Synopses & Reviews
Students everywhere are harder to reach and teach, their attention and motivation less reliable, their language and behavior more provocative.? This is largely because parents, suffering a widespread loss of confidence and competence, are increasingly anxious about their children?s success, yet increasingly unable to support and guide them?and increasingly assertive and adversarial vis a vis the school.? Examining these trends and their underlying causes, Evans calls for a combination of limits and leverage.? At the policy level, we must rethink our notions of accountability, accepting the reality that schools cannot overcome all the forces that affect children?s lives and learning.? At the schoolhouse, educators can improve their impact by clarifying and asserting
purpose (core values) and
conduct (norms for behavior), and by becoming more appropriately parental vis ? vis students
and parents.? Evans outlines concrete ways to implement these measures, and closes with a reflection on ways to sustain hope and commitment in the face of unprecedented challenge.
"Too many Americans are eager to blame the media or teachers for their children's failure to learn. In Family Matters Rob Evans has the courage to tell the simple truth: parents in America are abdicating their responsibilities. They are not sending children to school who are ready to learn, and educators are being overwhelmed by the behavioral problems and emotional needs of under-parented children. In this persuasive and powerful book, Dr. Evans cuts through our national denial and offers both a hard-headed analysis of our parenting failures and realistic school-based solutions to these problems."
?Michael Thompson, coauthor, Raising Cain and Best Friends, Worst Enemies
"In a brave and winning combination of information, analysis, anecdotes, and personal observations, Rob Evans makes a forthright, powerful case for renewed and respectful school-family collaboration on behalf of children."
Theodore R. Sizer, Coalition of Essential Schools
Review
"This well-written book is wise and unique." (CHOICE; 11/1/20004; Vol. 42, No. 3)
Synopsis
LEARN HOW SCHOOLS CAN RESPOND TO THE UNPRECEDENTED CHANGES IN STUDENTS AND PARENTS
In Family Matters, Robert Evans addresses perhaps the toughest job for our schools todaycoping with the enormous changes in students and their parents. This important book invites us to rethink school accountability and shows how schools can help themselves and their families improve the raising and schooling of children.
"Too many Americans are eager to blame the media or teachers for their childrens failure to learn. In Family Matters Rob Evans has the courage to tell the simple truth: parents in America are abdicating their responsibilities. They are not sending children to school who are ready to learn, and educators are being overwhelmed by the behavioral problems and emotional needs of under-parented children. In this persuasive and powerful book, Dr. Evans cuts through our national denial and offers both a hard-headed analysis of our parenting failures and realistic school-based solutions to these problems."
Michael Thompson, coauthor, Raising Cain and Best Friends, Worst Enemies
"In a brave and winning combination of information, analysis, anecdotes, and personal observations, Rob Evans makes a forthright, powerful case for renewed and respectful school-family collaboration on behalf of children."
Theodore R. Sizer, Coalition of Essential Schools
Synopsis
In this provocative book, Robert Evans takes a sharp look at the enormous changes occurring among children and parents and the dilemma these changes pose for schools.
Students everywhere are harder to reach and teach, their attention and motivation less reliable, their language and behavior more provocative. This is largely because parents, suffering a widespread loss of confidence and competence, are increasingly anxious about their childrens success, yet increasingly unable to support and guide themand increasingly assertive and adversarial vis á vis the school. Examining these trends and their underlying causes, Evans calls for a combination of limits and leverage. At the policy level, we must rethink our notions of accountability, accepting the reality that schools cannot overcome all the forces that affect childrens lives and learning. At the schoolhouse, educators can improve their impact by clarifying and asserting purpose (core values) and conduct (norms for behavior), and by becoming more appropriately parental vis á vis students and parents. Evans outlines concrete ways to implement these measures, and closes with a reflection on ways to sustain hope and commitment in the face of unprecedented challenge.
Synopsis
Revitalize Leadership Skills with Wisdom from the Worlds Best-Known Bible Passage
"What a joy to learn that David Davenport has placed his thoughts on paper! He has touched thousands with his teachingmay he and Blaine touch even more through this book."
Max Lucado, best-selling author and pulpit minister, Oak Hills Church of Christ
"Providing fresh insight into one of the most cherished texts in the Bible, David Davenport and Blaine McCormick walk with us beside the quiet waters of our contemplation and embolden us for ethical, fearless, and transformational leadership."
Andrew K. Benton, president, Pepperdine University
"Shepherd Leadership extracts spiritual insights from the writings of one who was anointed by God to lead, David. It makes a tremendous contribution, not to the science of leadership but, far more significantly, to its heart and soul."
Richard Stearns, president, World Vision United States
"Shepherd Leadership is remarkable for showing how timeless truthsfrom one of the most significant passages in the Bibleapply to the complexities of contemporary organizations. Its abundantly clear that when leaders accept the call to lead like a shepherd, not only is the organizational culture improved, but so is the bottom line."
Ken Blanchard, coauthor of The One Minute Manager and The Servant Leader and cofounder of the Center for FaithWalk Leadership
Synopsis
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures;
He leadeth me beside the still waters;
He restoreth my soul.
Todays professionals need reliable models to teach them how to become better leaders. In this remarkable book, leadership experts Blaine McCormick and David Davenport introduce us to a new kind of leader by offering a new image of leadershipthe leader as shepherd.
Drawing on the wisdom of the timeless Twenty-Third Psalm, King Davids psalm, the authors provide professionals with ancient wisdom for grappling with today's leadership challenges. Shepherd Leadership offers a much-needed lens through which to consider our own leadership as well as the leadership of those around us. This important book teaches us important lessons about leadership: we can be vigilant without being adversarial, we can serve without being passive, and we can guide without commanding. Shepherd Leadership offers a visionary new model for transforming leadership practices in both corporate and small business settings. This is whole-person leadership. It's not just a matter of thinking or doing things a certain way. Its a fully integrated lifea matter of head and hand and heart. Its a way of thinking and doing and being.
Blaine McCormick and David Davenport inspire leaders with a fresh interpretation of this familiar spiritual text, helping all to integrate their spiritual life with their working life through a unique blend of timeless wisdom and contemporary business leadership strategy.
About the Author
Robert Evans is a clinical and organizational psychologist and the executive director of The Human Relations Service in Wellesley, Massachusetts. A former high school and pre-school teacher, and a former child and family therapist, he has consulted in hundreds of public and private schools throughout the United States and internationally, working with teachers, administrators, and boards. His interests have focused on school change and resistance to it, on leadership, and on changes in families and their effect on schools. He is the author of many articles and the book The Human Side of School Change from Jossey-Bass. He lives near Boston with his wife, Paula. They have two grown sons.
Table of Contents
Introduction.
About the Author.
Part One. The Changing Context of Child Development.
1. “Something’s Gone Way Wrong”.
2. The Building Blocks of Healthy Growth.
3. Back to Basics: A Parenting Primer.
4. Fast Forward: The Fragile Family.
5. Losing Connection.
6. Abandoning Authority.
7. Building Résumés.
8. The New Insecurity.
9. The New Individualism.
Part Two. Limits and Leverage: Real-Life Coping for Schools.
10. Rethinking Accountability.
11. What Makes Us, Us: Clarifying Purpose and Conduct.
12. Redefining the Home-School Partnership.
13. Resistance and Leadership: Building Faculty Will.
14. Parenting Parents: Building Faculty Skill.
15. Paradox, Realism, and Hope.
Appendix: Practical Parent Education.
Notes.
References.
Acknowledgments.
Index.