You Can't Do It Alone
A Communications and Engagement Manual for School Leaders Committed to Reform
By (author) Jean Johnson
Not available to order
Publication date:
16 December 2011Length of book:
184 pagesPublisher
R&L EducationISBN-13: 9781610483025
Experts and reformers have suggested many promising ideas for improving schools and ramping up student learning, but in too many cases, proposals for change run up against resistance, confusion, and anxiety from key stakeholders such as teachers, parents, students, and members of the broader public. To propel change—and to sustain it—school leaders need to understand what is driving these responses and develop more effective strategies for engaging these groups in the mission of reform.
You Can’t Do It Alone provides school leaders with a crisp summary of opinion research among teachers, parents, and the public conducted by Public Agenda, Education Sector and other respected analysts. It offers tips on what leaders can do to more successfully engage these groups in areas such as reforming teacher evaluation, turning around low-performing schools, and building support for world-class standards. The book also introduces a theory of change and public learning developed by social scientist Daniel Yankelovich, along with some practical rules of the road for promoting the kind of dialogue that leads to consensus and action.
You Can’t Do It Alone provides school leaders with a crisp summary of opinion research among teachers, parents, and the public conducted by Public Agenda, Education Sector and other respected analysts. It offers tips on what leaders can do to more successfully engage these groups in areas such as reforming teacher evaluation, turning around low-performing schools, and building support for world-class standards. The book also introduces a theory of change and public learning developed by social scientist Daniel Yankelovich, along with some practical rules of the road for promoting the kind of dialogue that leads to consensus and action.
“Jean Johnson has written a wise and important book (as well as a mercifully short one). . . .
One of her most useful contributions is to draw upon the toolkit that the Public Agenda has developed over its 35-year history to bring creative listening, dialogue and engagement into reasonably simple everyday practice in the interest of successful school reform.”
One of her most useful contributions is to draw upon the toolkit that the Public Agenda has developed over its 35-year history to bring creative listening, dialogue and engagement into reasonably simple everyday practice in the interest of successful school reform.”