Reviewed by Susan Graham
Middle School Family and Consumer Science
Stafford County, VA

My Working Title for This Review:

The Agony and the Ecstasy.

First Impressions:

"Well," I thought, as I started reading The Art of School Leadership,
"this book is for principals, not for teachers. It really
doesn't have a lot to do with me, but I sure am glad Thomas
Hoerr is going to straighten administrators out." Hoerr sounded
like one of our own TLN members when, in his introduction,
he explained the quotes found in the book's large, note-taking
margins. He said:

The quotes...are from educators around the world...the majority
with whom I've had "only" and ongoing e-mail relationship.
Nevertheless, these are the educators from whom I have
learned."

In the first chapter, Hoerr lays out his primary assumption:
Leadership is rooted in building relationships, not managing
systems. He offers these four basics for relationships.

•
Be inclusive of both the compliant and the complainers

•
Be clear about what the decision being made is and who
makes it

•
Be fair to yourself and to others in seeking improvement,
not perfection

•
Be someone who makes a difference

Much of the book is a sort of "How To" handbook for administrators
to build those relationships and create professional learning
communities at their school site.

Familiar Territory:

If you have been involved in any kind of School Improvement Plan
or Professional Learning Community effort, much of this will
be familiar ground. Hoerr covers building collegiality, setting
goals, evaluating teacher growth, facilitating teamwork, making
meetings meaningful, celebrating differences, and partnering
with parents. He provides concrete examples and includes some
specific activities, rubrics, and even sample forms in the
appendices.

As Hoerr addressed collegiality, I cringed to think that there
are principals out there who needed to be reminded that
non-instructional staff are an integral part of the school
team. When he talked about evaluating teacher growth, I
had to remind myself that there really are principals who
are not using any structured evaluation format. Or that
others depend on checklist formats without asking teachers
to reflect on their own practice.

I suppose the kind of diversity awareness Hoerr discusses
is necessary, but his diversity chapter seems to simply
identify more categories into which people are sorted, implying
that there is a "norm" from which people deviate. Wouldn't
a better assumption be that we are completely unique, but
that there are points of commonality with nearly everyone
if we start looking? What I began to realize is that his
goal was to open a window for principals who have become
so bogged down in the tough work of school management that
they have lost the connection to their instructional roots.

New Ground:

While many of the concepts in the book are familiar ground to teacher
leaders, there were two chapters that allowed me to see leading
a school from the perspective of school administrators. Chapter
3, "Exploring the History of Supervision," reminded
me that education is not exempt from trends in management
systems that dominate business and industry. Educators are
naive to presume we live in a vacuum, and we would help ourselves
if we were proactive rather than reactive to these trends.
Education practices are resistant to change, but if discount
stores have "associates" and "team members" manning the registers
and stocking the shelves, it is inevitable that the next generation
of teachers will not accept the top down hierarchy that has
dominated school management systems in the past. Hoerr list
three assumptions of a hierarchal system and goes on to suggest
why hierarchal systems are no longer valid:

"The nature of work is predictable, constant and can be divided
into discrete tasks."

But the reality is that teaching has become much more complex.
In some cases, scripted instruction and heavy dependence on
testing addresses the problem by "fixing" the nature of the
work. Hoerr suggests that it is more effective to acknowledge
the change in the nature of the work and focus on changing
processes for more successful solutions.

"Supervisors are more knowledgeable than their employees."
The reality is that this is changing. More teachers have advanced
degrees, and processes such as NBPTS certification raise the
bar for teacher skills. Although teacher attrition is a problem
in the early years, much of the current teaching force is
mature and experienced. The new teachers have cutting edge
knowledge of learning theory and methodology that administrators
may not have had the opportunity to explore.

"Supervisors have a right to direct work and employees will unquestioningly
accept that direction."

But administrators often serve "at the pleasure of the board,"
while teachers have the protection of a union or teacher organization.
One of the problems of education is that it is almost impossible
to fire a bad teacher. Teachers complain that they have limited
tools of "enforcement" in classroom management, but, in fact,
principals have even fewer. They have almost no carrots to
offer and a stick that causes no real pain. This tenuous position
may be a real disincentive for a principal to risk losing
what little control s/he may have over a rebellious staff.
How many of us sabotage a principal saying "I'll be here long
after s/he's gone." Why are we surprised when this same principal
is loath to give up any control to us?

