Supporting and Sustaining Teachers' Professional Development: A Principal's Guide

This text specifically targets busy school principals who want practical suggestions grounded in national NSDC standards for balancing everyday administrative tasks while encouraging teachers' professional growth.

Tallerico (Syracuse University) offers guidelines for determining the content of a school's professional development effort, choosing a program design model, and establishing a nurturing environment for adult learning. Also appropriate for practicing K-12 principals, the graduate text incorporates lessons from adult learning theory, describes strategies for communication and everyday acts of leadership, challenges conventional notions about teacher resistance to change, and assesses options for freeing up teachers' time. Annotation ©2005 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Marilyn Tallerico is a professor of Educational Leadership at Syracuse University. She teaches graduate courses in professional development, curriculum leadership, assessment of teaching, and politics of education. Her work has appeared in the Journal of Staff Development, as well as numerous other research and practitioner journals. She is widely published in the areas of the superintendency, gender, and educational leadership. Her two prior books were Accessing the Superintendency: The unwritten Rules (2000) and City Schools: Leading the Way (1993), the latter co-edited with Patrick B. Forsyth.

A theme throughout her work is how educational leaders can promote equity and excellence in the public schools. She has facilitated professional development for school board members, administrators, and teachers. She currently serves on the editorial board of the American Educational Research Journal, and has previously served on the boards of The Educational Administration Quarterly, and the Journal of School Leadership. Her community service and scholarship have been supported by the Educational Foundation of the American Association of University Women, the National Policy Board on Educational Administration, and the New York State Association for Women in Administration.

Prior to her position at the university, Marilyn served 12 years in the public schools in Connecticut and Arizona. She has been a central office curriculum administrator, a coordinator of bilingual and English-as-a-Second Language programs, and a Spanish teacher.