Chapter 1 Focus Chapter 2 Overcoming Chaos Chapter 3 GREAT Instruction Chapter 4 Changing Adult Practices Chapter 5 Aligning and Preparing the Leadership Team Chapter 6 Equipping Teachers to Provide GREAT Instruction Chapter 7 Build a Second and Third Tier of Support Chapter 8 Stop Doing Stuff that Doesn't Help Chapter 9 Unrelenting Persistence
John O'Connor is executive director of special services in the DeKalb County School System of Georgia.
O'Connor has rightfully and persuasively put the emphasis where it
should be — on classroom instruction! His point is well-taken that
much valuable time and effort is being misplaced in schools on
activities that do not directly impact student achievement. Readers
will appreciate his clarity in pointing schools to the components
that matter most to ensure that all student are successful.
*Mary Jackson, Director of Special Programs*
This book presents a unique and effective means to assis
principals, assistant principals, and other building leaders in
examining their effectiveness in improving student achievement at
the building and district levels. From the analogy with chaos to
its articulation of critical dimensions — implementing a definitive
vision, maximizing fidelity of implementation, emphasizing
continual improvement, improving adult practices,
aligning/preparing the leadership team, providing GREAT
instruction, creating tiers of support, and deleting ineffective
practices/procedures — it provides principles and concrete examples
which are very useful to educational leaders in individualising
effective instructional leadership approaches for their schools. It
could be used by individual leaders or groups of leaders, e.g.,
book studies, to improve instruction for students at all
levels.
*William W. Swan, Professor Emeritus of the Program for Educational
Leadership at the University of Georgia*
Turning Average Instruction into Great Instruction is a must-read
for teachers, principals, and curriculum leaders. O'Connor offers a
framework for effective classroom instruction. In a world inundated
with a myriad of quick fixes, this insightful book is a refreshing
entree for educational practitioners seeking to strategically and
collaboratively lay the foundation for continuous school
improvement.
*Gloria Talley, deputy superintendent of curriculum and instruction
in Dekalb County Schools of Georgia*
A school must become largely self-directing. The people connected
with it must develop a capacity for effecting renewal and
establishing mechanisms for doing this. John O'Connor has written a
powerful book, focusing on how to harness the talent and commitment
at the schoolhouse to bring about great instruction. Turning
Average Instruction into Great Instruction is a must-read for all
who struggle with the area of school improvement most resistant to
change: the way teachers teach.
*Frank Charles Winstead, Advocate for Excellence in America's
Classrooms, Inc.*
In Turning Average Instruction into Great instruction: School
Leadership's Role in Student Achievement, John O'Connor provides a
model of how to implement school-wide and district-wide
instructional improvement plans, address the direct correlation
between classroom instruction and student achievement and change
teacher practices when achievement lags....O'Connor illustrates the
road to reform....O'Connor reminds educators to review current
practices in order to focus on instructional components that
improve instruction and discard those that do not.
*School Administrator, May 2010*
This is an important book for school leaders who really are serious
about improvements in student achievement. This is one of the few
books that actually give the reader specific examples of how to
increase student achievement in all categories of students from
those who are educationally challenged to those who are our fastest
learners. O'Connor has taken his background in special education
and has created examples of student achievement for all levels of
learners. This is a must-read book for all school leaders.
*John O'Dell, Chair Educational Administration and Supervision,
Lincoln Memorial University*
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