Transforming School Leadership and Management to Support Student Learning and Development

Meets "the highest standard of evidence" for comprehensive school reforms that improve student achievement.
Review of Educational Research, 2003

"A unique feature of James Comer's school improvement is the comprehensiveness of his ecological approach. It necessarily involves all of the key players in each individual school setting and provides guidelines for their interaction. . . .The domain of educational change is not without good ideas, but it is rare to find them translated into the substance and strategies necessary to getting them into school practices. This handbook will help enormously to keep alive what James Comer and his colleagues have so carefully crafted over the years."
John I. Goodlad, President
Institute for Educational Inquiry

The tried, tested, and true approach to school leadership using consensus, collaboration, and no-fault problem solving!

For more than 35 years, the Yale School Development Program (SDP) has been pioneering the Comer Process for planned change in schools. From initial planning and preparation, through foundation building, transformation, institutionalization, and renewal, the Comer Process provides school leaders with a comprehensive and effective framework for transforming their schools and districts into learning communities that support the growth and development of every child and every adult.

Combining research; evidence-based best practices; essential tools for planning, data analysis, assessment, and program evaluation, and a generous collection of sample letters, sample presentations, charts, tables, and graphics, Transforming School Leadership and Management to Support Student Learning and Development offers educators a state-of-the-art guide to:

Identifying the problems the school wants to solve through reform efforts
Designing a comprehensive school plan that includes assessment, modification, and staff development
Using facilitators to model excellence and to promote team approaches
Using teams for school planning and management, student and staff support, and promoting parent/family involvement and community investment in schools
Training for teaming skills that support and develop consensus decision making
Implementing and sustaining the school's transformation into an effective and efficient operating system that supports student and staff growth and development


Transforming School Leadership and Management to Support Student Learning and Development is sure to be the essential resource for every school leader charged with creating schools, districts, and communities that foster the healthy development of young people and challenge them to the highest academic standards.