Alan Dichter recommends several resources that the Satellite Academy staff read together to deepen their collaborative leadership skills:
The Skilled Facilitator: Practical Wisdom for Developing Effective Groups by Roger M. Schwarz (Jossey-Bass Inc., 1994)
Chapter 12, “Serving as a Facilitator in Your Own Organization” and Chapter 13, “The Facilitative Leader” help groups learn to communicate effectively and move through conflict. Information about the skilled facilitator approach is also available on the web at www.schwarzassociates.com.
The Human Side of School Change
by Robert Evans (Jossey-Bass, Inc., 1996)
Chapter 9, “The Authentic Leader” and Chapter 11, “Participation–Without Paralysis” spur leaders and all decision makers to clarify their roles.
The Leadership Paradox: Balancing Logic and Artistry in Schools,
by Terrence E. Deal and Kent D. Peterson (Jossey-Bass, 1994)
Deal and Peterson help school leaders reconcile the apparent clash between rational/technical management and passionate/artistic leadership.
“What You Don’t Know About Making Decisions” by David A. Garvin and Michael A. Roberto, Harvard Business Review, September 2001
Garvin and Roberto are eloquent on the role of inquiry, the utility of conflict in team decision-making. See www.ccsso.org/isllc.html
for more information: contact Nancy Sanders, Consultant, ISLLC, phone: 303/484-8475, email: nancys@ccsso.org, or Joseph Murphy, Chair, ISLLC, at the Ohio Principals Leadership Academy, phone: 614/247-7130, email murphy.532@osu.edu
The Role of Leadership in Sustaining School Reform: Voices from the Field
Written by Adel Nadeau and Mary S. Leighton for the U.S. Department of Education, this report, available only on the web, synthesizes the responses of school leaders (principals, teachers, parents) from nine United States cities to these questions: “What do long-term school reform leaders view as their essential professional competencies? What do they see as their role in sustaining reform? How do they engage teachers, families, and communities in partnerships that build programs to help children meet challenging standards? How do such leaders know when they are doing a good job?” Rich with stories and quotations, The Role of Leadership in Sustaining School Reform extrapolates qualities of leaders who sustain reform and focuses closely on self-assessment, providing a range of tools and rubrics for leaders to evaluate their strengths, skills and challenges.
web site: www.ed.gov/pubs/Leadership/
Leadership for Learning
This compilation of resources, presented by the Center for School and Community Development at the North Central Regional Educational Laboratory, provides information and tools particularly useful to leadership in participatory decision-making settings. Leadership for Learning’s resources are designed for small schools working on reforms that improve achievement equity and include commitment to school-community partnerships.
web site: www.ncrel.org/cscd/
Big Picture Company Principal Residency Network
The Big Picture Company’s Principal Residency Network helps aspiring principals develop their leadership skills through full-time internships in Rhode Island, New Hampshire and Vermont, and the greater Boston area. The Principal Residency Network reflects the Big Picture Company philosophy of creating and sustaining small, innovative, personalized schools. Aspiring principals work closely with mentor principals, creating their own individualized learning plans, visiting multiple schools, meeting with other principals-in-training and mentors, demonstrating their work through portfolios and exhibitions, and more.
web site: www.bigpicture.org/PRNprincipalResidencyNetwork.htm
email: principalresidency@bigpicture.org
telephone: 401/456-0600
fax: 401/456-0606
mailing address: Principal Residency Network, The Big Picture Company, 275 Westminster Street, Suite 500, Providence, RI 02903