Recommended Readings

Here is a short list of the best books and articles that I have read in my doctoral program at SFSU. 

Books:
The School Leaders Our Children Deserve: Seven Keys to Equity, Social Justice, and School Reform (Theoharis, 2009) - helpful for P-12 school principals to understand the complexities of education unique to their site. 

Modern Education Finance and Policy (Guthrie et al., 2007) - good information about budgets regarding cost analysis.

The Flat World and Education (Darling-Hammond, 2010) - breaks down national schooling and includes in-depth analysis of external factors that contribute to education over time.  

School Reform From the Inside Out (Elmore, 2007) - analyzes change processes in U.S. schools.

Leading in a Culture of Change (Fullan, 2001) - provides steps for how change can take place.

Improbable Scholars: The Rebirth of a Great American School System and a Strategy for America's Schools (Kirp, 2013) - somewhat of a case study of two schools in New Jersey.

Constructing Grounded Theory (Charmaz, 2014) - the best book about how to understand and carry through qualitative research using initial coding.

Multiplication is for White People: Raising Expectations for Other People's Children (Delpit, 2012) - excellent narrative with descriptive examples about how to have high expectations and be a warm demander. 

How to Design & Evaluate Research in Education (Hyun et al., 2015) - great examples of how to conduct qualitative and quantitative research.

Reason & Rigor: How Conceptual Frameworks Guide Research (Ravitch & Riggan, 2017) - conceptual and theoretical frameworks defined!

American Education (Spring, 2018) - historical account of U.S. schooling.

Articles:
From the achievement gap to the education debt: Understanding achievement in U.S. schools (Ladson-Billings, 2006) - analysis of the achievement gap and why it exists.

Toward a theory of culturally relevant pedagogy (Ladson-Billings, 1995) - seminole piece about social justice education.

To study is a revolutionary duty (Duncan-Andrade, 2007) - a moving letter to Paulo Friere with correspondences to teaching and learning.

Creating mathematical futures through an equitably teaching approach: The case of Railside School (Boaler & Staples, 2008) - quantitative research analysis of mathematics instructional practices.

Often #OneWord2018

#OneWord2018

Often

I almost chose this word last year. It stayed with me throughout last year and into this year, so I’ve decided to choose the word, “often,” for my #OneWord2018.

Often:

adverb

1. frequently; many times.

I think this word reinforces success as success is defined by the person who is seeking it. For example, the more often that I “do math,” the better I get at it, the more contemplative I become, and I gain a greater understanding of the importance of mathematical thinking.

The more often I read research and synthesize it, the more successful I will be at writing a coherent literature review.

The more often I practice public speaking and/or giving presentations, the better I get at it (and less nervous too).

When I was looking for an image for the word, “often,” the saying, “Smile often” appeared.

I think I am more effective with educational leadership
when I 

reflect often

take risks often

think often

ask questions often

seek to understand often

wonder often