Human Resources for School Leaders

Book excerpt: Human Resources for School Leaders contains comprehensive and systematic coverage of all aspects of public school human resource management. Unlike other books focused on this topic, the authors ground their text on "student learning" and outline strategies designed to enhance school climate and culture. The early chapters focus on relevant theories and research supporting current human resource methods- required learning in any educational leadership preparation program. The following chapters take a more practitioner approach as main topics include recruiting, hiring, orientation, mentoring, leading, and professional growth of teachers. The differentiating factors between this text by Davis &Fowler and other texts on the market is (1) the forward looking approach taken by the authors in that they not only exam current 21st century HRD practices but also give the reader insight into future HRD methods in a century dominated by K-12 marketization; (2) the focus on building level HRD systems; and (3) the thorough descriptions of available technology tools that can be utilized to improve HRD systems and heighten quality control through efficient data-based decisions thereby impacting instructional capacity and student learning. The case studies are relevant and relatable, and offer practical strategies and techniques that can be easily implemented at the building or district level.