Positive school culture is at the heart of effective teaching and learning. As such, improving a school’s culture is a critical component to school transformation. This resource provides school leaders with a concrete professional development plan for staff and students designed to eliminate power struggles in order to improve school culture. The author provides six alternatives to power struggles. The six are then applied to a series of vignettes that provide specific examples of how power struggles play out in your school setting and how they can be avoided. From power struggles in the classroom, to power struggles with parents your school team will be better equipped to handle the nuances of all of the relationships that are at the core of your school culture.

"This is a concise volume intended for school leaders who are ready to address power struggles—an ‘interaction between two or more people where one person is trying to control another in order to be the dominant person in the interaction and to get the subordinate to comply.’ Writing in a conversational style, veteran school administrator Case devotes chapters to conflicts between teachers and students, teachers and paraeducators (such as bus drivers), and school staff and parents, as well as those among teachers. There is a chapter devoted to strategies for avoiding confrontation: offer choices, steer clear of negative words, show understanding, and be prepared to walk away. Numerous vignettes of common power struggles (student dress code violations, disagreements about teaching styles, and conflicts between teachers and parents) with alternate approaches using the lesson strategies round out each chapter. The author encourages school leaders and administrators to embrace ownership of a positive school culture through reflection, honest dialogue, and compromises. Honoring the voices and lives of students is a central concern of this work. Verdict: Case sets the path to improving school culture with this valuable guide." - School Library Journal