The Lifeworld of Leadership: Creating Culture, Community and Personal Meaning in Our Schools (The Jossey-Bass education series)

Sergiovanni gets to the heart of school reform and renewal in this book. He shows how local school communities can construct standards that support serious learning and effective caring for students. This is a must read for anyone involved in education policy or practice today. (Linda Darling-Hammond, professor of education, Stanford University, and codirector, National Center for Restructuring Education, Schools, and Teaching (NCREST), Teachers College, Columbia University)

Sergiovanni's book gives life and meaning to the words 'lifeworld' and 'systemsworld'--bringing a new and insightful perspective to the discourse on school reform--and challenges school leaders to gain a more holistic view of students and interaction in the teaching-learning process. (Gerald N. Tirozzi, executive director, The National Association of Secondary School Principals)

After Andless debates about systems and standards, here at last is a great book about real character in education. Tom Sergiovanni shows how, worldwide, standards and standardization are squeezing the life out of learning and leading in schools today. (Andy Hargreaves, director and professor, International Centre for Educational Change, University of Toronto)

Once again, Sergiovanni has used his remarkable and unique insight to bring clarity to a major challenge of current leadership--the use of standards. He has managed to contextualize the issue of standards, through looking at the 'lifeworld' of schools, in a way no one else has. This is a fresh and thought-provoking take on a subject school leaders must understand. (Paul D. Houston, executive director, American Association of School Administrators)

Sergiovanni makes a powerfully reasoned case for building schools that stick close to their roots, not just because it feels good but because it's the most efficient and productive path to creating a well-educated citizenry. An important contribution at a critical and disturbing time in the history of public education. (Deborah Meier, principal, Mission Hill Elementary School in Boston, and author of The Power of Their Ideas: Lessons for America From a Small School in Harlem)

Sergiovanni shows democracy at work in a way that makes theories accessible to all. (Childhood Education, Summer 2002)