Why School Leaders Need Vision
Managing Scarcity, Mandates, and Conflicting Goals for Educational Quality
By (author) Bruce S. Cooper, Carlos R. McCray, Stephen V. Coffin
Publication date:
08 September 2017Length of book:
138 pagesPublisher
Rowman & Littlefield PublishersISBN-13: 9781475833423
The concept of “visionary” leadership is defined and applied in this book, as “supervision in schools” requires a level of “SUPER VISION” that can be best developed through quality leadership, mentoring -- and mutual ideas, and support -- for adding more value to the school. This book shows just how vision is important and useful in all schools and districts.
Time has thus come to find, build, and use high-quality visionary school leadership in its many dimensions; thus, this book takes at least ten different views (in the chapters) of the visionary roles and functions of education leadership in K-12 -- building on the roles, theories, and visionary actions of key players in the schools. No single perspective is enough, as all views must work in concert to the benefit of teachers and students, today. School leaders, moreover, need to have their own vision about the following: (a) what their work entails; (b) their school should be and look like; and (c) what their staff and students (and schools) can achieve.
Time has thus come to find, build, and use high-quality visionary school leadership in its many dimensions; thus, this book takes at least ten different views (in the chapters) of the visionary roles and functions of education leadership in K-12 -- building on the roles, theories, and visionary actions of key players in the schools. No single perspective is enough, as all views must work in concert to the benefit of teachers and students, today. School leaders, moreover, need to have their own vision about the following: (a) what their work entails; (b) their school should be and look like; and (c) what their staff and students (and schools) can achieve.
Visionary leaders must attend to the everyday functioning of their schools, respond to external policies and political pressures, recognize the weaknesses in the school, and, at the same time, understand the inner- and inter-generational perspectives and strengths of the key stakeholders. Armed with this information from this book, the visionary leader can imagine a different future for the school and its students. Combining the visionary leader’s plan with the collaboration of teachers, parents, and students help to make that vision a reality.