Ten Traits of Highly Effective Schools: Raising the Achievement Bar for All Students

"This book is filled with strategies to assist school leaders in assessing and monitoring many of the important elements that must be in place for kids to be successful. There are excellent tools that savvy leaders have been searching for—tools that will help them achieve their strategic vision of continuous improvement." —Gina Marx, Assistant Superintendent USD 262 Valley Center Schools, KS Increase your school′s effectiveness and ensure academic excellence for all students! Written by best-selling author Elaine K. McEwan, this invaluable resource identifies the distinguishing qualities and unique characteristics of schools that help all students make outstanding gains in performance. Each chapter offers a comprehensive description of a research-based trait and examines its impact on student achievement. Featuring a "10 Traits Audit" for use by schools or districts, this book provides principals and administrators with: Tools and processes to facilitate the development of each trait Snapshots of each trait in actual schools and districts Reflections from teachers and administrators who have helped create effective schools Observations on the school improvement process from noted thinkers, theorists, and scholars Examples of documents, forms, and resources used in effective schools By nurturing these traits in their schools, educational leaders can build coherent instructional programs and create schools of equity and excellence.

Table of Contents:
List of Figures and Forms Preface Acknowledgments About the Author Introduction: Do Schools Matter? 1. Strong Instructional Leadership 2. Research-Based Instruction 3. Focus 4. Relational Trust 5. Collaboration 6. High Expectations 7. Opportunities to Learn 8. Alignment 9. Results 10. Accountability Conclusion: Using the Ten Traits to Improve Your School References Index

About the Author :
Elaine K. McEwan is an educational consultant with The McEwan-Adkins Group, offering professional development for educators to assist them in meeting the challenges of literacy learning in Grades Pre K-6. A former teacher, librarian, principal, and assistant superintendent for instruction in several suburban Chicago school districts, Elaine is the award-winning and best-selling author of more than three dozen books for educators. Her Corwin Press titles include Raising Reading Achievement in Middle and High Schools: Five Simple-to-Follow Strategies for Principals, Second Edition (2006), Seven Strategies of Highly Effective Readers: Using Cognitive Research to Boost K-8 Achievement (2004), Ten Traits of Highly Effective Principals: From Good to Great Performance (2003), Making Sense of Research: What’s Good, What’s Not, and How to Tell the Difference (2003), Seven Steps to Effective Instructional Leadership, Second Edition (2003), Teach Them ALL to Read: Catching the Kids Who Fall through the Cracks (2002), and Ten Traits of Highly Effective Teachers: How to Hire, Mentor, and Coach Successful Teachers (2001). McEwan was honored by the Illinois Principals Association as an outstanding instructional leader, by the Illinois State Board of Education with an Award of Excellence in the Those Who Excel Program, and by the National Association of Elementary School Principals as the National Distinguished Principal from Illinois for 1991. She received her undergraduate degree in education from Wheaton College and advanced degrees in library science (MA) and educational administration (EdD) from Northern Illinois University.

Review :
"This is a great book for teaching a class of future leaders. It offers ideas for beginners and affirms best practice for veterans. I have already engaged in discussions with my colleagues about what I have read." "Provides detailed information on the essential themes in effective education. The book gives educational leaders encouragement as well as practical tools." “This book is filled with strategies to assist school leaders in assessing and monitoring many of the important elements that must be in place for kids to be successful: the leadership of the principal, the culture of the school, the health of the school, and more. There are excellent tools that savvy leaders have been searching for—tools that will help them achieve their strategic vision of continuous improvement.” "Offers rich, authentic descriptions of the hard, complex job of providing pressure and support to change cultures within ineffective schools." "Thank you, thank you, thank you for writing such a great book! You’re knocking my socks off! I know this boook wasn′t written for school board members, but occasionally literature written for administrators or teachers helps me understand how I can do a better job as a school board member—and this book definitely falls into that category! I’ve probably underlined more of your sentences and written more notes to myself in the margin than I have in a very long time when reading a good book."