Changing Landscape of School Leadership

The primary focus of the book is to emphasize the major changes in the leadership responsibilities of the school principal and to underscore the necessity for them to gain new knowledge and skills in order to direct their leadership toward meeting the new changes in school-community goals and objectives. M. Scott Norton emphasizes the fact that contemporary issues and problems must be viewed as symptoms of change. The symptoms represent administrative tasks that must be attacked by implementing the primary reason that the school principal is hired, that of leading on-going change. The leader’s responsibility focuses on school purposes as set forth in a viable school mission statement. The school’s mission statement, that all too often is set forth as a public relations perspective, must instead set forth answers to questions such as, “What is our purpose?” “Why does our school exist?” “What is our reason for being here?” “How do we meet the on-going changes that face us educationally?” The leadership of the school principal “attacks” the symptoms of change by collaborating with the school’s faculty to set forth a mission to which all members can commit. Collaboration infers a unification of members’ commitments toward the primary purposes of the school. Collaboration and opportunities to confer on an on-going basis are established. Although the school principal’s hands are often tied by such factors as lack of resources, underfunded/unfunded mandates, inability to hire and retain highly qualified personnel and constantly changing program requirements related to student testing and teacher performance evaluation, this book places emphasis on the principal’s need to become a visionary change agent in order to “attack” the ever changing symptoms of educational change.

School principals face new challenges in regard to leadership responsibilities, goals and objectives. M. Scott Norton underscores the need to gain new knowledge and skills to create more effective leadership that emphasizes a collaboration with faculty in setting a mission to which all members can commit. Aspiring educational leaders will learn how to tackle the ever-changing challenges and trends encountered by school principals, and how to create a vision needed to succeed., Dr. Norton has focused on the key responsibility of school principals today, that of leadership as an agent of change. The issues and problems that school principals encounter today are realistically viewed as symptoms of change. As the book clearly emphasizes, new leadership knowledge and skills will be an on-going requirement for the practicing principal. School improvement is tied directly to the extent that school leaders and their staffs continue to grow and develop. Norton speaks boldly of the program changes that must be implemented to prepare potential school leaders to meet the new challenges facing education and to assure that practicing principals are highly effective in the role of a learning leader. His recommendations for planning and implementing new models for preparing school principals are revolutionary. Although the school principal’s leading role in improving the education programs for children and youth is set forth clearly, the book’s message is significantly important for those educators that assume the responsible roles of preparing school leaders and providing meaningful programs for continuous administrative improvement., The Changing Landscape of School Leadership: Recalibrating the School Principalship is one of those books that should be on the reading list of all practicing school principals as well as those individuals in positions of preparing school leaders. The book’s message is one that must be read, studied, and digested by educators that truly want to improve the quality of leadership in America’s schools. As Dr. Norton emphasizes, the work of the contemporary school principal has evolved into a leadership role that differs greatly from that of only a few decades ago. The book serves as a guide for meeting the ever-changing responsibilities of the school principal. However, the book provides much more than a list of recommendations for meeting on-going problems that must be resolved. Rather, it strongly asserts that preparation programs for potential school leaders must receive foundational review and restructuring. Thus, the book is much more than a list of recommendations for meeting contemporary issues and problems, it sets forth models and leadership changes for school success., This book does a great service toward answering the growing national concerns for improved educational programs for children and youth in America’s schools. Although national concerns regarding the need for improving student learning in schools continues, the specific ways and means for realizing the needed improvement are not always established. Dr. Norton clearly establishes the need for improving administrative leadership. This book gives the reader clear, precise and coherent models for planning, organizing and implementing effective administrator preparation programs that provide the skills and knowledge that are needed to meet the changes that are onoing in American’s society. Dr. Norton’s book will be a welcomed addition to one’s professional library.

M. Scott Norton has served as a classroom teacher, coordinator of curriculum, associate superintendent and superintendent of schools. He served as professor and vice-chairman of the Department of Educational Administration at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, and as professor and chairman of the Department of Educational Administration and Policy Studies at Arizona State University.