Conversations With Principals: Issues, Values, and Politics

The book orients and prepares aspiring and practicing administrators to be more effective in dealing with real and practical issues and problems in schools. It is a succinct, problem focused, oral history of issues articulated by newly hired and experience administrators as they consider their decisions. It reflects the honest introspections of practicing administrators, and is unique and original in its approach. It both reinforces existing knowledge and introduces new ideas and insights. Paramount to the information conveyed is the style in which it is presented. By examining leadership issues through the actual words of school leaders, Conversations with Principals distinguishes itself from other leadership material. The text lends itself to a Socratic style of teaching, making it is easy to discuss the issues and themes presented in an open-ended format whereby students exchange ideas and engage in the activities of questioning and analyzing administrative behavior and action. Each oral account is prefaced by contextualizing information about the school leader and the demographics of his or her school. Following each interview there is an analysis of the case, as well as a section with questions and activities for students to complete.