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September 2012

  • .September 2012 Table of Contents
  • Board-Savvy Superintendent: The Board Member as Public Surveyor
  • Book Review: Class Warfare
  • Book Review: Finnish Lessons
  • Book Review: Lead with Purpose
  • Book Review: Leadership Secrets of Attila the Hun
  • Book Review: Surpassing Shanghai
  • Book Review: The Instructional Leader and the Brain
  • Editor's Note: Global Connections at Home
  • Executive Perspective: Intelligent Comparisons With National Standards
  • Feature: Accountability for What Matters Most (Wagner)
  • Feature: Benchmarking the World’s Best (Tucker)
  • Feature: Chinese Connections (Skilling)
  • Feature: Going Global, for Rich and Poor (Mathews)
  • Feature: Quality and Equity in Finnish Schools (Sahlberg)
  • Leadership Lite
  • Legal Brief: What You Want Covered by Your Contract
  • My View: Increasing Class Size: Sound and Cost Effective
  • My View: Innovation Also Has To Mean Walking Away
  • My View: Who Can You Trust About Educational Technology?
  • People Watch
  • President's Corner: Local Action With a Global Impact
  • Profile: Sandra S. Thorstenson
  • Reader Reply (letters)
  • Resource Bank
  • School Solutions
  • Sidebar: A Marriage of IB and Vocational Studies (Mathews)
  • Sidebar: Additional Resources (Mathews)
  • Sidebar: For College Admissions, Does an IB Diploma Make a Difference (Mathews)
  • Sidebar: One Simplified District Strategic Plan (Wagner)
  • Sidebar: Overcoming Doubts About IB’s Merits (Mathews)
  • Sidebar: The Contrived Debate Between IB and AP (Mathews)
  • Tech Leadership: The Case for School District Apps
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Home Page > Publications > The School Administrator

 

School Administrator

September 2012

Global Achievement

Delivering skills and know-how
to
compete with the world's best

September 2012                                       Number 8 Vol. 69 

Features

Benchmarking the World's Best
BY MARC S. TUCKER
As president of the National Center on Education and the Economy, the author shares five recommendations for how America’s public schools might emulate global pacesetting education systems.
 
Quality and Equity in Finnish Schools
BY PASI SAHLBERG
A Finnish education ambassador shares how his country’s school system ensures all students have access to quality instruction, minus the constant standardized testing.
 
Chinese Connections
BY WILLIAM C. SKILLING
How a small Midwestern school district has built a Mandarin Chinese language and cultural program in hopes its students will acquire the skills to flourish in the global marketplace.
 
Accountability for What Matters Most
BY TONY WAGNER
The author of Global Achievement Gap touts one school district’s strategy for ensuring college, career and citizenship readiness. The superintendent went to the community to identify the most important student outcomes for which the district should now be accountable. 
  • Virginia Beach's simplifed strategic plan

Going Global, For Rich and Poor
BY JAY MATHEWS AND LINDA MATHEWS
International Baccalaureate programs are turning up in a diverse mix of school districts, an attempt to add rigor and depth. But each district adapts IB for its own needs.

  • Mark Freeman: Overcoming doubts about IB
  • A marriage of IB and vocational studies
  • William Conley: IB's merit for college admissions?
  • Lisa Brady: Contrived debate between IB and AP
  • Additional resources 

 

 

Frontline

STARTING POINT
A local leader’s zealous efforts to connect his students in Michigan to the skills they’ll need to succeed in the worldwide marketplace.

BEST OF THE BLOGS
Our monthly installation of five excerpts of superintendent blogs worth following.

ETHICAL EDUCATOR
Partying Lacrosse Players

Varsity athletes turn up in online photos of a party with alcohol present. Our panel sorts out the options.

LEGAL BRIEF
What You Want Covered by Your Contract
BY MAREE F. SNEED
With a fresh job offer in hand, the superintendent ought to turn next to legal counsel to discuss provisions that might get overlooked in the euphoria. 

TECH LEADERSHIP
The Case for School District Apps
BY CODY CUNNINGHAM
Why are so many school districts reluctant to address mobile websites and apps for handhelds? 

BOARD-SAVVY SUPERINTENDENT
The Board Member as Public Surveyor

BY RICHARD E. MAYER
What could possibly be wrong with a school board member’s personal efforts to solicit public input on an important issue facing the district?

MY VIEW
Who Can You Trust About Educational Technology?
BY RICHARD ROSE
A Microsoft engineer turned education professor offers four reasons why claims about technology should be viewed with skepticism.  

MY VIEW
Innovation Also Has to Mean Walking Away

BY CHRIS KENNEDY
We are much better at initiating programs in K-12 education than we are at ending those that have outgrown their usefulness.

MY VIEW
Increasing Class Size: Sound and Cost Effective

BY PHILIP S. CICERO
Success is not related to how many kids are in the room as much as the capacity of the instructor.

ReadingandResources

RESOURCE BANK
A recent doctoral study examines whether superintendent longevity influences a district’s student achievement.

BOOK REVIEWS

 BookClassWarfare

Class Warfare
by Steven Brill
Reviewed by
Paul M. Hewitt

BookFinnishLessons

Finnish Lessons
by Pasi Sahlberg
Reviewed by
Lyle C. Ailshie

BookInstructionalLeader

The Instructional Leader and the Brain
by Margaret Glick
Reviewed by 
Edythe B. Austermuhl

BookLeadwithPurpose

Lead With Purpose 
by John Baldoni
Reveiewed by 
Jeff Smith

BookLeadershipSecrets

Leadership Secrets of Attila the Hun
by Wess Roberts
Reviewed by 
George E. Pawlas

BookSurpassingShanghai

Surpassing Shanghai
edited by Marc S. Tucker
Reviewed by 
Art Stellar


AASAInsight

PRESIDENT’S CORNER
Local Action With a Global Impact

BY BENNY L. GOODEN
Local citizens are pushing to generate graduates with the skills requisite in the world arena.

EXECUTIVE PERSPECTIVE
Intelligent Comparisons With National Standards
BY DANIEL A. DOMENECH
In global comparisons, only a national test will lead to valid and reliable measures of student standing.

AASA SCHOOL SOLUTIONS
Taming the Teacher Evaluation Tsunami

BY JOHN RAYMOND
Streamlining the application of data for personnel performance assessments. 
 

PEOPLE WATCH 
Our roll call of AASA members who’ve advanced in their careers or retired in recent months.

PROFILE
Sandra S. Thorstenson
BY PAUL RIEDE
Rising from the same low-income neighborhood in the district near Los Angeles she now leads.
 

Plus

READER REPLY (Letters)

 

 

LEADERSHIP LITE

 

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