Educational Administration: Leading with Mind and Heart.

Educational Administration: Leading with Mind and Heart

by Robert H. Palestini, Rowman and Littlefield Education, Lanham, Md., 2005, 371 pp., $36.95 softcover 

When you visit a doctor, the first thing the doctor requires is basic health-related data in order to help you. The first thing a new school administrator should do when assuming a new post is ask a series of questions to assess the health and direction of the organization.

That's the key point author Robert Palestini makes in his text on educational administration in which he provides tools to check the health of an organization.

Palestini, who is dean of graduate and continuing studies at St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia, takes a different approach by examining such topics as the role of school culture and how to motivate and reward individuals. In a discussion of the power wielded by school administrators, he argues it is better to lead "with love, trust and respect" to ensure an effective organization.

The key to knowing your territory is to conduct a diagnosis of your organization. Palestini provides readers with a diagnostic checklist that addresses organizational structure and organizational culture, communication, conflict management, change process, strategic planning and decision making. He offers a 70-question Likert scale for each area with an easy scoring sheet. The diagnostic checklist provides a systematic approach to gauging organizational health.

Finally, to demonstrate the relevance and practicality of his advice to educational administration, Palestini uses case studies, which he based on site visits to schools. He shares his diagnoses and his prescriptions.

Reviewed by Jerry Horgen, adjunct professor of educational leadership, Capella University, Minneapolis, Minn.