Paradoxes of Reform: Change-Minded Superintendents, Language, Leadership, and Dualism of Progress

In this era of externally imposed mandates, regulations dominate education. Fortunately, there are schools where education thrives despite the pressures of test-driven agendas. Featured in Paradoxes of Reform: Change-Minded Superintendents, Language, Leadership, and Dualism of Progress are superintendents who manage imposed change without abandoning local visions of good schooling, and who are unafraid to uphold their own views of what is important to students. By embracing what this book calls boundary-spanning leadership and resisting the bureaucratization of the mind, these superintendents prevent their systems from becoming schooling machines with a non-democratic or counter-educative agenda. Dualism can reign even among leaders known for their progressive qualities, masquerading as supposedly well-intentioned school reform that, in reality, makes schools more vulnerable to the workings of bureaucratic specialization, the technical-rational approach, administrative conformism, and an instrumental perspective on education. It can transform leaders into marionettes and immobilize local school reform. Within Paradoxes of Reform is the humbling, tantalizing reality of dualism as more endemic to schools than reformers realize and are prepared to deal with. The text asks those pursuing educational change to seek a deeper understanding of schools themselves, and probe further into the reasons underlying mixed progress.

Table of Contents:
Foreword – Acknowledgements – Leadership in a Time of Reform – The Field of Leadership Studies: A Critical Evaluation – Archetypes of Reform-Minded Leadership – Life History Research Design – Echoes of History: Boundary-Spanning and Reform-Minded Leadership – Dualism in the Interviews – A Panopticon View of Schools – Conclusion – Appendix A – Appendix B – Appendix C – Appendix D – Index.

About the Author :
Aleksey A. Tikhomirov earned his doctorate at Binghamton University, where he currently is a College of Community and Public Affairs Public Adminstration faculty member. His research has appeared in The Journal of Management History; The Journal of Leadership and Organizational Studies; The Russian Journal of Management; The Leadership Quarterly; Management and Organizational History; and Public Administration Review.

Review :
“Paradoxes of Reform: Change-Minded Superintendents, Language, Leadership, and Dualism of Progress is a wonderful example of how life history and dialogic interchange can elucidate our understanding of reform and leadership in education.” —Ivor Goodson, Professor of Learning Theory, University of Brighton “Through a combination of historical portraits and life histories, Aleksey A. Tikhomirov gives us an insightful picture of the complexities and contradictions of progressive school administrators. Always interesting and at times surprising, Paradoxes of Reform: Change-Minded Superintendents, Language, Leadership, and Dualism of Progress is a substantive contribution to the literature on educational leadership.” —Michael W. Apple, John Bascom Professor of Curriculum and Instruction and Educational Policy Studies, University of Wisconsin, Madison “Paradoxes of Reform: Change-Minded Superintendents, Language, Leadership, and Dualism of Progress establishes Aleksey A. Tikhomirov as one the premier scholars and interpreters of public school leadership today. No one has drawn upon history and theory with greater imagination to illuminate the complexities of school reform in our time.” —William J. Reese, Carl F. Kaestle W.A.R.F. and Vilas Research Professor of Educational Policy Studies and History Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison