Leadership & Administration

In a higher education landscape that seems to be increasingly focused on accreditation and accountability, administrators, faculty, and staff in higher education institutions expend considerable resources engaging in assessment activities in response to the demands of compliance-oriented external forces. Beyond Accreditation: Designing and Implementing Meaningful Quality Assurance and Continuous Improvement Systems presents an alternative paradigm for consideration: the primary purpose of assessment systems should be to provide program improvement, with the resulting data serving as supporting evidence for compliance-oriented requests. The book is intended to provide a foundation of background knowledge to empower programs, regardless of size or disciplinary context, to engage in the processes associated with assessment in pursuit of continuous improvement. It supplies data and other information in three distinct ways throughout the book. In some chapters, candid dialogues between the authors are presented in a conversational tone. In others, a more philosophical and sometimes historical perspective provides background knowledge informing why certain things are done and the purposes those activities serve. The remaining chapters present a practical approach to engaging in assessment, from identifying signature assessments to analyzing and reporting on data, all within the overarching context of designing an assessment system that serves continuous improvement efforts. The accountability mindset that has taken hold in education, and in higher education in particular, has fostered a view of assessment as a complicated, challenging, and burdensome enterprise that is done to us in pursuit of compliance. Throughout the book, assessment is presented as something to be done in pursuit of continuous improvement. The authors hope that its contents prove useful to anyone in search of assistance in these efforts. Perfect for courses such as: Educational Program Evaluation; Teacher Education; Education Policy; Teacher Education Policy; and Human Resources in Education.

Over the past three decades, the landscape of educator preparation has changed so that more people can enter the teaching profession than ever before. This welcome expansion of access to the teaching profession has been accomplished both through the creation of new entities bringing new models of preparation online and, even more so, through the multiplication of new program tracks and pathways in the institutions of higher education (IHEs) that have long been and continue to be responsible for preparing the largest proportion of teachers and other professional educators. The preparation landscape has also become more dynamic and more responsive to needs at local and regional levels. In this era of teacher shortage, expanded access is good news, but are all pathways equal with regard to quality of preparation? Locating Quality in the Dynamic Educator Preparation Landscape centers on the experiences of a variety of preparation programs—all accredited by the Association for Advancing Quality in Educator Preparation (AAQEP), each unique in its approach to addressing the needs of its prospective teachers and its local school partners. The featured programs include public and private preparation providers from across the nation, some based in longstanding institutions of higher education, some operating in newer organizational models. They share a common claim to quality through having met the same accreditation standards, yet each excels in its own right in addressing specific needs. The book shows that while qualities can be shared, quality is fundamentally a divergent rather than a convergent characteristic, and that program evaluation and accreditation regimes be framed accordingly. It argues that educational policy needs to be based on an appreciation of the many dimensions of quality program practice that are needed to address the varied and particular needs of schools, communities, and populations that are entering the educator preparation pipeline. So long as we are able to ensure that all pathways into teaching result in the preparation of effective educators who are able to serve students, schools, families, and communities well by promoting student learning and thriving, we will reap the benefits of this new, varied, and dynamic landscape of educator preparation.Perfect for courses such as: Educational Program Evaluation; Teacher Education; Education Policy; Teacher Education Policy; and Human Resources in Education

Using Data for Continuous Improvement in Educator Preparation provides case studies that illuminate and contextualize the ways in which educator preparation programs determine the data they need to improve, collect data, analyze data, share data with stakeholders, and close the loop by making focused improvements based on the data. Educator preparation programs operate in a wide range of contexts that have different requirements (e.g., state-mandated measures), different affordances, and different needs. This text focuses on not only the stories of how data is collected, analyzed, and used for improvement, but also on how stakeholders are impacted by the continuous improvement process. In the editors’ work with accreditation and educator preparation program evaluation, they noticed a variety of approaches to collecting, analyzing, and using data for program improvement. Often this intense work with data goes unnoticed and unappreciated because it is done in the service of accreditation that, once completed, does not reach an audience outside of the institution and the accreditation agency. Using Data for Continuous Improvement in Educator Preparation solves this problem by shedding light on this important work. This volume inaugurates the AAQEP Program Evaluation in Education Series.Perfect for courses such as: Methods of Program Evaluation; Teacher Education; Improvement Science

In Justice for Black Students: Black Principals Matter, Kofi Lomotey begins with a two-pronged premise: (1) Black students do not receive a quality education in US public (or private) schools, and (2) Black principals, like Black teachers, can make a positive impact on the academic and overall success of Black students. Through the chronicling of his own work over 50 years—as a practitioner and an academic—Lomotey puts forth this argument with a focus on Black principals. In this book, he positions his 1993 coining of the term ethno-humanism—a role identity which he attributes to successful Black principals—as a fundamental/critical component of the leadership of these principals. In reprinting three of his earlier articles and sharing new information (including a review of the literature on Black male principals), he provides a broad-based description of this role identity and then links it to the more recent concepts of culturally responsive/culturally relevant teaching/pedagogy and culturally responsive/culturally relevant school leadership, before describing the implications for Black students of his own work and of other research that has been conducted on Black principals. This volume is essential reading for all educators interested in seeing a significant improvement in the academic and overall success of Black students. Preservice teachers, practitioners, and administrators will find enormous value in the book’s message.Perfect for courses such as:  Introduction to Education │ Leadership for Equity and Social Justice in Education │ Black Education │ Multicultural Education │ School Leadership │ Culturally Responsive Leadership

This text provides a unique collection of case studies across a wide range of organizations (higher education, K-12 education, military, state and local government administration, non-profit institutions, and agency management, etc.). These cases examine ethical decision-making and organizational and leadership behavioral concepts that are practiced in these organizations. The cases cover topics facing our workforce today and ask the reader to solve the dilemma. Through a discussion of these cases, students apply decision making and organizational and leadership strategies to analyze each case and therefore gain a better understanding of how to effectively lead and manage within their organizations. This text challenges students to think critically and analytically. Students are encouraged to reflect on options a practitioner could use to solve the problem. All of the cases end with an open scenario and a set of questions, allowing students to offer a wide range of opinions and participate in reflective and robust discussions.Perfect for courses such as:Introduction to Ethics | Introduction to Ethical Decision-Making | Principles of Ethical LeadershipEthical Organizations: Principles and Application | Introduction to Organizational Change