Making Sense of Social Networks in Schools [Paperback]

With sample social network maps and steps for developing your own, this resource shows leaders how to navigate task, friendship, power, and culture networks to promote school goals.With sample social network maps and steps for developing your own, this resource shows leaders how to navigate task, friendship, power, and culture networks to promote school goals. In an era of accountability and simplistic management 'quick fixes,' it is refreshing to see a volume dedicated first and foremost to understanding and building human relationships in schools. By developing strong networks, schools can foster open systems committed to distributive leadership and exemplary academic outcomes. The important message of this bookthat tasks and people are important, but an understanding of power relationships and cultural bonds are crucial to effective leadershipis a message that must be understood by all who work to improve learning for all students in our schools. Provides an intriguing insight into the reality and power of the human relationships that exist in our schools. This work offers alternative strategies for getting things done just as it proposes a new paradigm for thinking about the fundamental organization of the school. Readers will think about how they can lead most effectively with a new and challenging perspective. The authors have created a useful, practical, and compelling guide for school and district leaders as they navigate the complexities of school environments. They skillfully guide the reader to manage the school culture in ways to support student achievement and overall school improvement. The authors provide tools, strategies, and resources for site and district administrators to collect and analyze data about one of the most important and often-ignored resources: social capital. A unique book in that it makes the invisible but powerful human dynamics amonlóÆ