Positive School Leadership: Building Capacity and Strengthening Relationships

This landmark book translates positive and asset-based understandings of organizations to develop a powerful model of school leadership that is grounded in both existing research and the complexities of life in schools. The authors--both senior scholars in educational leadership--apply insights from positive psychology to the role and function of educational leaders. The Positive School Leadership (PSL) model draws on the strengths of relationships among staff and the broader school community to communicate and instill shared values and a common mission. This book builds a compelling case for creating a more inclusive, less "mechanistic" approach to leadership. Designed to engage both the hearts and minds of readers, the text is organized around reflective questioning of educational practice and current assumptions about the purposes and goals of leadership in schools.

;

Book Features:

• An integrated way to think about organizational, interpersonal, and systemic leadership from the inside out.
• A look at positive leadership in action, demonstrating how it operates to strengthen relationships that make a school more effective.
• An examination of the long-range impacts that can be anticipated from reorienting schools toward positive leadership.
• Reflective questions in each chapter that engage readers in deeper analysis of the information presented.

Joseph F. Murphy is the Frank W. Mayborn Chair of Education and associate dean at the Peabody College of Education at Vanderbilt University, and has served in public schools as an administrator at the school, district, and state levels. Karen Seashore Louis is Regents Professor and Robert H. Beck Chair of the Department of Organizational Leadership, Policy, and Development at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities.