Susan E. RayEDU 5415
Introduction to Educational Administration
Professor Kevin McGuire, Ph.D. Spring 2004
"The bricoleur as school leader is challenged to meet the constant changesin the pragmatic world of schools."
Course Description: This course covered the basic principles of administrative practices including federal, state, and local district organization, concepts of leadership, decision-making process, administration as human relations, and administration as a business enterprise. In addition, an examination of a related, timely text was integrated into the course. Student groups presented leadership topics of concern with supportive data.
The text for this course was Michael Fullan's Leading in a Culture of Change.
Leading in a Culture of Change offers insights into the dynamics of change and presents a unique and imaginative approach for navigating the intricacies of the change process. Michael Fullan draws on the most current ideas and theories on the topic of effective leadership, incorporates case examples of large scale transformation, and reveals a remarkable convergence of powerful themes or, as he calls them, the five core competencies.
Inquiring Minds PowerPoint Presentation
Course Synthesis
Books I was inspired to read beyond this course:
Michael Fullan website with book reviews and articles: http://www.michaelfullan.ca/
The role of the principal is pivotal to systemic school change. That is the fundamental message in this book, "The Moral Imperative of School Leadership," which extends the discussion begun in Fullan's earlier publication, "What's Worth Fighting for in the Principalship? "The author examines the" "moral purpose of school leadership and its critical role in "changing the context" in which the role is embedded. In this bold step forward, Fullan calls for principals to become agents as well as beneficiaries of the processes of school change.
