Textbook by professor emeritus reaches No. 1 on Book Authority

With more than 250,000 copies sold since 1985, “SuperVision and Instructional Leadership: A Developmental Approach” by Carl Glickman, professor emeritus in the UGA Mary Frances Early College of Education, remains the field’s bestseller after 35 years.

Co-authored by Stephen Gordon and Jovita Ross-Gordon, both UGA alumni and retired professors at Texas State University, the book is now in its 11th edition and was recently named as the No. 1 textbook in the educational administration (leadership, supervision and administration) category by Book Authority.

Book Authority is the world’s leading site for book recommendations by thought leaders, covering topics ranging from startups, marketing and finance to artificial intelligence, history and personal development. The website’s book ratings are calculated based on objective data pulled from public mentions, recommendations, ratings, popularity and sales history.

“At the beginning, reviewers of my final draft thought this textbook would not do well because the content was too interdisciplinary,” said Glickman. “Their concern became the very reason why the book became popular. Little did I know when working on the book during my beginning years at UGA, that more than three decades later, it would still be going strong.”

The most recent edition of “SuperVision and Instructional Leadership” features new content, changes, updates and more, including a call for a collegial approach to instructional supervision; the knowledge necessary for successful supervision; the interpersonal and technical skills needed for supervision; and the cultural tasks of supervision.

After sole authoring the first two editions, Glickman collaborated with Gordon and Ross-Gordon—who were both doctoral students in the UGA College of Education at the time—on the third edition of the book.

Since then, the trio have co-authored nine editions of the book with a new one set for release in the next few years with an additional co-author, Trinity University professor Angela Breidenstein.