About The 21st-Century Principal

The 21st-Century Principal offers imaginative, thoughtful discussions of major issues confronting today's public school principals. This collection by leading thinkers in the field of education, including Richard F. Elmore, Chester E. Finn, Jr., Marcelo M. Suárez-Orozco, Pedro A. Noguera, Belinda Williams, and Douglas B. Reeves, aims to provoke new thinking and inspire bold action, all with an eye toward improving public schools and the leadership abilities of those entrusted to lead them in this new millennium.

Questions the book addresses include: How will school leaders respond to changes in immigration, technology, and social policy? What effect will changing standards and demands for accountability have on their job? What impact will privatization and choice have on public schools? What challenges does the black/white achievement gap present?

As Milli Pierce notes in her introduction, 21st-century principals have to be skilled at creating strong, committed teams that can help them run their schools. "If principals are expected to do it all, we can be assured of mediocre performance, not because they aren't capable but because we have asked them to be superhuman."

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Table of Contents for The 21st-Century Principal

Introduction
Milli Pierce

The Limits of Change
Richard F. Elmore

The Six Principles of Effective Accountability
Douglas B. Reeves

The Challenge of a Changing Nation
Marcelo M. Suárez-Orozco, with responses from Harold L. Hodginson and Robert J. Murphy

Does More Choice Mean Less Equity?
Chester E. Finn, Jr., with responses from Pedro A. Noguera and Gary Orfield

Closing the Achievement Gap
Belinda Williams

Using Afterschool Programs to Raise Achievement
Gil G. Noam

Learning to Challenge Assumptions
Richard Rothstein, with responses from Richard F. Elmore and Nat LaCour

Conclusion
Milli Pierce

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Publishing Information

The 21st-Century Principal:
Current Issues in Leadership and Policy
Edited by Milli Pierce and Deborah L. Stapleton
© 2002
ISBN 1-891792-06-7 $19.95 paperback, ORDER
104 pp.

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