The Taking Action Guide for the Governance Core: School Boards, Superintendents, and Schools Working Together - Paperback

by Davis W. Campbell (Author), Michael Fullan (Author), Babs Kavanaugh (Author)

Practical resources for building cohesive governance teams

As a supplement to the best-selling The Governance Core, this practical guide will help trustees and superintendents adopt a governance mindset and partnership that creates coherence throughout the district. With a systems thinking approach, the authors provide readers with the strategies and tools needed to build cohesive teams and engage in deeper learning and decision making. The Taking Action Guide for the Governance Core offers readers:

- a deeper understanding of core governance and how to build it
- a planning guide to help new trustees get started
- protocols and sample agendas for focusing on strategy and systems during open board meetings

Educational leaders will find this guide offers them a foundation for building strong, flourishing school districts that are equipped to adapt to and meet the daunting challenges of our time.

Author Biography

Davis Campbell is the former Executive Director of the California School Boards Association and is Chair of the University of California, Davis, School of Education, Board of Advisors and a Senior Fellow. He also serves as a Trustee on the Stuart Foundation Board of Trustees. Campbell has a deep and broad background in public education. He served for 12 years in the California Department of Education, serving six of those years as Deputy State Superintendent of Public Instruction in charge of all education programs. In 1988, he was appointed Executive Director of the California School Boards Association, serving in that capacity until his retirement in 2001. He also served as an elected trustee on the Yolo County Board of Education. Campbell maintains an active consulting practice in effective governance in education as well as public and nonprofit agencies at both the state and international level. In California, in addition to trainings and workshops with school districts, most recently he conducted numerous workshops with nonprofit organizations as well as training sessions with cities, counties, and special districts. Campbell′s international governance work includes board support for the American School of Madrid (15 years), the American School of Barcelona, the American School of Paris, the American Cooperative School, Tunis, Tunisia, the American International School of Egypt, and effective governance workshops in Lisbon, Portugal, and Rome, and Milan, Italy.

?Michael Fullan, OC, is the former Dean of the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education and Professor Emeritus of the University of Toronto. He is co-leader of the New Pedagogies for Deep Learning global initiative. Recognized as a worldwide authority on educational reform, he advises policymakers and local leaders in helping to achieve the moral purpose of all children learning. Michael Fullan received the Order of Canada in December 2012. He holds honorary doctorates from several universities around the world. Fullan is a prolific, award-winning author whose books have been published in many languages. His book Leading in a Culture of Change received the 2002 Book of the Year Award by Learning Forward. Breakthrough (with Peter Hill and Carmel Crévola) won the 2006 Book of the Year Award from the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE), and Turnaround Leadership in Higher Education (with Geoff Scott) won the Bellwether Book Award in 2009. Change Wars (with Andy Hargreaves) was named the 2009 Book of the Year by Learning Forward, and Professional Capital (with Andy Hargreaves) won the AACTE 2013 Book of the Year and the Grawemeyer Award in Education in 2015.

Babs Kavanaugh is experienced in providing strategic planning, meeting facilitation, and effective governance training to groups and organizations in the public and private sectors. A strong foundation as a trainer in conflict management provides Babs the background required to work effectively with groups in strengthening their leadership skills and improving their organizational effectiveness. Her primary focus over the past eighteen years has been with community based service organizations in health care, mental health, and education.
? Babs has over twenty years experience in business and brings a diverse management background to her work. Her professional experience includes human resource director, marketing director, community health center executive director, and small business owner.

Eleanor Adam consults internationally in the areas of leadership, change and learning and is a Senior Consultant for the Michael Fullan Enterprises Capacity Building team. She has worked with educators in a variety countries and states to improve and deepen learning for all students through excellence in classroom instruction and principal and district leadership. Her recent work has focussed on whole system change through the development of coherence at the state and district levels. She has served as a teacher and principal in both elementary and high schools as well as an acting Superintendent and Supervisor of Special Education for a school district. At the provincial level, Eleanor facilitated the implementation of education policy in 5,000 schools. In her role as the Program Manager for Continuing Education at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, she worked collaboratively to enhance additional qualifications courses that were both engaging and meaningful for all educators in the province. Developing and leading meaningful professional learning is a passion that Eleanor has pursued throughout her career. She facilitates relevant learning that is grounded in her experiences but incorporates new research and encourages critical thinking and collaboration.