Leadership for Green Schools, a new book released this month, provides educational leaders, teachers, facility professionals, and community partners with the tools they need to lead and manage greener, more sustainable schools. Authors Lisa A.W. Kensler and Cynthia L. Uline draw from the fields of sustainability science, built learning environment, and educational leadership to explain what green schools look like, what role school buildings play in advancing sustainable organizational and instructional practices, and why school leaders are “greening” their leadership. Sustainability can often seem like an unreachable, utopian set of goals, but this important resource uses real life examples of successful schools and leaders, demonstrating how green schools advance the work already underway to restore engaged learning within our schools and communities. Leadership for Green Schools is a unique and important resource to help leaders reduce the environmental impact of school buildings and immerse students in purposeful, meaningful learning for a sustainable, just future.
Reviews from the Experts
An unparalleled contribution to school leadership. Hugely significant, perfectly timed, and wonderfully accessible. – Joseph Murphy, Frank W. Mayborn Chair of Education and Associate Dean, Peabody College of Education, Vanderbilt University
If Leadership for Green Schools was required reading for every school administrator and pre-service teacher, education as we know it would be transformed. Kensler and Uline make a tremendously compelling case for why green schools are indistinguishable from a 21st century education. What a tremendous contribution to our growing movement to ensure every student can learn in a school that is healthy, safe, and inspiring. – Rachel Gutter, Senior Vice President of Knowledge, U.S. Green Building Council and Director, Center for Green Schools
The green, healthy, sustainable schools movement is perhaps the most important educational initiative of our time. Leadership for Green Schools does a magnificent job of conveying not just the importance of this movement but the significant role school leaders play in shaping the vision, purpose, shared leadership, and vibrant learning environments for teachers as they prepare young people for an uncertain future. – Jennifer Seydel, Executive Director, Green Schools National Network
About the Authors
Lisa A. W. Kensler is an Associate Professor of Educational Leadership at Auburn University. Lisa spent a decade serving as a secondary science teacher and teacher leader. Prior to her work as an educator, Lisa was an ecologist. Early in her career she worked for the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service studying coral reefs, the Chesapeake Bay, and the Great Lakes. Lisa’s research is grounded in her lifelong love of nature and her experience as an ecologist and educator. She uses her understanding of living systems to inform her research related to green schools and the leadership and learning required for transforming schools into more socially just, ecologically healthy, and economically viable communities. She has published articles and book chapters on democratic community, trust, systems thinking, and sustainability.
Cynthia L. Uline is a Professor Emeritus of Educational Leadership at San Diego State University (SDSU). Cynthia served as a classroom teacher, teacher leader, state education agency administrator, and an educational consultant working with school districts, community agencies, city governments, state agencies, and governors’ offices. Cynthia currently directs SDSU’s National Center for the 21st Century Schoolhouse http://go.sdsu.edu/education/schoolhouse/. The Center supports the planning and design of learner-centered schools through communication, research, and training. Cynthia’s research explores the influence of built learning environments on students’ learning, as well as the roles leaders, teachers, and the public play in shaping these learning spaces. Her current research considers the potential of green schools as student-centered, ecologically responsive, and economically viable places for learning. She has published articles and books on leadership for learning, leadership preparation, and the improvement of social and physical learning environments.
