Professional Readings
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Professional Readings includes reviews of recent publications and highlights of reports on current issues that affect schools. Your contributions are welcome. Send them to principal@osu.edu. Please indicate if we may use your name in the “contributor” credits.
Leading the Way: Principals and Superintendents Look at Math Instruction
Burns, Marilyn. (1999). Leading the way: Principals and superintendents look at math instruction. Sausalito, CA: Math Solutions. website >
Like school leaders nationwide, Principal Andrea Moyer is concerned about math. “We all need more professional development,” she says, “and we’re fortunate in Mansfield to get training through Math Solutions.”
Mansfield principals and teachers learn about writing in math, where children are in math development, and how to meet their needs to produce growth as thinkers and problem solvers.
Leading the Way, edited by Math Solutions developer Marilyn Burns, offers principal-friendly strategies to improve math instruction in actual school settings. Five of the six chapters are written by school principals (also participants in Math Solutions training) from urban elementary schools.
School Stories
- Math Conversions: One Principal’s Story, P.S. 234 in TriBeCa, New York City
- The Principal as Coach, Ardmore ES, near Seattle
- Building Community through Mathematics: The Principal’s Role, Morton Primary Magnet School, Tucson
- Requirements for Change, Jefferson ES, San Francisco
- Toward a Quality Math Program: A Principal’s Principles, Robins ES, Tucson
Chapter 6, “Mathematics Reform: One District’s Story,” gives a larger perspective on devoting money, staff development, time, and support for school leaders.
In every story, one point stands out: The most effective school improvement efforts are not shouldered by the principal alone, but are actively supported at the district leadership level.
