Rethinking the American High School - Finding Your Focus and Using Your Strengths
Rethinking the American High School - Finding Your Focus and Using Your Strengths
Will Dwyer (Author), Chuck Hiscock (Author)
Over the past 35 years, there has been constant pressure to increase accountability in American high schools from the media and politicians, many preaching “magic bullet” solutions that haven’t made any lasting impacts on student learning. Anyone who has spent time in a high school knows that there is no singular answer to how to prepare high school students for their future. Instead, the only answer available is the nuanced, thoughtful, and effective use of the multitude of resources that all schools and districts have at their disposal.
In Rethinking the American High School, Will Dwyer and Chuck Hiscock detail an improvement framework to stop operating in a frenetic state of crisis and how to find a true north to guide a school’s philosophical, instructional, and structural decisions. The book outlines four lenses to view your high school through, how to find leverage points for improvement, and ways to align all the pieces together so that everyone in your school has a shared vision. The authors share stories, strategies, and activities that high school principals and staff can use to make a lasting difference in their school
About the Authors
Will Dwyer has 13 years of school leadership experience and currently serves as the principal of West Chicago High School in West Chicago, Illinois. His areas of research include principal and collective teacher efficacy. Will is passionate about social justice, student and teacher empowerment and embedding critical thinking into instruction. He serves as an adjunct faculty member at Northern Illinois University specializing in curriculum design and evaluation. He lives and works in the western suburbs of Chicago with his wife and three small children.
Chuck Hiscock has been an educator for over 28 years, and is passionate about providing challenging learning opportunities to all students. He currently serves as the principal of West Aurora High School in Aurora Illinois, and as an adjunct faculty member at a local university teaching courses in School Law and School Policy.