Shared Decisions
Shared decision-making structures are designed to involve teachers, administrators, parents and students in making critical decisions that impact teaching and learning. Decision-making structures emphasize the importance of hearing all voices in the school community and emphasizing decision-making based on inquiry and discourse.

Shared Leadership Articles:

Making Shared Leadership Work (Southwest Educational Development Laboratory)
As a part of "The role of the principle in school reform,” the author address how to make shared leadership work from a leadership perspective and offers several resources to assist the leader in this work.

Leading Change From The Classroom: Teachers As Leaders (Southwest Educational Development Laboratory)
Advocacy for teacher professionalism and expanded leadership roles is based on the understanding that teachers, because they have daily contacts with learners, are in the best position to make critical decisions about curriculum and instruction. Moreover, they are better able to implement changes in a comprehensive and continuous manner (Howey, 1988; Livingston, 1992). The movement to expand teacher roles is also motivated by an ongoing need to attract and retain qualified teachers. This article addresses what teacher leadership is, what teacher leaders do, conditions needed to support teacher leadership, as well as lessons from the field regarding teacher leadership.

Leadership Audit Tool (North Central Regional Educational Laboratory)
On-line assessment for leaders to determine where they are in developing shared leadership. There are a wide variety of leadership styles employed in America's schools. The purpose of participatory management is to foster staff buy-in and commitment. This participatory management checklist can help leaders take stock of their management style and focus on participatory management skills and techniques that they would like to change or improve. This online version of the Leadership Audit tool is adapted from the version that first appeared in the second issue of New Leaders for Tomorrow's Schools.

 

Book Resources on Shared Leadership:

Building Leadership Capacity in Schools Linda Lambert (ASCD, 1998). ISBN: 0-87120-307-3
This book outlines what schools and districts must do to build leadership capacity, including how to get started, how to sustain the momentum, and how to design school districts capable of supporting such work. Leadership capacity refers to the breadth of participation in leadership and the depth of skill that teachers, administrators, parents, students, and community members bring to the work. The book also highlights the stories of three schools and their experiences with leadership capacity building and the five features of effective leadership.

Renewing America’s Schools: A Guide for School-Based Action Carl D. Glickman (Jossey-Bass: San Francisco, 1993). ISBN: 0-78794-065-8
Renewing America's Schools shows teachers, principals, students, parents, central office personnel, school boards, and community members exactly what they need to do to create schools that are purposeful, moral, and successful places. The application to practice is clear. The framework is conceptually straightforward. And the issues and answers are thoughtful and respectful of education professionals. This book is an invaluable resource for anyone involved with school change.

A Guide for Renewing Your School: Lessons from the League of Professional Schools Lew Allen, Dale Rogers, Frances Hensley, Maude Glanton, Martha Livingston (Jossey-Bass: San Francisco, 1999). ISBN: 0-78794-691-5

Sponsored by the League of Professional Schools In Renewing America's Schools, Carl D. Glickman—founder of the League of Professional Schools—made the case for basing school improvement efforts on democratic values and principles. He proposed a three-part framework for reform that would enable schools and communities to create successful change in their schools and discussed how states and districts could support their efforts. In this companion volume, the authors provide detailed instructions on how Glickman's framework can be implemented at the school level. A Guide to Renewing Your School is based on years of practical experience, numerous case examples, and empirical studies from the League of Professional Schools, a reform network based in Georgia. This hands-on book guides school practitioners through the essential steps of a reform process: (1) designing a covenant to guide teaching and learning, (2) creating a shared governance process to promote democratic leadership and decision making, and (3) implementing action research to assess the reform process. The authors also address the challenges of change, such as how to create a school climate that will foster implementation of the framework and how to determine the type of facilitation and staff development needed to sustain this work. Filled with sample covenants, charters, mission statements, worksheets, forms, and other tools, A Guide to Renewing Your School presents not only a coherent framework, but useful strategies for promoting school-wide renewal and improvement.

Technology:

Providing Effective Technology Leadership
This article by Cynthia Nations discusses the involvement of stakeholders as the key to successful technology integration.

 

Sample Action Plan for Practice 3:  WORD   PDF