Education & Human Development

Faculty & Staff

Gordon Donaldson
gordon.donaldson@umit.maine.edu

Shibles Hall
University of Maine
Orono, ME 04469-5766

(207) 581-2450

Title
Professor
Educational Leadership and Research

Education
A.B., Harvard College (Russian History); M.A.T., Harvard Graduate
School of Education (Social Studies Education); Ed.D., Harvard Graduate
School of Education (Learning Environments)

Courses taught

• Nearly all courses offered under the Educational Leadership prefix, specializing in school-level leadership
• Qualitative research and educational research methodology and history of education
• Most courses in our doctoral sequence in Educational Leadership

Research

• Pertaining to school-level leadership and the professional development and learning of leaders (the principalship and teacher leadership); school climate and collaboration as a means to school improvement, particularly at the secondary level.

Representative Publications
Books

• How Leaders Learn: Cultivating Capacities for School Improvement, (Teachers College Press) 2008

• Cultivating Leadership in Schools: Connecting People, Purpose, and Practice (Teachers College Press) first edition, 2001; second edition 2006

• Working Together in Schools: A Guide for Educators, with David Sanderson (Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press) 1996

• Making Sense as a School Leader: Persisting Questions, Creative Opportunities, with Richard Ackerman and Rebecca van der Bogert (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass) 1996

• Becoming Better Leaders: The Challenge of Improving Student Learning, with George Marnik. (Thousand Oaks CA: Corwin) 1995

• As Leaders Learn: Personal Stories of Leadership Growth, Ed., with George Marnik. (Thousand Oaks CA: Corwin) 1995

• Learning to Lead: The Dynamics of the High School Principalship. (Westport CT: Greenwood Press) 1991

Articles

• Donaldson, Gordon (2007). What Do Teachers Bring to School Leadership? Essential Partners in School Success. Educational Leadership.

• See Educational Leadership (ASCD); The Kappan (Phi Delta Kappa); New Directions in School

• Leadership (Jossey Bass Publishers); and the Maine Journal of Education

• (Maine ASCD) for articles published since 1983.

Public and Professional Service

• Consulting to schools and school leaders nationally and in Maine on collaborative school improvement and leadership issues.
• School climate assessment (with T. Coladarci)
• Program evaluation and planning at the school level
• Director/founding member: Maine Principals' Academy (1979);
• Maine Academy for School Leaders (1991); Maine Network of School Leaders (1993)
• Maine Department of Education (Secondary School Commission, 1997); Great Maine Schools Project
• Maine Small Schools Coalition
• International Network of Principals' Centers, Harvard University
• Advisory Board; founding member