Leading Effective Secondary School Reform

Mary E. (Mikie) Loughridge, Ed. D. is currently serving as a secondary Principal Coach for the Los Angeles County Office of Education and the Southern California Comprehensive Assistance Center's Office of the Regional System of District and School Support (RSDSS). She served as a special education teacher at the middle and high school levels, as a continuation high school teacher, and as a high school vice principal and principal. Her district office experience includes Director of Curriculum and Instruction and Director of Teacher Support and Employee Development for the Antelope Valley Union High School District, as well as an Induction Consultant for the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing and the California Department of Education. She served as adjunct faculty for eighteen years in teacher and administrative preparation programs at four private and state universities. She also developed and presented a variety of workshops at the local, regional, state, and national levels. She holds a doctorate in Organizational Leadership from the University of Southern California. Loren Tarantino has a unique history of employment and training in education. Loren is currently the principal of a private high school in San Diego, California. Prior to this assignment she spent twenty-nine years in public schools working as a secondary school classroom teacher, middle school administrator, and district office administrator in student support services, curriculum and instruction, and human resources. In addition, Loren was a consultant with the California Attorney General's School/Law Enforcement Partnership Cadre, the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing and the California Department of Education. Since 1986, she has presented local, state and national conference keynote speeches and workshops for school board, teacher, and school administrator associations and universities on a variety of topics including beginning teacher induction, conflict resolution, communication strategies, and conducting classroom observations.

Preface Acknowledgments About the Authors I. Vision 1. School Culture 2. The Change Process 3. The Single School Plan II. Shared Decision Making 4. Professional Development 5. Professional Learning Communities 6. Parent Involvement III. Assessment and Accountability 7. Action Research 8. Productive Classroom Observations 9. Putting the Pieces Together Appendix: Related Web Sites References Index

"Very comprehensive! A great addition to the body of knowledge." -- J. Victor McGuire, Education Professor "The strength of the book lies in its format and in its use of sophisticated sources and allusions to those sources . . . I am impressed with the clarity of focus within each chapter." -- Frank Kawtoski, Educational Consultant