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A volume in Urban Education Studies Series
Series Editors: Nicholas D. Hartlep, Illinois State University, Thandeka K. Chapman, University of
California, San Diego and Kenneth Fasching-Varner, Louisiana State University
A school is only as good as its principal. This quip forms the thesis of Better Principals as it provides a bird's eye view on the
enactment of Haberman's eleven core functions of a star principal. Better Principals is imperative for two main reasons. First, the
achievement gap between 20 million children in poverty and their mainstream counterparts is continuing to become even wider.
Many students are constantly subjected to inequality of educational opportunity, which limits their future opportunities. Second,
Haberman is one of the most prolific producers of administrators of the twentieth century (and into the twenty-first century). He
reminds us that quality school systems, with quality leaders, benefit our society. Haberman explained that there is often selection
blindness when it comes to identifying school leaders, and this deficiency has many negative consequences for education in general,
and learners in particular. Haberman has generated theories, training programs and tools to engender substantive changes needed
to produce better schools. Each chapter in this volume contains reflection questions for discussion to remind us all why selecting
quality principals must be paramount when hiring school leaders. These illustrative book chapters emphasize the execution of
Haberman's star principal ideology.
