Reviewed
by Jan A. Yow
University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill

A detailed and complicated theoretical framework is carefully
broken down in Copland and Knapp's Connecting Leadership
with Learning: Framework for Reflection, Planning, and Action.
Although the intricate figures can be overwhelming upon first
glance, the authors use practical examples to illustrate their
theories.

As a teacher, the authors gained my favor in the first sentence
of Chapter 1: "The primary work of educational leadership
is to guide improvements in learning." (p. 3) I agree. The
authors continued to impress me as they began talking about
one student, Hector, and one teacher, Mr. G. "It is all too
tempting, and often necessary, for leaders to think in terms
of aggregates.... Aggregates too easily mask the individuals
within them." (p. 1)

Copland and Knapp recognize that instructional leadership begins at
the student level with quality instruction for all students.
Throughout their book, they include actual vignettes to illustrate
how leading with learning is done.
Connecting Leadership with Learning is organized in three parts.
Part one discusses the foundational ideas of the Leading for
Learning Framework, a framework consisting of three parts:
student learning, professional learning, and system learning.
These three parts are addressed in three different environments:
organizational, family and community, and larger policy and
professional. The framework is further explained by five areas
of action to accomplish leading for learning: (1) establishing
a focus on learning, (2) building professional communities
that value learning, (3) engaging external environments that
matter for learning, (4) acting strategically and sharing
leadership, and (5) creating coherence.

As the framework grows even more intricate, the authors propose
that in order for leading for learning to fully happen, all
parts of the framework must be completed together. Part two
discusses what the framework means both conceptually and in
practice. Part three provides extended case studies to address
different contexts including both rural and urban settings,
elementary to high schools. As learning needs to be individualized
for each student's needs, leading needs to be individualized
for each school and district's needs.

Overall, Copland and Knapp do an effective job of breaking down their
Leading for Learning framework into palatable reading. Heavily
infused with practical examples, the authors use experiences
from practicing school leaders enrolled in a doctoral program
as well as unpublished data from ongoing research being conducted
at Stanford University and the University of Washington. These
practical examples help operationalize how the theoretical
framework would work in practice.