This document summarizes reviews of four books related to education: 1) "Wikis for School Leaders" explains how wikis can be used by K-12 administrators to improve communication, collaboration, and student achievement. 2) "Labor Relations in Education" traces the history of teachers unions and collective bargaining. It also discusses how bargaining formalizes relationships between teachers and administrators. 3) "Below C Level" argues that American education encourages mediocrity and examines factors like a lack of resources and unclear goals that contribute to underperforming schools. 4) "Labor Relations in Education" teaches administrators about the processes of collective bargaining and prepares them for its challenges.

1. b o o k reviews
Wikis for School Leaders:
Using Technology to
Improve Communication and
Collaboration
by Stephanie D. Sandifer, Eye on Education, Larch-
mont, N.Y., 2011, 160 pp. with index, $29.95 softcover
Wikis for School Lead-
ers is geared to meet
the needs of K-12
school administra-
tors interested in
using wiki technology
as a tool to improve
administrative prac-
tice, instructional
effectiveness and
ultimately student achievement.
Administrators will find this text useful
in facilitating the principles of democratic
leadership through the use of a wiki to
reduce bureaucratic hierarchies.
Author Stephanie D. Sandifer, who
is an online educator and a technology
coach with the Houston A+ Challenge,
helps the reader make connections with
real school settings. She uses scenarios
addressing issues that commonly arise in
schools, peppering her discussion with
references to “Before Wiki” (B.W.) and
“After Wiki” (A.W.).
The book includes detailed descrip-
tions of wikis, readiness-level assessments,
a guide for creating a wiki account and
sample agendas for wiki workshops to help
school leaders teach others to apply the
technology. Sandifer shares evidence of
how wikis can improve time management
and the quality of meetings.
One of the most important aspects is
the explanation of how wikis can engage
students to improve literacy skills, not
only in reading and writing but also com-
puting and problem-solving skills.
Because Web 2.0 is the communica-
tion and collaboration medium of the
digital generation, Sandifer illustrates
how several of the Web 2.0 tools, such as
Google Docs, blogs, twitter and Facebook,
can be seamlessly integrated into wikis.
She shares techniques to ensure privacy
while keeping documents intended to be
easily accessible to the public.
Wikis for School Leaders uses terms
easily understood by those who do not
consider themselves technology experts.
Reviewed by Ronald A. Styron Jr., director, Gulf
Coast Instructional Leadership Center, University of
Southern Mississippi, Long Beach, Miss.
Labor Relations in Education:
Policies, Politics and Practices
by Todd A. DeMitchell, Rowman & Littlefield Educa-
tion, Lanham, Md., 2010, 202 pp., $34.95 softcover
In Labor Relations in
Education, Todd A.
DeMitchell, a profes-
sor of education and
justice studies at the
University of New
Hampshire, traces the
history of collective
bargaining from its
origins in Wisconsin
to the landmark case
supporting the right of public employees
to organize and join a union (McLaughlin
v. Tilendis, 1968).
In addition to outlining the lineage
of bargaining, DeMitchell methodically
defines the basic vocabulary, processes,
procedures and usable templates inher-
ent in labor negotiations, making them
fully accessible.
He also discusses the administrative
reality that collective bargaining (1)
formalizes relationships between teach-
ers and administrators; (2) standardizes
teachers’ work because the contract
defines the working conditions for all
teachers covered under the agreement;
and (3) ensures equity when the process
is understood as a rule-making activity
and enforcement is upheld by both man-
agement and the union.
A former superintendent, DeMitchell
vividly reminds administrators the first
business of the union is to secure material
benefits for their members, adding, “(A)t
the end of the day of bargaining, there is
no magic formula or perfect process that
moves everyone to win-win bargaining.”
This book cogently teaches and pre-
pares administrators for the nuances,
rigors and challenges of collective bar-
gaining.
Reviewed by Leon T. Hobbs, president/CEO, Hobbs
Leadership Team, Flowery Branch, Ga.
Below C Level: How American
Education Encourages
Mediocrity and What We Can
Do About It
by John Merrow, CreateSpace, Charleston, S.C, 2010,
458 pp., $19.95 softcover
John Merrow, a
veteran education
correspondent for
PBS, has the exten-
sive background in
the field to pro-
duce this provoca-
tive book, Below
C Level: How
American Education
Encourages Medioc-
rity and What We Can Do About It.
He tells us in opening his work that
rereading “A Nation at Risk” today is an
“eerie and disturbing” experience because
so much of what it says still applies.
The warnings of the early 1980s remain
unfortunately similar. “U.S. economic
competitiveness is unsustainable with
poorly prepared students feeding into
the workforce,” Merrow says.
This book points to Americans’
embrace of mediocrity and its resulting
effects on public education in terms of
what we expect of students from kin-
dergarten to the graduate level and of
teachers at all levels. A key reason we
have tolerated this educational malaise,
Merrow contends, is that many groups
benefit from it.
In his search for answers, Merrow
looked for Superman. When he did find
him, in the forms of individuals such as
Michelle Rhee and Paul Vallas, he con-
cluded they were fighting an uphill battle.
In many of the schools visited, Merrow
found a pattern of indifference. As one
7th grader told him: “A lot of students
don’t pay attention because I don’t think
the teachers are putting forth the effort
to make us feel interested in the class.”
Other factors contributing to under-
performing schools include a lack of suf-
ficient resources, misdirected resources,
unclear goals and a failure to invest in
technology.
Reviewed by John Patrick Closen, assistant
professor of educational leadership, Western Illinois
University, Macomb, Ill.
48 TH E SC HOOL ADM INISTRATOR november 2011