Leaving Your Leadership Legacy is a business novel which provides practical leadership advice for teachers and administrators.  Do we want to spend ten to twenty years working in a school district and not leave our mark on the school system?  This book is not about charismatic leadership or creating a group of followers.  Self-assessments throughout the book allow the reader to pause and reflect on leadership, programs, empowerment, and strategies which are currently implemented.

In chapter one, the authors describe the difference between a leader who is dependent on the 3 P's (position, persuasion, and proximity) vs. the power of the 3 C's (clarity, consistency, and connectivity).  Curriculum Development is about the 3 C's.  If teachers are connected, then educators will see increased levels of consistency in curriculum implementation.

Chapter eight is titled, "A Clear Direction."  In chapter eight, the authors introduce a Scorecard.  A scorecard is currently used in some school districts, but it could be used in more creative ways.  Many school districts use a scorecard to track AYP, standardized test scores, drop out rates and other data.  Reading this book made me wonder what a curriculum scorecard would look like.  One of the Self-Assessments shows how a curriculum scorecard could be used in K-12 schools:

Are your expectations clearly defined and written down? (i.e., Guaranteed and Viable Curriculum, Power Standards, Essential Learning Outcomes, etc.)

If you were to leave your current position, what type of orientation process would you have in place to acclimate the new leader to the team and its processes (i.e., Curriculum Maps, Common Formative Assessments, PLCs)?

Do leaders within the same department or division have different operation systems that make their individual organizations feel like seperate companies? (i.e., Horizontal and Vertical Alignment)

Leaving a legacy does not mean that teachers will utilize the same curriculum ten years from now.  A legacy is something bigger than one person.  Does your school district have a process for developing, editing and revising curriculum?  Do teachers and administrators feel like they have a voice in the curriculum development process?  Is curriculum development a top-down process, bottom-up process or a combination of the two?  Does curriculum development allow more than one person to shape the legacy of the school or the school district?  This book will challenge your thoughts on curriculum development and school leadership, while providing tools for supporting the work of teachers and administrators.

 Yount, S.A., Pyecha, J., Boggan, D., Versteeg, A., & Segall, L. (2007).
             Leaving your leadership legacy: Creating a timeless and enduring
             culture of clarity, connectivity, and consistency. Richmond, VA:
             The Oaklea Press.

 


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