December 2019: School Administrator
Leadership Sustenance and Survival
This issue looks at leading with grace and grit through turbulence in the superintendency.
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Additional Articles
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Counsel for Superintendents When Parents Have the AnswersSuperintendents with current or past experiences leading well-to-do school communities recently shared their practical strategies for leading effectively in such environments
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Dealing With the Loftiest of Parental Expectations"I want to do everything possible to prepare my child to go to Stanford. What should I be doing now to get my child ready?"
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A Teacher Perspective: Where the Connection with Administrators SuffersA spirit of collaboration is essential to address flashpoints between teachers and administrators
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The Fourth EnvelopeIt's intended for the superintendent who is leaving a job when it's not by choice
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A Conversation With Jim CollinsA veteran superintendent engages the best-selling author on applying the relevant ideas in his newest work, Turning the Flywheel
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Our Simple Flywheel Spins Off Major GainsUsing the flywheel model to resuscitate a state-sanctioned elementary school
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Progeny in the SuperintendencyDo superintendents support the notion of their own children serving one day as superintendents?
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Weed ControlAppreciative parents of a special-needs child give an administrator a small amount of marijuana as a gift in a state where its use is legal. Would she be wrong to accept this token of thanks?
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My Story Captured in PhotosA superintendent in Georgia outlines her use of Instagram to build relationships across the community.
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Connecting Productively With the Board Chair
Sustaining a strong working relationship that directly impacts not just the school board but the entire school system.
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Selecting and Managing Outside Legal CounselExpect the worst when school board politicking overtakes the district’s lawyer-hiring process.
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Is It Time To Ban Cellphones in School?
The Topic of banning cellphones is back in the news
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A Primer on Personnel FilesAdvice for school leaders on school personnel filing protocols.
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Self-Care as Leadership SustenanceAS SCHOOL LEADERS, we face myriad challenges every day, from significant funding cuts and declining enrollment, to safety concerns and personal attacks on social media.
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Extending Superintendents' TenuresAmid disturbing turnover, AASA’s Leadership Network serves up a menu of skill-building programs to thrive on the job.
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Chris Rogers on Policy AnalysisAn interview with AASA policy analyst
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A Role Model Who Lifts OthersA beneficiary of mentoring, she now gives back to others.
Staff
Editor's Note
The Brilliance of Jim Collins
WE’RE ENORMOUSLY grateful when a leading author — in this case, Jim Collins — agrees to sit for an extended interview or to contribute an article to challenge the thinking of our readers.
Collins, for at least the third time since publishing his widely cited best seller Good to Great back in 2001, readily accepted an invitation to be part of an issue of School Administrator. He acknowledges an abiding interest in the leadership of K-12 schooling and uses every reasonable chance to better understand the driving forces in education today.
For this issue on leadership survival and sustenance, we asked Larry Nyland, a veteran of 27 years as a superintendent, to engage Collins in conversation about his newest work, a 40-page monograph titled Turning the Flywheel, and some related issues.
Of course, the limits of space in our print edition means we can capture only a portion of Collins’ appealing analysis. So I encourage our readers to look at the lightly edited 5,500-word version of the conversation that appears with the magazine’s online edition.
There you will read what Collins learned from a study he helped to conduct of superintendents and school principals in adverse environments. “I noticed that they were, either consciously or not, building flywheels,” he says. “One of the things that really stood out in that work was the idea of getting a consistent approach rather than a new silver bullet every three years. Get something that’s going to work over time and build flywheel momentum within it.”
I hope many of you will want to read more.
Jay P. Goldman
Editor, School Administrator
703-875-0745
jgoldman@aasa.org
@JPGoldman
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