Leaders of Learning

How District, School, and Classroom Leaders Improve Student Achievement

by Richard Dufour , Robert J. Marzano

Number of pages: 248

Publisher: Solution Tree

BBB Library: Education, Leadership

ISBN: 9781935542667



About the Authors

Richard Dufour : Dufour was a public school educator for 34 years. He wrote

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Robert J. Marzano : Marzano is the founder of Marzano Research Laboratory. His translation of

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Editorial Review

People are prone to think of leadership as an individual activity linked to a position—usually the top of the organizational chart. Furthermore, they often think the ability to lead is reserved for a heroic few, those individuals who save us from ourselves by making up for our deficiencies. We have heard this story over and over again: the brilliant entrepreneurial leader who saves the company from ruin, the military figure whose personal genius and charisma lead to victory, or the principal who single-handedly turns a school around. It’s time to let go of the myth of the charismatic individual leader who has it all figured out. Effective leaders recognize that they cannot accomplish great things alone. They acknowledge that leadership capacity is broadly distributed in the population and is accessible to anyone who has passion and purpose to change things as they are. This book argues that no single person has all the knowledge, skills, and talent to lead a district, improve a school, or meet all the needs of every child in his or her classroom. It takes collaborative effort and widely dispersed leadership to meet the challenges confronting our schools.

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Wisdom to Share

Effective teachers have high expectations for student achievement. They believe that the ability of students to learn is changeable rather than fixed.

The best strategy for improving schools is developing the collective capacity of educators to function as members of a professional learning community.

If we are to help all students learn, it will require us to work collaboratively in a collective effort to meet the needs of each student.

Educators must create a result-orientation in order to know if students are learning and to respond appropriately to their needs.

Instead of viewing assessment as an absolute measure of students’ proficiency, individual assessments must be considered snapshots taken at a point in time of students’ progress toward a specific goal.

Appealing to emotions has been described as the first and most important act of leadership.

Effective leaders appeal not only to the head through research and logic, but also to the heart by connecting to the emotional needs of their people.

The best educational leaders are in love with the work they do, with the purpose they serve, and with the people they lead.

Ultimately, leadership is about love!