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Abstract

This essay summarizes the key themes of each article in this special issue of Education and Urban Society and addresses complimentary issues raised within the articles. Each article addresses an important issue facing school leaders—perennially low-performing schools, enacting instructional leadership in the face of accountability, the district's role in school improvement, and effective practices of instruction and assessment. Together they suggest that leading school improvement is more than the process of leading pedagogical adoptions, professional development, or making sound decisions. They also suggest that leading in low-performing schools requires sustained attention to both the people within the system and the context in which the system operates.

Keywords

school improvement leadership organizational change

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References

Burke, P.H. (2004). Lessons learned about sustainable results in urban middle schools: Four principals and their reflection on the process of change . In J. H. Chrispeels (Ed). Learning to lead together: The promise and challenge of sharing leadership (pp. 1193-1218). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Cooperrider, D.L. , & Sekerka, L.E. (2003). Toward a theory of positive organizational change . In K. S. Cameron , J. E. Dutton , & R. E. Quinn (Eds.), Positive organizational scholarship (pp. 225-240). San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler.

Darling-Hammond, L. Hightower, A.M. , Husbands, J.L. , LaFors, J.R. , & Young, V.M. (2002, April 4). Building instructional quality: Inside-out, bottom-up, and top-down perspectives on San Diego's school reform. Paper prepared for the Annual Meeting of American Educational Research Association, New Orleans, LA.

Firestone, W.A. , & Riehl, C.J. (2005). A new agenda for research in educational leadership . New York: Teachers College Press .

Leithwood, K.A. , Louis, K.S. , Anderson, S. , & Wahlstrom, K. (2004). How leadership influences student learning. New York: Wallace Foundation.

Lugg, C.A. , Bulkley, K. , Firestone, W.A. , & Garner, W. (2002). Understanding the mental models of three elementary school principals. Educational Administration Quarterly, 41(3), 554-577.

Newmann, F.M. , & Associates (1996). Authentic achievement: Restructuring schools for principal's role in leading a learning community. Journal of School Leadership, 16(5), 627-639.

Quinn, R. (1996). Deep change: Discovering the leader within you . San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Wallis, J. (1996). Economics, hope and leadership. Journal of Interdisciplinary Economics, 7(4), 255-276.

10.

Wallis, J. (2002). Drawing on revisionist economics to explain the inspirational dimension of leadership. Journal of Socio-Economics , 31, 59-74.

Reflections on Leading and Learning for Change

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