about Gender Identity Justice in Schools and Communities
by sj Miller, Teachers College Press, New York, N.Y., 2019, 98 pp. with index, $24.95 softcover

As superintendents, it is our responsibility to model equity, dignity and respect, as well as make our schools safe and supportive for all. This resource will help you grow in your understanding of students with complex gender identities.  

In about Gender Identity Justice In Schools and Communities, sj Miller, an award-winning teacher, writer, scholar and activist, shares the shocking statistics for trans*⁺, non-cisgender, students’ futures if we do not make our schools welcoming and supportive.

The ideas in the book are accessible to anyone with an open mind and a desire for all children to be successful in school and beyond. When choosing this book, I had hoped it would spell out concrete steps to take to support students and staff. After reading and digesting the content, I realized I had a great deal of understanding and learning to do before making changes in practice.  

Although this book is short, the author shares links to a large number of high-quality public domain resources you can use to continue your growth and assist your administrators, teachers and students in implementing gender identity justice. In addition, the “Glossary of Shifting Terms” at the end of the book is a great tool to grow your vocabulary in the area of gender identity justice.  

Reviewed by Nancy Wagner, superintendent, River Trails School District 26, Mt. Prospect, Ill.

Coach It Further: Using the Art of Coaching to Improve School Leadership
by Peter M. DeWitt, Corwin, Thousand Oaks, Calif., 2019, 188 pp., $33.95 softcover

Coach as a noun denotes a job title. Coach as a verb indicates an action one takes to improve someone else’s thinking or work. Whether the noun, the verb or both apply to you, Peter DeWitt’s easy-to-read style may be a good fit.

Using fictitious external coach conversations, the book is written primarily as a narrative — representing a year-long coaching relationship between a school leader and an external coach. DeWitt weaves in leadership content (e.g., communication, collective efficacy) within these coaching interactions.

Superintendent and principal supervisors can use this text as a call to examine their own principal coaching to see how they model high-quality coaching. The intent of this coaching is for the coached to then coach it further — to pay it forward to their assistant principals.  

Each chapter includes questions for the coach, for the leader and for both. At times the voice is confusing — it is unclear if Peter the author is speaking or Peter is speaking as the fictitious coach, Michelle. 

Reviewed by Thomas Van Soelen, president, Van Soelen & Associates, Lawrenceville, Ga.

Compete or Close: Traditional Neighborhood Schools Under Pressure
by Julia A. McWilliams, Harvard Education Press, Cambridge, Mass., 2019, 256 pp. with index, $32 softcover

Author Julia McWilliams grabs attention and sparks interest with the title of her book, Compete or Close: Traditional Neighborhood Schools Under Pressure. Once past the title, the renderings turn into something of a disappointment.

The title seems to indicate that a case will be made to promote competition, but what follows is a powerful indictment of the role of competition in public schools. An underlying theme of the book is that competition from private and charter schools is bad and the way to improve failing public education is to close down private and charter schools and return the students in them to public schools.

McWilliams promotes a long string of 120 interviews with students, educators and others to make her case. However, the interviews seem to be inserted into the text without attempting to relate to the context. The reader is left with a feeling of apathy. So much of the text is disjointed and of no interest, with long paragraphs that fill 75 percent of a page.

It was a boring struggle to wade through this book. Busy superintendents and school administrators faced with time consuming issues may not have the time or interest to invest in reading this book.

Reviewed by Darroll Hargraves, retired superintendent and private management consultant, School and Community Resources, Wasilla, Alaska

 

Manage Your Time or Time Will Manage You: Strategies That Work from an Educator Who’s Been There
by PJ Caposey, ASCD, Alexandria, Va., 2018, 137 pp. with index, $25.95 softcover 

In his new book, Manage Your Time or Time Will Manage You: Strategies that Work from an Educator Who’s Been There, PJ Caposey provides simple and effective solutions and strategies to help educators who often feel like there are not enough hours in the day. Caposey, who currently serves as the superintendent of Meridian CUSD 223 in Stillman Valley, Ill., has published multiple books and served as a high school principal.

The book is organized into eight chapters with each discussing a specific issue related to the many time management challenges. Whether you are a “people pleaser” who can’t say no to anyone or feel like your life is perpetually unorganized and imbalanced, Caposey provides timely advice.  

As stated in the introduction, “If you search Amazon for time management, you’ll get over 40,000 results.” So, what is different about this book? Since this book is written by an educator for educators, the topics directly relate to the many time and organizational challenges educators encounter every day.

