Hardball Leadership: How to Achieve Student Academic Success in a Rural School District

by Mark Forner

Overview

How do you sufficiently progress beyond the status quo when an entire rural community views the status quo as sufficient progress? Educating children in poverty remains the most important educational challenge of our time. What few people know is this: the rate of child poverty in our nation’s rural communities is actually higher than it is in our country’s urban centers.

Hardball Leadership is a best practices guide for rural school leaders who are passionate about closing the achievement gap and committed to leading their districts to significant academic improvement. Based upon original research that examined the leadership practices of effective rural superintendents who led their districts to dramatic academic improvement, this book’s insights include:

• Establishing a strong academic culture where every student can and will be successful
• Developing a system for improving teacher instructional performance
• Fostering an academically-focused partnership with the board of education
• Managing school-based controversy in a productive way
• Building and sustaining a financially strong district

This leadership handbook will help rural school leaders build an academic pathway that will lead their students towards a happy and prosperous life.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781475821604
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	08/23/2016
Pages:	252
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.00(d)
Age Range:	5 - 17 Years

About the Author

Mark E. Forner is a former school board president, high school principal and Teach For America classroom teacher. Along with having an MBA from Notre Dame and PhD from Western Michigan University, Forner is a proud graduate of Hart High School – a small, rural public school located on Michigan’s western coastline.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Preface: A Small Boy Asks a Big Question
Chapter 1: Small District Leadership Is a Whole Lot Different from Big District Leadership
Chapter 2: But In Some Ways Small and Big District Leadership Are the Same
Chapter 3: Context: What a Small District Leader Has to Be Willing to Accept
Chapter 4: Priorities: What a Small District Leader Has to Get Right
Chapter 5: Strategy: How a Small District Leader Aligns Classroom Practices to Achieve Boardroom Priorities
Chapter 6: Practices: What a Small District Leader Has to Do on a Daily Basis
Chapter 7: Finance: How a Small District Leader Becomes a Tough-Minded Pessimist
Chapter 8: Partnership: How a Small District Leader Creates a Shared Vision of Success with the Board of Education
Chapter 9: Conflict: How a Small District Leader Anticipates and Mitigates Controversy
Chapter 10: Legacy: How a Small District Leader Answers Two Essential Questions
References

Editorial Reviews

Dr. Mark Forner is a practitioner, not merely a theoretician. His experience as a business man, rural school board member, urban city teacher, founding charter school leader, and principal provides this book with a sense of authenticity that I have seldom seen in my years as an educator. This is a must-read for anyone looking for real solutions for real issues that teachers, administrators, and superintendents face on a daily basis in our country’s rural schools.

Joshua Woodward

I see many first time Superintendents ‘cut their teeth’ in a small rural district often being unprepared for the multitude of expertise they are expected to have to be successful. Not only do they have to wear many hats, but there are also cultural issues and challenges that come with living many miles from a metropolitan area, which they may have never considered or experienced before. This book will help open the eyes of candidates seeking a leadership role in a rural community.

Jeanne Oakes

As a former school board member in a rural district with a high poverty level and as someone who prepared pre-service teachers to work in this type of district, I found Dr. Forner's book to be on target. It combines a philosophy of how to best serve these students, their parents, and their community with practical advice and solutions. His data base is sound, including academic research and real-world input from successful superintendents who successfully faced the day-to-day challenges. It is a very readable book.

Carole McKinney

Mark Forner has penned a readable, much-needed account of the superintendency in the nation’s small school districts. Where accounts of the superintendency have long focused on the nation’s big cities, Forner talks concretely and constructively about the distinctive challenges of small district leadership. This illuminating volume offers both important insights and useful advice for those focused on rural education and small school systems.

Frederick Hess

There aren't too many times I pick up a leadership book and am immediately engaged; Hardball Leadership is the exception. The author does a great job of blending a childhood story into a real book about real leadership. If you are a current superintendent or have aspirations of becoming one, put Hardball Leadership at the top of your list. The content is practical and the data makes you think. This book is a refreshing read for anyone interested in becoming a superintendent or understanding their own school district. When over 70% of the school districts in this country have enrollment of 2,500 or less students, there is no doubt that this will be a book applicable to a district near you.

Mark D. Platt

Dr. Mark Forner's wit, humor, and well-earned wisdom help paint both a hopeless and hopeful picture for rural educational leaders. Only someone who has had both an inside and outside view of rural and urban educational reform efforts could write such an insightful book, and Forner has done just that. This book should be required reading for existing and aspiring educational leaders who need to know that both tears and laughter are part of the fight to improve educational outcomes for our students. If only we had about a thousand more educational leaders and authors like Forner.

Dr. Louann Bierlein-Palmer

The majority of districts in America are small and rural, though the focus of most public discussion, research, and policymaking is focused on big cities. This book is a must-read for all leaders and aspiring leaders in the tens of thousands of small communities that educate our students. With warmth, specific strategies, and the insight of a leader who has been in the trenches, Forner defines success and how to get there in the rural context.

Celine Coggins