Reliable School Leadership: What All Students Deserve

(Paperback)

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Trapped between an encroaching tide of privatization and a rocky theoretical shore, educational leadership in Americas public schools is ardently researched and professionally practiced, but frequently besmirched and poorly understood. Despite the intentions of public educators to engage all students with the original power of education, disconnections caused by mandates, ideologies, and theoretical fuzziness render educational leadership unreliable.

The capacities necessary for school leadership to function reliably on behalf of all students are well within the grasp of present-day public educators. But, the action or agency sufficient to enacting educational leadership reliably is on hold. Educational leadership throughout US public schools is submarined when disconnections and ideological misdirection impede the primary purpose and the moral obligation of public education.

To fulfill the promises of public education and restore the intentions of educational leadership requires that educators, policymakers, and proponents of US public education reimagine the interconnections that yield the primary purpose and moral obligation of public education. Functional educational leadership is examined throughout this book as the agency necessary and sufficient for public education to discard the forces and factors that impose unreliability.

Reviews

In Reliable School Leadership, Swensson and Lehman offer a metaphorical bridge between theory and practice for those preparing for school leadership or for current school leaders seeking to advance their practice. Reliable School Leadership is a comprehensive guide and reminder of the core tenets of public education that opens the door to reimagining difference-making and intentionality in our schools and for our students. -- Laurie Mullen, dean, School of Education, Towson University
Reliable School Leadership by Swensson and Lehman helps school leaders identify ways in which to transform their leadership practices. Practical application of the complex dynamic of public school leadership is shared throughout this book. The authors elevate the profession and draw upon their own successful educational leadership careers to inform current school leaders through their understanding of professional practice and scholarship in educational leadership. -- Todd Bess, executive director, Indiana Association of School Principals
There is no better time to reimagine leadership in education. Swensson and Lehmans ReliableSchool Leadership challenges aspiring and veteran educational leaders to examine what school leadership looked like during the first twenty years of this century and, then, to transform with intentionality to best serve our students for the remainder of the twenty-first century and beyond. -- Jeff Butts, superintendent, Metropolitan school district of Wayne Township
Perhaps at no other time throughout the history of preK-12 education as we know it has a book like Reliable School Leadership: What All Students Deserve been so deeply desired for aspiring and practicing school leaders... At the very heart of the book is how effective school leadership can have a positive and lasting effect on a host of significant school attributes and outcomes, such as climate and culture, student and teacher morale, academic achievement and stakeholder engagement... Swensson and Lehman said they aimed to support, inform, challenge, and inspire leaders, prospective leaders, and colleagues. The authors accomplished what they set out to do. * School Administrator *

Author Bio

Jeff Swensson served in traditional public education across the Midwest as a teacher, assistant principal, principal, assistant superintendent, and superintendent for forty-five years. He graduated from Amherst College, received his MAT from Northwestern University, and earned his PhD from Indiana University.
Lynn Lehman served in public schools and universities in Indiana as a teacher, assistant principal, principal, assistant superintendent, superintendent, university lecturer, and assistant professor for fifty years. He earned BS, MAT, EdS, and EdD degrees from Indiana University.