A Commonsense Approach to Educational Leadership

by Robert Palestini

Overview

Leaders and aspiring leaders are constantly searching for role models who are successful in placing leadership theory into effective practice. This book identifies ten such role models whose heroic leadership behavior is analyzed in order to reveal what particular abilities and skills made them successful and how those attributes can be applied to one’s own leadership practice, whether that be as a classroom teacher, a principal, or a superintendent of schools.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781610487498
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication date:	06/21/2012
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	150
File size:	917 KB

About the Author

Robert Palestini is dean emeritus and professor of educational leadership at Saint Joseph’s University (SJU) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He is also the founding executive director of the Educational Leadership Institute and Center for Catholic Urban Education at SJU. In addition, with almost fifty years in the field of education, he has been a science teacher, principal, and superintendent of schools.

Table of Contents

1 Contemporary Leadership Theory
2 Leading with Heart
3 Noah Webster
4 Horace Mann
5 Booker T. Washington
6 Charles William Eliot
7 Marie Montessori
8 Robert Hutchins
9 John Dewey
10 Paulo Freire
11Theodore Hesburgh
12 Marcus Foster
13 Leadership Lessons Learned
Appendix: Diagnostics
References
About the Author

What People are Saying About This

Jeanne Brady

Robert Palestini’s A Common sense Approach to Educational Leadership explores the need for leaders to develop a leadership framework on both practical and theoretical levels. By examining the leadership behavior of ten legendary educational leaders, one can easily trace the success or failure of the leader in relation to whether he or she adhered to Bolman and Deal’s Four Frames of Leadership, as well as Palestini’s moral frame. This is both fascinating and reflective reading for today’s leaders, as well as a springboard for discussion in leadership groups.

Daniel Curran

“There is no better way to learn about leadership than to study great leaders, looking for the habits of mind and heart that enable them to make a difference. That’s just what Robert Palestini does in his new book, A Common Sense Approach to Educational Leadership, taking readers on a journey through the lives of some of the greatest educational leaders in history including such diverse, fascinating and instructive leaders as Booker T. Washington, Marie Montessori, John Dewey and Theodore Hesburgh. Dr. Palestini’s book takes a commonsense approach to the issue of leadership by offering a clear connection between theory and practice that will inform, inspire, and encourage leaders to examine and make the changes necessary to improve their own leadership behavior.”

Kevin Gillespie

This helpful book offers leaders and aspiring leaders ways to assimilate important theoretical constructs as well as to incorporate practical suggestions that will inform and enhance their leadership behavior. Incorporating his own experiences in leadership with a study of ten legendary educational leaders, Dr. Palestini offers a useful template for leadership. Using Bolman and Deals’ Four Frames of Leadership (structural, human resource, political and symbolic), as well as his own moral frame (rooted in the principles of Ignatian leadership), Palestini offers a study that has depth as well as breadth.. The contemporary leader will benefit from the definitions, distinctions and descriptions that illuminate the variables that surround situational leadership.

Editorial Reviews

There is no better way to learn about leadership than to study great leaders, looking for the habits of mind and heart that enable them to make a difference. That’s just what Robert Palestini does in his new book, A Common Sense Approach to Educational Leadership, taking readers on a journey through the lives of some of the greatest educational leaders in history including such diverse, fascinating and instructive leaders as Booker T. Washington, Marie Montessori, John Dewey and Theodore Hesburgh. Dr. Palestini’s book takes a commonsense approach to the issue of leadership by offering a clear connection between theory and practice that will inform, inspire, and encourage leaders to examine and make the changes necessary to improve their own leadership behavior.”

Daniel Curran

This helpful book offers leaders and aspiring leaders ways to assimilate important theoretical constructs as well as to incorporate practical suggestions that will inform and enhance their leadership behavior. Incorporating his own experiences in leadership with a study of ten legendary educational leaders, Dr. Palestini offers a useful template for leadership. Using Bolman and Deals’ Four Frames of Leadership (structural, human resource, political and symbolic), as well as his own moral frame (rooted in the principles of Ignatian leadership), Palestini offers a study that has depth as well as breadth.. The contemporary leader will benefit from the definitions, distinctions and descriptions that illuminate the variables that surround situational leadership.

Kevin Gillespie

Dr. Robert Palestini’s A Common sense Approach to Educational Leadership explores the need for leaders to develop a leadership framework on both practical and theoretical levels. By examining the leadership behavior of ten legendary educational leaders, one can easily trace the success or failure of the leader in relation to whether he or she adhered to Bolman and Deal’s Four Frames of Leadership, as well as Palestini’s moral frame. This is both fascinating and reflective reading for today’s leaders, as well as a springboard for discussion in leadership groups.

Jeanne Brady