Supervision That Improves Teaching and Learning ─ Strategies & Techniques

Sullivan (education, College of Staten Island, City U. of New York) and Glanz (professional ethics and values, Yeshiva U.) present school leaders and undergraduate and graduate students in education with a text on supervision aimed at improving teaching and learning. They view supervision as an ongoing, nonjudgmental, reflective, and collaborative process that engages teachers in a dialogue aimed at improvement. They suggest a collaborative plan and outline its historical and theoretical framework, interpersonal tools for initiating and providing feedback on classroom observations, sample observation tools and techniques, and a reflective clinical supervision cycle framework. Taking into account the current climate of accountability and standardized testing, this edition has new observation tools focused on diversity and differentiated instruction and supporting deep implementation of current practices, such as push-in support and math common core standards; new case studies on alternative approaches to supervision, such as learning walks, lesson study, and book groups; a new chapter on creating transformational change; and an emphasis on the idea that instructional supervision is a schoolwide process in which learning and teaching are the core mission, pairing observation tools that focus on both teacher and student evidence to stress what students are doing in connection to what teachers are asking. It omits less current cases. Annotation c2013 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)