Routledge Thinking About Schools: New Theories and Innovative Practice

As its title implies, this book has a deceptively simple mission: to prepare would-be school leaders to draw upon a variety of theoretical perspectives when thinking about schools and schooling. It shows how theories can function as cognitive tools to be mastered, carefully stored in one's intellectual toolbox and used to interpret and resolve real world problems. Beneath this goal lies the belief that the most effective leaders are those who are able to construct their own well-grounded interpretations of events and their own responses to those events. Key features of this exciting new text include the following.   Focus on Alternative Theories - The functionalist theoretical views that have dominated administrator preparation programs for the last half-century are reviewed early in the book and are shown to be inadequate to the task of understanding and coping with the complex realities of modern day schooling. The remainder of the book presents alternative views of schooling that, taken together, can be thought of as a theoretical repertoire from which to construct interpretations and solutions to everyday, real-world problems.   Focus on Diversity - Diversity is examined from a variety of viewpoints. Chapter 6 looks at the cultural bases of leadership, Chapter 7 at comparative and international contexts, and Chapter 8 at gender and sexual orientation.   Illustrative Cases - Each chapter contains a case with an embedded dilemma similar to those that real-world administrators confront. While illustrating the particular theoretical view presented in the chapter, these cases are sufficiently complex that they lend themselves to interpretation by any of the other theories considered in the book.   This book is appropriate for graduate-level courses with titles such as Organizational Theory, Theory of School Leadership, or Introduction to Educational Administration. It might also be used as one of several texts in advanced courses on leadership theory. About the Author Craig B. Howley has researched rural education and published widely in that field. He has taught mathematics at the University of Charleston and has evaluated mathematics professional development projects in rural schools. He is coauthor of Small High Schools That Flourish (AEL, 2000) and Out of Our Minds: Anti-intellectualism in American Schooling (TC Press, 1995). Howley co-directs research efforts of the NSF-funded Appalachian Collaborative Center for Learning, Assessment, and Instruction in Mathematics (ACCLAIM) and is an adjunct professor in the Educational Studies Department at Ohio University. His work for ACCLAIM entails cultivation of research capacity in rural mathematics education. Previously, he directed the ERIC Clearinghouse on Rural Education and Small Schools. His empirical work is mostly quantitative; it investigates the mediating influence of school and district size on academic achievement. Other studies have examined construction costs of smaller schools, rural school busing, and rural principals perspectives on planning. Aimee Howley is professor and coordinator of the Educational Administration program at Ohio University. She received a B.A. degree in Philosophy from Barnard College, an M.A. degree in Special Education from the West Virginia College of Graduate Studies, and an Ed.D. in Educational Administration from West Virginia University. Prior to her work in higher education institutions, Dr. Howley worked as a teacher and administrator in West Virginia. For the last several years Dr. Howley has worked on research that explores the intersection between social context and educational practice, and she has used both quantitative and qualitative methods to investigate a wide range of questions relating to rural education, school leadership, instructional improvement, school size, education of the gifted, and parent involvement. In addition, she has written numerous critical analyses of educational poli