Battling the Hamster Wheel(TM)
Strategies for Making High School Reform Work
- Grace Sammon - President, GMS Partners, Co-Founder, National Career Academy Coalition, Founder, The Business Institute for Educators
This book identifies the elements that keep us "running on the wheel". Most important, it provides the insights, strategies, research and humor to help schools "battle the wheel" and meet with success for themselves, their organizations, and their students. School leaders and change agents will learn how to:
o Refine their mission
o Develop strong leaders
o Focus on their own data
o Build a community that succeeds for students and staff alike
Also included is a built-in Book Study and Facilitation Guide for professional learning groups, book study groups, and professional development events.
"Battling the Hamster Wheel™ takes a hard and honest look at what is and isn't working in our schools. (The author's) humor, common sense, and research have real pay offs for those engaged in reform."
"Battling the Hamster Wheel™ goes well behyond the sphere of eudcation, (which) is only a beginning point. The lessons have real applicability for all of our organizations and for ourselves."
"Battling the Hamster Wheel™ provides just the right balance between looking at the real truth about our high schools and providing the motivation, skills, and abilities to make real change."
""Sammon's years of experience in the field as practitioner and consultant have resulted in real rewards for schools serious about the reform process. Her approach in Battling the Hamster Wheel™ provides us with a clear image and useful strategies for 'jumping off the wheel' and engaging in a productive process of effective reform."
"This is one of the few treatises that I have read over the past several years that is based on reality, rather than ideology; on collective learning, rather than philosophical imposition; on the grassroots, rather than that of top-down reformers; and on the 'lay of the land' rather than preconceptions."
"A comprehensive approach to organizational change. Sammon presents readers with the motivation and strategies to engage in effective, meaningful change."
