This book offers field-tested guidance to help school leaders better support teachers’ professional development. With an illustrative case study, this book provides invaluable guidance and is packed with practical tools, processes and expert advice.
Leading for Professional Learning: What Successful Principals Do to Support Teaching Practice offers field-tested guidance to help school leaders more effectively support teachers’ professional development. Leadership is crucial to professional learning: it provides the necessary systems and structures that enable teachers to improve their own practice and, in turn, improve student learning. With an illustrative case study, this book provides invaluable guidance and is packed with practical tools, processes and expert advice.
Because each school differs in terms of strengths and needs, this book steers away from prescriptivism and shows you how to construct a support plan tailored to your unique context. Specific teaching and leadership frameworks guide you through the process of examination, discovery and execution, equipping you with the necessary tools and insight to make positive changes for your teachers — and, ultimately, your students. A must-read resource for principals, administrators and other school and district leadership, this book helps you set your school on the path to continuous improvement.
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Determine your school’s professional learning needs
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Leverage existing support structures for the greatest effect
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Understand the role of leadership in sponsoring and following up on professional learning
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Ensure intentional changes in teacher practice and student learning
Empowering teachers to improve their craft goes beyond merely offering opportunity; it requires collaboration with teachers every step of the way, a deep understanding of how best to support professional learning, a clear set of goals for both individual sessions and an overarching mission, and the necessary technical and relational support required to see these opportunities through. Written by experts from the University of Washington Center for Educational Leadership, Leading for Professional Learning provides real-world advice that’s proven effective in school districts across the nation.
“For educational leaders who recognize that the most important work occurring in any school happens in the classroom, this book provides practical guidance and insights in how school leaders can support teaching and advance learning for every student. Written in a clear and accessible style, this book will be a tremendous resource for educators who seek to make a difference.”
– Pedro A. Noguera, Ph.D. Distinguished Professor of Education UCLA Graduate School of Education & Information Studies
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Anneke Markholt is the associate director of the University of Washington Center for Educational Leadership and an affiliate faculty member in the College of Education at the University of Washington.
Joanna Michelson is the director of teacher leadership and learning with the University of Washington Center for Educational Leadership.
Stephen Fink is an affiliate professor in the College of Education at the University of Washington and served as founding executive director of the University of Washington Center for Educational Leadership from 2001 to 2018.
