What They Don't Tell You in Schools of Education about School Administration

by Black, John A.; English, Fenwick W.

• ISBN13: 9780810842960
• ISBN10: 0810842963
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-01-15
• Publisher: R&L Education

Summary

Possibly the all-time best-selling book on school administration. It has been reprinted many times, and has sold tens of thousands of copies. Highly praised in reviews, it is an assigned text in many graduate education courses on school administration. Like no other book on this subject written before, it is about swimming with the sharks and surviving.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. xi
Acknowledgement	p. xiii
Power and the Context of School Administration
Power and Politics	p. 3
JFK, Stalin, Churchill, and Iacocca--Who Would Make It as a School Administrator?	p. 7
Ideas about Power: The Big "P" or Who Has It and Who Doesn't	p. 8
Power Plays, Politics, and Politicians	p. 11
The Zero Sum Game as Organizational Poker Playing	p. 12
Building Coalitions: The Chess Game	p. 15
Is School Administration for You?	p. 17
Caveats, Codicils, and Conundrums about Power and Politics	p. 20
Are You Ready to Play the Game?	p. 23
The Game, the Players, the Stakes, and the Rules	p. 23
The Nature of School Administration	p. 24
Winning, Losing, Winners, and Losers	p. 25
Jocks, Jive, and Jokers	p. 29
Caveats, Codicils, and Conundrums about Playing the Game	p. 32
Bureaucracies, Babus, and Baksheesh	p. 35
Vacuums, Inertia, and Administrivia	p. 35
Competency and Potency	p. 38
Rocking in the Boat vs Rocking the Boat	p. 40
Beating the System vs Being Beaten by the System	p. 41
Blunders and Business Acumen	p. 44
Caveats, Codicils, and Conundrums about Bureaucracies, Babus, and Baksheesh	p. 48
Connections
The Community	p. 53
The "Community" Is a Mirage	p. 53
Tapping the Power Bases of the Communities	p. 54
Spotting the People in Power--The Informal Network	p. 55
Using the Power Bases of a Community	p. 60
Caveats, Codicils, and Conundrums about the Community	p. 61
The PTA	p. 63
What the PTA Is Not: Teachers and Men	p. 63
Gossip, "Gotchas," and Gripe Sessions	p. 64
Payoffs, Potholes, and Parsimony	p. 65
Virulence at the Secondary School	p. 67
And Virulence at the Elementary School	p. 68
Caveats, Codicils, and Conundrums about PTA's	p. 71
The Staff	p. 73
The Staff vs the Faculty	p. 73
The Faculty: Superstars, Superchargers, Turkeys, Stool Pigeons, and Wimps	p. 75
Morale and Networking	p. 82
Pedagogues, Poker Games, and Privies: Faculty Room Dynamics	p. 82
Caveats, Codicils, and Conundrums about the Staff	p. 83
The Media	p. 85
The Truth Never Gets in the Way of a Good Story	p. 85
Stroking the Press	p. 87
Developing a Media "Presence" That Sells	p. 90
Turning Bad News into Good News: Being Your Own Press Agent	p. 91
Two Sources of Information about the Schools You Should Know	p. 92
Caveats, Codicils, and Conundrums about the Media	p. 93
Students	p. 95
The Pawns and the Powerful	p. 95
A Student-Centered Value System	p. 96
Students as a Power Group	p. 98
Students as Problems to Students as Solutions	p. 102
Pots, Pot, and Pets	p. 103
Caveats, Codicils, and Conundrums about Students	p. 105
The Career Ladder
Career Planning--The Legend of the "Chairs"	p. 109
The Legend and the Fraternity	p. 109
The Play Is the Thing--The Difference Between Scenery and the Players	p. 111
Getting the Position You Want: Two Strategies	p. 115
The Right People--Who Are They?	p. 116
Caveats, Codicils, and Conundrums about Career Planning	p. 118
Resumes, Headhunters, and Interviewing	p. 119
The Resume as Doublespeak	p. 119
On Bogus Degrees: Avoiding Dipscam	p. 123
Headhunters, Cannibals, and the OBN	p. 124
Interviewing Your Interviewers	p. 126
Leads: Dead Ends, Deadbeats, Detours, and Dividends	p. 127
Caveats, Codicils, and Conundrums about Resumes, Headhunters, and Interviewing	p. 128
Academics and Abecedarians	p. 131
The Ph.D. and Ed.D. or Initials Are Everything	p. 135
The Alphabet Jungle: Reading the Letterhead	p. 137
Picking the Right Place to Get Placed	p. 137
Professors as Partners	p. 138
Life in College Classrooms	p. 138
Caveats, Codicils, and Conundrums about Acedemics and Abecedarians	p. 139
