School Systems That Learn

Paul B. Ash - Lexington Public Schools, MA
John D'Auria - Teachers21

Other Titles in:
Continuing Professional Development | Curriculum Leadership | Designing & Evaluating Staff Development

January 2013 | 208 pages | Corwin

When school systems learn, professional practice improves and student achievement increases

Picture this: Teachers sharing insights and challenges. Principals leading with trust. Central office leaders inspiring and supporting principals. A synergistic learning system that results in all students succeeding. This practitioner's guide to creating a system-wide learning organization focuses on professional learning as the stimulus to improving student achievement. Experienced superintendents Paul Ash and John D'Auria provide a blueprint to:

- Improve schools through system-wide professional learning

- Increase student achievement by instilling a deep-rooted culture of curiosity

- Bolster faculty and staff morale with trust-building initiatives

- Align professional development with student-centered district standards

About the Authors

Introduction

1. Six Reasons Why School Systems Don’t Educate All Students at High Levels

2. The Four Right Drivers of Change

3. The Importance of Trust

4. Collaboration in All Directions: Elevating the Importance of Teamwork

5. Capacity Building for All Educators

6. Leaders at All Levels

7. Why Building a K-12 Learning School System Is so Difficult

8. Whole School System Change and the Diffusion of Innovation

Index

"Paul B. Ash and John D'Auria draw on their deep understanding of school districts to help explain why so many American students are left behind. Their solution—to build the capacity of educators through collaboration and honest reflection—should make their book required reading for anyone who aspires to educational leadership."

Karin Chenoweth, co-author, Getting It Done: Leading Academic Success in Unexpected Schools

"School Systems That Learn applies and extends organizational learning research to the K-12 school system context – an ambitious idea that is long overdue. Rooted in the authors' combined sixty years of experience in school leadership, the book shows how school systems that nurture and support the learning and development of their educators can produce higher achievement for all students. This is a carefully developed and immensely practical guide for educators on how to build trust, develop collaborative capacity, and foster leadership at all levels – from the classroom teacher to the superintendent."

Amy C. Edmondson, Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management, Harvard Business School

Author, Teaming: How Organizations Learn, Innovate and Compete in the Knowledge Economy

"The authors use their collective experiences to promote the development of a school system in which all district staff and board members work together to improve all aspects of the educational experience. The authors emphasize the shift from individual mindsets to collegiality and collective responsibility, featuring trust, collaboration, capacity building and leadership opportunities cultivated at all levels of the organization."

School Administrator, August 2014