated human systems. As such, those who lead schools as principals need diverse and varied skills. A Guide to Managing and Leading School Operations: The Principals Field Manualby Dr. Jerome Cranston clearly recognizes and understands the complexity and nuance of this leadership position. By explaining the convergence of leadership and management, Dr. Cranston displays his unique understanding and experience as a principal. As educators, we often bring strong leadership and instructional skills to the position of principal but it is the management requirements that must be learned on the job. Dr. Cranstons field manual will aid many a new principal in this highly specialized position and relieve much of the angst they feel in their first few years. -- Kevin Booth, assistant superintendent, St. Thomas Aquinas Roman Catholic School Division; former high school principal in three Canadian provinces and the United States
All readers, whatever their personal views on school leadership, will find much to deepen their thinking about school management in this book. Its breadth and scope, the variety of management principles covered, and the lucid presentation of the argument that school management matters will provoke much consideration and excitement. As he has done throughout his career, Jerome Cranston once again helps us think more clearly about important issues in educational leadership. -- Carmen Mombourquette, PhD, associate professor, Educational Administration, University of Lethbridge; former school principal, Alberta and Ontario
In the early 2000s the tutelage of then Principal Jerome Cranston was invaluable to help me transition from a classroom teacher to a young assistant principal. As an author and academic, he is on target once again as his mentorship-style book helps to clearly and concisely provide guidance to educational leaders through the promotion of the value of practical wisdom. Professor Cranston provides real pathways to decoding the Rubic Cube-like complexities of balancing the demands of financial management, personnel, creative problem solving and policy development and implementation, which are invaluable to both current and also aspiring school leaders. -- Alan R. Carruthers, president, St. Louis University High School; former principal, Regis Jesuit High School, Aurora, Colorado

Author Bio

Jerome Cranston, Ph.D.is currently the Executive Director, Student Engagement & Academic Success and also an Associate Professor of Educational Administration at University of Manitoba. Most recently, he has served in a university academic administrator position overseeing a staff of over one hundred and a multi-million dollar budget. Prior to that he spent sixteen years in the K-12 education system as a teacher, principal and superintendent in a career that spanned Canadas prairie provinces.