Shared Leadership

The Essential Ingredient for Effective PLCs

"Terry Wilhelm provides a unique perspective on a critical aspect of the PLC process—shared leadership. As the PLC movement continues to proliferate, such guidance is both needed and timely."

"In my years as a principal and leadership consultant I have always been on the lookout for practical and useful resources that can help school leaders in real time. Terry Wilhelm has provided such a resource. This book is filled with practical guidance and useful tools that can have an immediate impact on a school’s culture and ability to meet students' needs. I highly recommend this book!"

"The book’s major strength is the credibility of the elegant research from the author’s own experiences and well as an extensive discussion of research from the literature. This book would be an excellent resource for the Superintendent of any K-12 school district to use as professional development for district administrators. Of course, the book is a “must” for school principals who are striving to develop school leadership skills among the significant adults in their schools."

"This is the most comprehensive collection of current research and effective practices for successful, sustainable, school change available. It includes solid, practical guidance on the essential tools and processes needed to take our team’s efforts to the next level, and will undoubtedly become our manual for continuous improvement, districtwide."

"Shared Leadership does an excellent job of providing principals with a step-by-step process for leading change in their schools. Professional Learning Communities are not something schools just have. They have to be developed and nurtured. Terry Wilhelm provides that process with many supportive resources and practices. There is also an excellent research base for the content presented in the book. The best part about this book is that principals have the ability to determine what steps they need to employ, depending on the readiness and development of the staff. There are lots of good suggestions and ideas for leading the entire process, but principals have the ability to take the suggested activities and adapt them to their current situation. This would be a good textbook for school administrator credential programs in preparing school leaders for taking on the change process at their schools." 

"I realized many years ago that school leaders cannot accomplish “everything” they need to without help. That help comes in many forms and various avenues.  Sharing leadership through professional learning communities empowers leaders from within the organization to step forward and assume both formal and informal leadership positions with the organization. In this book, you will see how shared leadership can improve your school."

"Terry Wilhelm’s insight – rooted in extensive practice, inquiry, and research – brings 21st century educational leadership into realistic focus, while demonstrating the unique and essential qualities of collaboration. The author provides a vision of and practical tools to assist in the implementation of a principle-based, shared leadership model that creates conditions resulting in high student achievement."

"Every principal and every administrator who supervises principals with the goal of improving student outcomes through shared leadership and PLCs in their schools should read this book. It is packed with practical how-tos based on the author’s real-time experience working with school teams for over 15 years. There’s so much here…Terry has thought of just about everything to help principals and teachers grow professionally and to transform their schools for the benefit of their students."

"We’ve long known that culture is the “secret sauce” of school improvement—with it, anything is possible; without it, nothing is possible. Yet getting from a dysfunctional school culture to a high-performing one is no small feat. Terry Wilhelm’s book is full of practical tools and guidance for doing exactly that and reflects solid research from McREL and others about effective school leadership. This book is a must for leadership teams grappling with what is often the most difficult aspect of school improvement—creating a purposeful community that’s committed to continuous improvement."

"The concept of shared leadership is essential to increase student learning, yet the most elusive for school leaders to fully grasp and practice. In Shared  Leadership, Terry Wilhelm provides a proven road map for school leaders. This is a must read for anyone who seeks a high quality PLC."