The format is extremely user-friendly. Each chapter is only around 15 pages, which makes it is easy to dedicate a few minutes each day to quickly read an entire chapter. In a school district environment, this book could be used effectively in a book study setting with teachers, administrators or even high school students. 

Reviewed by Justin B. Henry, superintendent, Goddard Public Schools, Goddard, Kan.


Preparing Teachers for Deeper Learning
by Linda Darling-Hammond and Jeannie Oakes, Harvard Education Press, Cambridge, Mass., 2019, 393 pp. with index, $34 softcover

Preparing Teachers for Deeper Learning should be required reading for today’s teachers and school administrators. Linda Darling-Hammond, professor emeritus at Stanford University, and Jeannie Oakes, presidential professor emerita at UCLA, have addressed the challenges of educating children from diverse backgrounds to meet the demands of a new world where knowledge is the key to succeeding in its dynamic economy.  Educational practice must focus on deeper learning, equity and social justice.  These goals require an updating of what teachers must know of the science of learning and development as well as the most effective strategies for helping students acquire the knowledge and skills essential for their futures.

To illustrate how these concepts can be present in the classroom, the authors have chosen to spotlight seven teacher preparation programs that directly incorporate teaching for deeper learning in coursework and classroom experiences, as well as developing the principles of deeper learning in the teacher candidates themselves. No doubt leaders of teacher preparation programs will find this text provoking. School districts will be lucky to have new teachers who have completed any of these programs.

The text is also a comprehensive updating of the science of learning and teaching. Topics include organizing the knowledge base, grounding learning in development, applying and transferring learning, and teaching for equity and social justice.  Even the most experienced teacher will find new knowledge here. Principals will gain new perspectives on classroom observation and what to look for in new hires.  Superintendents and central office staff will see a foundation for effective in-service programs.

The contents of this text are dense, but the chapters are highly readable. Readers who seriously approach the book will find every minute spent in its pages enlightening and full of practical ideas. They will also find the elements of a core plan for effective teaching and learning that recognizes the need for changing what is happening in the classroom today to what should be happening to prepare students for a much-changed world.

Reviewed by John C. Fagan, retired superintendent, Elmhurst, Ill.


Time for Change: Four Essential Skills for Transformational School and District Leaders
by Anthony Muhammad and Luis F. Cruz, Solution Tree Press, Bloomington, Ind., 2019, 152 pp. with index, $29.95 softcover

Time for Change, written by Anthony Muhammad and Luis Cruz, provides strong reminders of what educational leaders should consider when leading their schools through a change process. Although most would find the recommendations provided by the authors to be familiar, the contents provide a comprehensive and essential guide to change for school and district leaders, and a source of prompts for important conversations for any administrative team.  

The “four essential skills” highlighted in the text are: communicating the rationale; establishing trust; building capacity; and getting results (accountability). Rather than simply advocating for these means, the authors provide both the rationale and strategies for each skill, which are woven together to present a depiction of a transformational leader.  

At the end of each chapter are scenarios that individuals or administrative teams can use to reflect on how each skill can be applied in a real-world situation. Using these scenarios as models, our district provided actual situations for the administrative team to consider at our retreat. Together, school and district administrators grappled with the changes being implemented over the new school year and discussed how we would communicate the rationale, establish trust among those implementing the change, build capacity of staff through professional development and coaching, and hold everyone responsible for achieving results.

As the saying goes, change is inevitable. Success, however, is not. Transformational leaders, applying the skills and strategies advocated by Muhammad and Cruz, enable the change process to be successful.  

Reviewed by Judy Paolucci, superintendent, Smithfield Public Schools, Smithfield, R.I.

 

School Choice
Enrollment over time in traditional public schools, public charter schools and home schools has increased, while enrollment in private schools decreased, according to a new report from the National Center for Education Statistics.

Chronic Absence
A new report from the American Institutes for Research describes how data on chronic absence can be a tool to warn administrators that students are not getting the support they need.

Learning Barriers
UCLA’s Center for Mental Health in Schools provides information and links for leaders and practitioners to help districts enhance how they address barriers to learning and teaching and re-engage disconnected students.

Education’s Impact
An infographic from the Horace Mann League and the National Superintendents Roundtable shows that student achievement for every major racial and ethnic group in the United States is higher than it was in the 1970s.

Conference News Recaps
AASA will deliver daily news and information during the 2020 National Conference on Education in San Diego.

Conference Daily Online will be delivered early each morning, on four consecutive days beginning Feb. 13, through members’ e-mail. The publication includes short articles about speakers and award winners, video clips, photos and blog postings by four superintendents serving as AASA’s official bloggers.