What sets Implementing Transformational Leadership in International Schools apart from other educational leadership books is its originality. Indeed, there is nothing even remotely like it presently available for new or seasoned school administrators of overseas schools. Ritco has successfully combined his extensive experiences as a career international educator with proven educational, business, and human resources frameworks to create an entirely unique and easy to utilize guide. It is currently unsurpassed in offering a cornucopia of practical and insightful digital and print information regarding how to initiate and sustain comprehensive transformational (transformative) organizational changes to the climates and cultures of international schools. However, much of what he provides could just as easily be applied within American public and private schools. Regardless of where they may be, novice and veteran school administrators alike can therefore take immediate advantage of a wealth of resources and effective strategies found in Implementing Transformational Leadership in International Schools. Ritco makes a very convincing research-driven case for his hybrid transformational approach to leading in overseas schools. He then meticulously outlines how it can be meaningfully and sustainably achieved even in the most dysfunctional settings. Alternatively, Ritco illustrates how already healthy learning organizations can become even more vigorous through his tailored framework. At the core of Ritco's hybrid model is the authentic application of servant-leadership theory to transformative supervision with the aim of ceaselessly developing the human capital on staff. Extensive coaching and mentoring practices coupled with high performance work processes and teams exponentially increase teacher performance and job satisfaction. This in turn embeds master and talented educators to the school community, thus reducing the drivers of faculty turnover. Just as crucially, these experienced and talented teachers are then carefully groomed for succession planning so as to ensure the vibrancy of their school beyond the tenure of any one senior administrator. The predictable outcome is that schools can become much better places of learning and student achievement can be drastically enhanced. Elements of Chapters Four and Five are perhaps Ritco's most original contribution in this publication. He recognizes that although change is inevitable, it naturally causes anxiety in people. However, by being actively involved in the change process in an environment of supportive transformational supervision, fear is decreased, and proactive initiatives can be realized and institutionalized. Ritco likewise addresses how to effectively reduce the instance of interpersonal conflict among culturally diverse faculty members. But when grievances inevitably occur, his frameworks for proactively dealing with them are dynamic. The section on supporting staff in overseas learning communities offers much that is presently unparalleled. Nevertheless, a great deal of what Ritco provides throughout Implementing Transformational Leadership in International Schools would be equally valuable for American school administrators of all ranks.
About the Author: Joseph D. Ritco has been an international educator for almost two decades. He has held various administrative positions in small- to medium-sized overseas schools. Mr. Ritco received his BA degree (1990) and teacher training certification (1991) from Simon Fraser University, British Columbia, after which he was a graduate student of history (1992-1994) at McGill University, Quebec. Mr. Ritco then obtained his online teaching English as a foreign language certificate (2003) from the London Teacher Training Centre, England; his online M.Ed. (2011) in educational leadership from Northcentral University, Arizona; and his executive leadership certificate (2011) and human resources director's certificate (2011) from eCornell, Cornell University, New York. Mr. Ritco is currently a doctoral student in an innovative online program. He is a member in good standing with the British Columbia Teacher Regulation Branch, and the National Association of Secondary School Principals, Virginia. Mr. Ritco has authored a number of articles pertaining to English-language instruction and best practices.