From 1977 to 1980, she directed the Reform in Intermediate and Secondary Education project while concurrently acting as the curriculum coordinator in Castro Valley from 1978 to 1980.
Subsequently, she transitioned to academia, serving as a professor in the Department of Education Leadership at California State University East Bay from 1987 to 1999.
Throughout her tenure at the university, she held additional roles including department chair during two terms (1991–93 and 1995–97) and director of the Center for Educational Leadership from 1995 to 1998.
Since 1992, she has served as a Consultant in leadership, alongside her position as professor emeritus at California State University East Bay, a title she has held since 1998.
The book provides educational leaders with a framework for reciprocal, purposeful learning within a community, emphasizing constructivist leadership principles, updated theory, strategies for implementing standards-based reform and authentic assessment, and addressing issues of equity, diversity, and multiculturalism.
: Teachers as Constructivist Leaders offered a synthesis of teaching, learning, and leading principles, proposing innovative strategies for school reform.
Her books emphasized the importance of maximizing leadership capabilities at all levels within schools to sustain and enhance improvement efforts.
The authors describe organizational conditions that promote skillful dialogue, continual learning, building trust, and sharing a common vision among members.
The book explored a new paradigm of leadership based on values, self-awareness, and community, arguing for the importance of qualities traditionally associated with women in shaping a more enlightened and inclusive world.