Principalship - by Frederick C Lunenburg & Beverly J Irby (Paperback)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

The Principalship: A Learning-Centered Approach is a one-of-a kind textbook written especially for principals to help them understand current theories of teaching and learning and best leadership practices as well as practical application of these theories.

Review Quotes

The Principalship: A Learning-Centered Approach is an outstanding book that deftly integrates research and practice. It will be of interest and use to people who work in and study schools. Lunenburg and Irby approach the writing as teachers in the sense that they provide prompts, probing questions, and case studies that compel readers to reflect on their experience and assumptions while also offering new ways to think about how to improve schools toward excellence, efficiency and equity. Highly recommended!"

Lunenburg and Irby have produced a major work that first lays out the fundamental dimensions a principal faces in his/her practice and then carefully develops the theoretical constructs that underpin the potential actions the administrator may take to deal with those dimensions. This work has the power to transform the practice and education of practitioners of educational leadership as fundamentally as Abraham Flexner transformed medical education and practice.

This is a great inclusive, learner-centered approach to the teaching and practice of the principalship for current times and into the future.

This Lunenburg and Irby text is an insightful and research-embedded recasting of the principal's role, reflecting important shifts in how that role must adapt to new realities. Among the most important is that the leadership of the principal is not confined to a singular pinnacle within a bureaucratic structure but is expanded to include important co-leaders within the staff and community. This results in an expanded circle of leadership and a new locus of energy to attain the school's vision and goals, with the ultimate winners being the students.

About the Author

Frederick C. Lunenburg is Jimmy N. Merchant Professor of Education at Sam Houston State University. Previously, he was on the faculty of educational administration at the University of Louisville, Loyola University Chicago, and Southern Utah University, where he also served as Dean of the College of Education. In addition, he has held public school positions as high school English teacher and reading specialist, high school principal, and superintendent of schools. Dr. Lunenburg's scholarship includes forty-eight books, twenty-three book chapters, and more than two hundred articles published in both practitioner and academic/research journals.
Beverly J. Irby is Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Regents Professor, and Marilyn Kent Byrne Endowed Chair for Student Success at Texas A & M University, College Station, Texas. In addition, she serves as Director of the Educational Leadership Research Center at Texas A & M University. She is editor of the following research journals: Mentoring and Tutoring, Advancing Women in Leadership, Dual Language and Practice, and Education Policy Briefs. She is Principal Investigator: SEED Grant (APLUS) and OELA Grants (PAL and MOOPIL). Dr. Irby has written numerous books, research reports, and articles, many of which have been presented at regional, national, and international meetings.