The title of Chapter 5, "Wielding Power," caught my
attention. Hoerr again addresses this systematically by identifying
five methods of using power:

Reward Power: But we have acknowledged that principals have
limited large scale rewards to offer. Intangible rewards
may be the most effective and that is consistent with
what many workplace condition studies reveal.

Coercive power: Just as intangible rewards may be most effective,
punishment often takes intangible forms as well. Hoerr
maintains that negative reinforcement may be most effective
if teachers know it happens when a colleague is not performing
to expectations. Even when principals are discrete, when
a teacher is reprimanded, it seems to fly around the building
within one instructional period. One teacher called on
the carpet for leaving early may keep everyone with last
period planning off the parking lot and at their desks.
Conversely , knowing that co-workers are "getting away"
with stuff destroys morale for those who are working hard.
It is the least effective way to wield power, but a principal
must be willing to do it when necessary. Teachers respond
to discipline a lot like their students!

Legitimate Power: Principals do have the authority and the responsibility
to use this "because I said so" power. Any teacher knows
it is the last resort and is only effective when used
so rarely that there is the implication that the leader
acts in everyone's best interest because there are no
other options. An effective leader will have sufficient
transparency in school organization for teachers to understand
division of responsibility.

Referent Power: Charisma is one aspect of leading — people
want to follow you — but not all administrators have
it, and Hoerr maintains it is difficult to develop. I
believe that an administrator who leads by modeling dedication
and humility might compensate for lack of charisma.

Expert Power: In a perfect world, we would follow our principal
because we have confidence that s/he knows what s/he is
doing and we trust them to make good decisions. The most
powerful leader is secure enough to say "I don't know,
but let's find out."

Hoerr provides a tool for the reader to analyze which kind of power
causes others to follow when the reader leads. Leaders are
asked to come to terms with how others perceive the administrator's
power source. The unstated message is, of course, that principals
have limited rewards; that a very limited number of people
value being coerced; and that the legitimate power of a principal
over his staff has decreased dramatically over the last 20
years. I would argue that referent power results from an intuitive
manipulation of all the forms of power mentioned, and because
it is instinctive, it cannot be learned. It is clear that
Hoerr offers expert power as the most viable and desirable
option.

Realistic Outcomes:

There has been an enormous change in the role of teachers as leaders.
Hoerr makes it clear that it is necessary that principals
learn to share leadership with their teachers. The unspoken
corollary is that, willingly or unwilling, principals are
being pushed to yield control to teachers, How difficult is
it to suddenly find that the career ladder you spent years
climbing should now be turned on its side to expedite shared
leadership with the instructional staff?

It is disconcerting that some principals are still not on track
to move toward sharing responsibility for making, implementing,
and analyzing school leadership roles. However, reading this
book also provided insight into the struggle of principals
as they are asked to cede control and share leadership while
they continue to shoulder accountability and to assume risk.
Teachers, as well as administrators, need to do their part
by trusting intentions, recognizing limitations, and respecting
boundaries. It is unrealistic to expect a principal to share
power without assurance that his staff will also share responsibility
for implementation and outcomes.

Personal Insights:

It was impossible to read this book without thinking of my
own principal who spent 13 years in the classroom and 16
years as an assistant principal. Two years ago he "came
home" as head administrator of the school he attended
as an adolescent; where he taught and coached as a beginning
teacher; and where he started his administrative career
as an AP. I have watched his growth toward expert leadership
as a colleague, a contemporary and a personal friend.

Because he cares so intensely, he struggles to accept a lower level
of commitment from a staff member, a student, or a parent.
Because he is a perfectionist, it is hard for him to stand
by and watch as a young teacher grows by making and analyzing
mistakes. Because he has waited a long time to do it his
way, it costs him a great deal to allow teachers to arrive
at a consensus that is not his preference. Because he is
finally in charge, he is frustrated when Central Office
imposes system level policies that contradict the decisions
that he and his staff have determined to be in the best
interests of students at our school site.