Leadership for Low-Performing Schools

Leadership for Low-Performing Schools may be the most important book of the decade. Dan Duke’s focus on “Never-give-up leadership,” combined with a step-by-step guide for working through stumbling blocks he’s seen in decades of work in troubled contexts, make this a must read volume. Practitioners, policy people, and professors can do no better than to start turn-around efforts right here. -- Sam Stringfield, dean of the school of education at the University of Cincinnati
As a principal for over 20 years, followed by 16 years leading a principals' center working to improve student achievement, I believe Dr. Duke's book hits the target of what is needed to turnaround a school. Whether it is the larger, more evident elements of turnaround like understanding change, building relations, creating a sense of urgency and obtaining trust, or the important but less exciting elements like planning, improving teaching strategies and school organization, Dr. Duke has created a resource that is not only a WHAT to do book but also a HOW to do book vital for anyone charged with the exciting and daunting task of school turnaround. Dan Duke's already impressive reputation in school turnaround only deepens with this new book. -- Brian Riedlinger, CEO, School Leadership Center of Greater New Orleans
In Leadership for Low-Performing Schools Dan Duke points out from the outset something I have learned from years of personal experience—the leadership needed to achieve school turnaround is much different from the leadership needed for other schools. For school leaders faced with the challenge of new, higher standards and dramatically increased accountability, turning around a previously low-performing school can seem like a daunting task. What do you do? Where do you start? Most importantly, how do you do it? You have a choice. You can do what I did—learn the hard way through trial-and-error. Or, you can benefit from the wisdom of experience provided by Dan Duke. With the precision of an expert surgeon, Duke has tapped into the collective knowledge and experience of real turnaround leaders who have turned around real schools. “Turning around a low-performing school does not conclude with the first uptick in test scores.” In fact, my own experience in two turnarounds and in working with principals who have successfully turned around schools has taught me that, when scores go up, the real work is just beginning. The turnaround process is arduous and fraught with challenges. Leadership for Low-Performing Schools can help school leaders do the right things, the right way, for the right reasons. -- Mel Riddile, Ed.D., associate director, high school services, National Association of Secondary School Principals
Using a rich blend of personal experience, research, and observations of successful turnaround principals, Professor Duke provides educators with authentic and meaningful lessons for improving low-performing schools. The book captures important contextual challenges affecting low-performing schools before introducing practical and tested ideas for short- and long-term improvement strategies as well as how to maintain turnaround momentum over time. This highly-readable book demonstrates how never give up leaders give new-found hope for a brighter future to teachers and students in low-performing schools. Every school leader, regardless of the types of schools and systems they lead, will prosper from the wisdom of effective turnaround captured in this timely book. -- Dr. Bruce Barnett, Department Chair and Professor, Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, University of Texas at San Antonio
Turning around under performing schools is the active face of "inclusive" leadership and the critical work needed to provide an equitable education for all students. Informed by an extensive, longstanding program of research, guidelines for leaders found in this book are among the most insightful and practical currently available. It should be on every principal's desk. -- Ken Leithwood, professoir emeritus at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto