Richard A Nesmith

The Effective School Leader Richard A Nesmith

Schools are built and operated from a particular angle or philosophy. For example, Thomas Jefferson, American forefather, and past President of the United States believed that education was needed to "rake" the good individuals from the bad ones. John Dewey, a pragmatic, wanted to cultivate students with social and acceptable attitudes so as to make them good citizens. Horace Mann, the "Father of American Education," advocated "public" education so that all could be educated without concern for cost or availability. He believed real democracy would demand an educated citizen. However, such good and noble philosophical reasons have all but gone by the wayside in our current "modern" era of educating America's children. Though some educators and citizens can produce some modified version of why children need to be educated, much has been lost. In 1950, W. Edwards Deming was invited by General Douglas McArthur to help Japan recover from World War 2. As an American engineer, he focused on how to utilize research and data to restructure a weak nation. He longed for Japan to become a prosperous industrial nation. His philosophy, emphasis on data, and developed principles were well-received and Japan did become one of the world's industrial leaders, and even today, that legacy remains. In this book, the author addresses the Deming principles with applications being made to education and the American Public School system. Leaders who become principle-driven are more consistent, fairer, and produce schools that are better equipped to teach and train effective teachers and successful students. The purpose of this study is to help prod school leaders (principals, assistant principals, department heads, and lead teachers, to look beyond the status quo of leading by whims or worse, by the "seat of the pants." Principle-driven people are more predictable, more democratic, and more likely to be successful in bringing about changes needed to help public education train the minds and hearts of American children. Dr. Richard A. NeSmith