Christine Campbell, Michael DeArmond, and Abigail Schumwinger, Center for Reinventing Public EducationApril 2004
Despite its wonderfully boring subtitle, this report by Christine Campbell, Michael DeArmond, and Abigail Schumwinger follows valuable earlier studies from the Center on Reinventing Public Education with concrete advice about how to repair school system personnel offices so they do a better job of finding and hiring the sorts of people that districts need in key roles like teacher and principal. Based on interviews and case studies of three districts (Houston, Milwaukee, San Diego) "that are actively engaged in reshaping their HR offices," the authors adduce lessons for turning the personnel office into an "ally" of district-wide reform efforts rather than an endless source of frustration. As always, though, no silver bullets fly from this gun. Besides careful bureaucratic repair work, superintendents and other leaders must continually work at this. The report won't knock your socks off but warrants a look. Find it (and several others, all supported by the Wallace Foundation) at http://www.crpe.org/pubs.shtml#leadership.
