Content area
Full Text
STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT OF HUMAN CAPITAL IN EDUCATION: IMPROVING INSTRUCTIONAL PRACTICE AND STUDENT LEARNING IN SCHOOLS
by Allan R. Odden
London: Taylor & Francis, 2011. 238 pp. $42.95.
In school improvement, the newest and greatest strategies all seem to encourage systems thinking or systemic change. Systems thinking has been a buzzword in educational reform since Peter Senge (1990) referred to the concept as the "fifth discipline" of a productive learning organization (p. 12). Subsequent scholars have likewise written about systemic change as the primary mechanism for educational transformation (see Bryk, Seabring, Allensworth, Luppescu, Sc Easton, 2010; Fullan, 2010; Tucker, 2011). In their recent article for the Harvard Educational Review, Anthony S. Bryk, Heather Harding, and Sharon Greenberg (2012) provide their definition of a systems approach:
The noun system, along with its related adjective systemic, is so frequently used in writings about reform that its precise meaning is often obscured. It is worth noting that, by definition, a system consists of a set of elements üiat stand in strong interaction with one another. Systemic change entails coordinated action across this set of elements where deliberate attention to each element is essential. A serious weakness in any one system component can easily undermine the efficacy of the overall enterprise, (p. 45)
Although he never calls it systemic change, I view Allan R. Odden 's framework for transforming education in Strategic Management of Human Capital in Education as a systems perspective. At once comprehensive and intensely practical, this volume presents Odden and colleagues' views about how to create a systemic (district or even statewide) strategy to recruit, train, develop, and evaluate effective educators. Odden draws from his work as director of Strategic Management of Human Capital in public education, a project of the Consortium for Policy Research in Education (CPRE) . With Odden as the primary author, the book also features guest contributors Anthony Milanowski, Steven Kimball, and James A. Kelly, who author various chapters.
Written for an audience primarily of school leaders and those who train school leaders, Odden's book presents his approach to what he calls "human capital" (meaning teacher and administrator) development:
The overall management challenge of the strategic management of human capital is to use data from the measurement of both teaching and student performance,...