Getting the Job Done Right
The Job vs the Job Description	p. 143
What Makes Up a Job?	p. 145
Data, People, and Things	p. 146
Control vs Controls Over the Job	p. 146
Retrofitting the Job Description to the Job	p. 147
Caveats, Codicils, and Conundrums about the Job vs the Job Description	p. 149
Ploys to Avoid	p. 151
Givers, Takers, and Flimflam Artists	p. 151
Memo Wars and Turf Battles	p. 157
Forcing Democracy on Dopes	p. 160
Your Title and You, When to Take It Seriously	p. 164
Caveats, Codicils, and Conundrums about Ploys to Avoid	p. 167
Hiring, Shifting, and Firing	p. 169
Where Loyalties Begin and End: Have Gun Will Travel	p. 169
The Proper Attitude	p. 170
The Subtleties of Staffing	p. 171
Hiring Good People or Hiring People Who Hire Good People	p. 172
Con Games in Letters of Reference	p. 174
Shifting Personnel: Keep Your Eyes on the Pea!	p. 176
Who Must Be Fired and Making It Stick	p. 178
Theory X and Theory Y	p. 178
Taking Your Lumps, the Dirty Work Is Part of the Job	p. 185
The Only Thing That Lasts	p. 186
Retrospective	p. 186
Caveats, Codicils, and Conundrums about Hiring, Shifting, and Firing	p. 187
The Emmetropia of Evaluation	p. 189
Growth vs Performance	p. 189
The Search for the One "Perfect" System	p. 190
Hard vs Soft Data	p. 193
Flattery Will Lose You a Grievance	p. 196
Facts Only Count for So Much	p. 197
Caveats, Codicils, and Conundrums about Evaluation	p. 200
Budget Skullduggery	p. 201
Budget Control and Hieroglyphics	p. 201
What Is a Budget?	p. 201
All Budgets Are Padded	p. 202
How Not to Be Caught with Your Padding Down	p. 203
The Telltale Evidence: The Sawdust on the Floor	p. 204
Controlling Costs	p. 205
Caveats, Codicils, and Conundrums about Budget Skullduggery	p. 207
Textbook Tyranny, Curriculum Chicanery, and Testing Insanity	p. 209
The Educational Mugwumps	p. 209
Putting It Together in the Schools	p. 211
Testing Insanity	p. 214
Caveats, Codicils, and Conundrums about Textbook Tyranny, Curriculum Chicanery, and Testing Insanity	p. 217
Adversaries and Friends
Secretaries and Custodians	p. 221
The "Shadow" Administrators: Secretaries Behind the Throne	p. 221
Secretaries as Mediators and Power Brokers	p. 222
Secretarial Sign Language Everybody Knows	p. 225
The Real Basics Are Always Custodial	p. 226
Caveats, Codicils, and Conundrums about Secretaries and Custodians	p. 228
Unions	p. 231
The Avon Lady Is Calling: Cosmetic vs Custodial Roles	p. 231
Union Tectics and Victims	p. 233
Living, Loving, and Laughing with Unions	p. 234
Grievances and Arbitration	p. 235
The Godfather: Understanding Union Leaders	p. 237
Caveats, Codicils, and Conundrums about Unions	p. 239
The Lunatic Fringe	p. 241
Prudes, Censors, Wackos, and Birchers	p. 241
The Last Crusade: The Religious Fanatics	p. 244
The Assassins--When the Bullets Are Real	p. 247
The Power of Humor	p. 248
Caveats, Codicils, and Conundrums about the Lunatic Fringe	p. 249
Arch Rivals and Competitors	p. 251
Et tu Brutus? Knowing Who Wants Your Job	p. 251
Plots, Plotters, and Psychopaths	p. 252
Case Study: Stanley Friend's First Failure	p. 254
Motivation for Advancement	p. 259
Assistants	p. 261
Caveats, Codicils, and Conundrums about Arch Rivals and Competitors	p. 263
Surviving
Knowing Who Is the Boss	p. 267
You Don't Work for Everyone: How to Tell Who Is the Boss	p. 267
Case Study: Todd Laker Knocks 'em Dead but Is Knocked Out	p. 268
All the President's Men: Are They Men?	p. 273
Does Your Boss Want Your Competence or Your Strokes?	p. 274
Who Is Your Boss's Boss and Who Cares?	p. 275
Caveats, Codicils, and Conundrums about Knowing Who Is the Boss	p. 277
Staying in Power and Staying Power	p. 279
Real Lessons from the Real World	p. 287
How to Survive Losing to The Turk: Getting Fired	p. 289
Caveats, Codicils, and Conundrums about Staying in Power and Staying Power	p. 291
Idealism vs Ideology	p. 293
Machiavelli and Don Quixote: The Odd Couple	p. 293
Is It Crass to Care?	p. 294
Dreams vs Pipe Dreams	p. 295
Guidelines for Success	p. 296
Your Own Guidelines	p. 304
Caveats, Codicils, and Conundrums about Leaders and Leadership	p. 306
Notes	p. 309
Index	p. 319
Biographies	p. 323
To Our Readers	p. 325
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