Living up to Your School Mission Statement

School leaders devote a great deal of time attending to the managerial routines of the organization without regard to how these routines might advance the mission of the school. As Alan Jones reports in Living Up to Your School Mission Statement, when preoccupied by managerial duties, school leaders seldom pursue intentionally the high-minded goals identified in a school’s mission statement. With this important book, Jones notes differences across managing, leading, and championing. He illustrates graphically how the preoccupations in the main office and the practices in the classroom often proceed without regard to what a mission statement identifies as the central endeavors of the school. For the committed school leader, Jones identifies a pathway for moving beyond recurring managerial tasks and devoting energies to the pursuit of the significant goals that a community has embraced as the mission of a school. -- Thomas M. McCann, professor, Northern Illinois University
A definite reminder that mission statements are a big driver of positive outcomes for schools. Develop your statement and keep it relevant. Live your statement in everything you do, especially in the delivery of classroom instruction. This book is a must read!!!!’ -- Robert J. Madonia, EdD, retired school superintendent, school board consultant and university adjunct professor
Living Up to Your School Mission Statement is a challenge to educators who believe more is possible, even as they wonder if they’re strong enough to swim upstream against the educational status quo. Those courageous enough to follow Jones’ lead will be empowered, emboldened, and invigorated. So will their school communities. -- Jeremy Ekeler, Nebraska Catholoic Conference, Associate Director of Education Policy