Fatigued by School Reform
by Jack Jennings, Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham, Md., 2020, 135 pp. with index, $60 hardcover, $30 softcover

Jack Jennings was in the front row as federal school reform laws directed local school initiatives to improve student achievement, having served for 27 years as staff director and then general counsel to the U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Education and Labor and then as CEO of the Center on Education Policy. Fatigued by School Reform chronicles over fifty years of school reform efforts starting with the Coleman Report (1966) and the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965.

Jennings reminds us about the Coleman Report’s essential finding that “…parental background is by far the most important factor indicating a student’s progress in school.” This historic policy report served as a springboard for decades of reforms focused on fiscal and program equity and later on academic standards, school choice and test-driven accountability. In the process, Jennings argues that many elected leaders “…are diverting attention from their own responsibility to improve the economy…” by focusing blame for low and inadequate performance on teachers and schools without owning their duty to care for the financial condition of the economy and families.

School leaders will benefit from Jennings’ brisk, insightful description of how national initiatives to set standards evolved into the No Child Left Behind law and then the requirements of the Every Student Succeeds Act. Jennings asserts that NCLB shifted the federal focus to all students without a commensurate level of funding. ESSA created more school level flexibility but retained the same emphasis that led to a narrowing of the curriculum and pernicious consequences for failing to meet impossible testing requirements.

Jennings concludes his overview of federal policy and its effects by noting that much “…effort, time, and money has gone into improving aspects of education that have little to do with the chief factor indicating a student’s progress, namely, parental backgrounds.” He proposes that “school reform must also be social and economic reform.” Jennings thus makes a challenging and important call to action for leaders designing future school reform initiatives. 

Reviewed by Brian L. Benzel, former superintendent, Redmond, Wash. 

The Long Game: How to Be a Long-Term Thinker in a Short-Term World 
by Dorie Clark, Harvard Business Review, Boston, Mass., 2021, 256 pp., $28 hardcover

I tore through my advanced copy of The Long Game. I expected a book about business strategic thinking and planning I could apply to my district, but what I got was much more personal. 

While the book was about setting and achieving personal and career goals — thinking in waves, strategic leverage, setting the right goals, having access to the right people in the right rooms — at the book’s core was how to set large, seemingly unattainable goals and break them down to bite-sized pieces.

While it is all great advice that we feel we already know, Clark lays out a game plan for saying “no,” the importance of focus and finally, reaping the rewards of strategic thinking by achieving what one only dreamed about achieving.

Based on Clark’s storytelling of her own goal setting — not to mention her rich social media presence and content, which amplifies the book — I was inspired to rethink audacious goals both for myself and my district and follow her game plan to get as close as possible.

Strikingly, she also includes the outcomes of her audacious goal work — and it’s impressive. I’ve encouraged everyone to read this book. There hasn’t been a day since I read The Long Game that I don’t use one of Clark’s recommendations. 

Reviewed by C. Todd Cummings, superintendent, South Bend, Ind.


Planning By Futuring, Futuring As Planning: Using Your Futures Mindset to Develop Social Media Policy
by Richard Bernato, Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham, Md., 2021, 90pp., $55 hardcover, $25 softcover 

Educator Richard Bernato, in his new book, Planning By Futuring, Futuring As Planning, brings together two concepts, futuring and social media, as he outlines a path that education can adopt in developing policy. By creating various hypothetical scenarios of educators in the planning process, the author presents a possible pathway for addressing a contemporary issue. 

Bernato, who is an educational consultant and professor, advocates a position for creating change in a school environment by establishing what he refers to as a preferred future, that is, what change in social media policy can take root in a school and what process would assure its successful support and adoption. The author cites several studies and books, including his own work, to support his premise. 

The book poses several questions, such as an organization’s capacity to change, the factors can serve as barriers, such as community preferences, and the if the parties involved possess the skills necessary to create a preferred culture. To make his point, Bernato creates a fictional team of individuals and through their conversations, breaks down various points he wishes to bring across to the reader, from confirmation bias to emerging/possible futures. 

The subtitle of the book, Using Your Futures Mindset to Develop Social Media Policy, seems almost an afterthought, as an administrator could apply the futuring concepts and strategic protocols set forth by the author to any significant change to be considered by a school or district. 

Reviewed by Marc Space, educational consultant and retired superintendent, Ranchos De Taos, N.M.

Organizational Leadership: Knowledge and Skills for K-12 Success
edited by Frank S. Del Favero, Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham, Md., 114 pp., $50 hardcover, $25 softcover

As school leaders across the country look for resources to support strategic plans in their organizations, Organizational Leadership: Knowledge and Skills for K-12 Success provides educators with lessons and strategies from field practitioners on how to achieve organizational coherence. The book is framed around seven strategic principles.

Short, easy to read and packed with actionable resources, the authors support leaders who are seeking to understand and make sense of first- and second-order change, assisting in navigating change successfully. Written in an essay format, each chapter can be read as a standalone piece or used for small group discussion. 

The work presents school leaders with case studies and sustainability strategies that can become part of school cultures. By engaging in some of the questions presented in the book, readers can reflect on how initiatives can support the reevaluation or recurring assessments of programs. Grounded in recent research, Organizational Leadership: Knowledge and Skills for K-12 Success can serve as a roadmap for those seeking to align their organizations. 

Reviewed by Lynmara Colón, director of English learners, Prince William County Schools, Manassas, Va. 

Why I Wrote this Book ...

“I remember a speaker many years ago offering school as the opposite of life. In school, you get the lessons first, followed by the tests. In life, you get the tests first followed by the lessons. After 30 years serving as the CEO of a school district and a large education nonprofit, I haven’t had all the tests, but I’ve had enough to share lessons … to tell my personal leadership journey as a catalyst for others to think about their own.”

Jim Mahoney, executive in residence at Ohio University, Athens, Ohio, and AASA member since 1986, on writing To Lead Is to Teach: Stories and Strategies from the Classroom to the Boardroom (Proving Press, 2021)