Argues that good teachers are leaving the profession because schools are inflexible, standardized, and centrally controlled, and suggests reforms

Teachers At Work: Achieving Success In Our Schools

Education & Teaching

Johnson, Susan Moore

Schools & Teaching

Basic Books

"There are so few 'must read' books about superintAndents that I would recommAnd to policymakers, researchers, and novices. Add Leading to Change to the list. This insightful chapters on political and managerial leadership alone are worth the price of the book." -- Larry Cuban, professor of education, Stanford University

Leading to Change: The Challenge of the New Superintendency

Jossey-Bass

Finders and Keepers: Helping New Teachers Survive and Thrive in Our Schools

This important and much-needed book is based on a longitudinal study of fifty new teachers during their first years in the classroom. It highlights the cases of ten, whose stories vividly illustrate the joys and disappointments of new teachers in today?s schools. The book documents why they entered teaching, what they encountered in their schools, and how they decided whether to stay or move on to other schools or other lines of work. By tracking these teachers? eventual career decisions, Finders and Keepers reveals what really matters to new teachers as they set out to educate their students. The book uncovers the importance of the school site and the crucial role that principals and experienced teachers play in the effective hiring and induction of the next generation of teachers. 
Staffing the nation?s schools presents both challenges and opportunities. For teacher educators, district administrators, educational policymakers, teachers, principals, and staff development professionals, Finders and Keepers provides valuable insights about how to better serve new teachers and the students they teach. "At a time when expectations of teachers have never been higher or the challenges of teaching more daunting, Johnson and her project team show how the choice to stay or leave is forged in the early months of becoming a teacher?through hiring practices, pay and other resources, relationships with students, colleagues or administrators, and opportunities for learning and leadership. This book should compel attention from anyone concerned with the future of teaching." ?Judith Warren Little, Carol Liu Professor in Education Policy Graduate School of Education, University of California, Berkeley "Finders and Keepers is a must read for superintendents, district administrators, principals and anyone who cares about the retention and recruitment of high-quality teachers to public schools. The book is both informative and insightful, and above all, it inspires the reader to action." ?Arlene Ackerman, Superintendent of Schools, San Francisco Unified School District "Knowledgeable, skilled and caring teachers represent our best hope for educating all our students well. Finders and Keepers, about real teachers in real schools, tells us how we can overcome impediments together, creating a more genuine profession for teachers and more learner-centered schools for all our students." ?Adam Urbanski, president, Rochester Teachers Association and director, Teacher Union Reform Network "If you think that this generation of teachers is like the last one, think again. Not only is this book full of insights about the desires and needs of new teachers, but it also provides compelling stories about what the best schools do to keep them and grow their skills. It is a must-read for policymakers, superintendents, principals, and everybody else who cares about quality education." ?Kati Haycock, director, Education Trust, Washington, D.C.

Business & Money

Management & Leadership

Pros and Cons of Merit Pay (Fastback Series)

Phi Delta Kappa Intl Inc

Achieving Coherence in District Improvement: Managing the Relationship Between the Central Office and Schools

Achieving Coherence in District Improvement focuses on a problem of practice faced by educational leaders across the nation: how to effectively manage the relationship between the central office and schools. The book is based on a study of five large urban districts that have demonstrated improvement in student achievement. The authors—all members of Harvard University’s Public Education Leadership Project (PELP)—argue that there is no “one best way” to structure the central office-school relationship. Instead, they say, what matters is whether district leaders effectively select and implement their strategy by achieving coherence among key elements and actors—the district’s environment, resources, systems, structures, stakeholders, and culture. The authors examine the five districts’ approaches in detail and point to a number of important findings. First, they emphasize that a clear, shared understanding of decision rights in key areas—academic programming, budgeting, and staffing—is essential to developing an effective central office-school relationship. Second, they stress the importance of building mutually supportive and trusting relationships between district leaders and principals. Third, they highlight the ways that culture and the external environment influence the relationship between the central office and schools. Each chapter also provides relevant “Lessons for Practice”—actionable takeaways—that educational leaders from any district can use successfully to improve the central office-school relationship.

Mapp, Karen L.

Marietta, Geoff

Higgins, Monica C.

Grossman, Allen S.

Harvard Education Press

Where Teachers Thrive: Organizing Schools for Success

In Where Teachers Thrive, Susan Moore Johnson outlines a powerful argument about the importance of the school as an organization in nurturing high‐quality teaching. Based on case studies conducted in fourteen high-poverty, urban schools, the book examines why some schools failed to make progress, while others achieved remarkable results. It explores the challenges that administrators and teachers faced and describes what worked, what didn’t work, and why. Johnson draws on vivid portraits of schools to highlight an array of school‐based systems and practices that support teachers’ professional growth and effectiveness. These include a rich and interactive hiring process; team‐based curriculum planning and assessment; and informative feedback and ongoing professional learning. Critical to all of these is the role of the principal as an essential agent in a school’s success. Although these elements may vary from school to school, Johnson argues that together these systems provide a comprehensive, mutually reinforcing set of well-orchestrated strategies that can help schools deliver results that exceed the sum of teachers’ individual efforts. Since 2000, policy makers and education officials have diligently sought to improve schools by improving the quality of individual teachers. However, even if those teachers are skilled and committed, the schools where they work are all too often disjointed, dysfunctional organizations that serve no one well. Where Teachers Thrive explains clearly how educators within a school can join together to adopt systems of practice that ensure growth and success by all teachers and their students.

Redesigning Teacher Pay: A System for the Next Generation of Educators (Epi Series on Alternative Teacher Compensation Systems)

Papay, John P.

Economic Policy Inst

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Books by Johnson, Susan Moore