With two-thirds of new leaders being women, it is becoming clearer that the face of our educational organizations is changing in symbolic and substantive ways. Some scholars have argued that every dimension of organizational leadership, including decision making, can be categorized as a masculine or feminine approach. Additionally, each decision…

After being identified as a school in need of improvement, one struggling inner city high school implemented an evening school alternative program to reduce their suspension, failure, and dropout rates. In its first year, the program graduated 100% of the student participants, all of whom were in danger of dropping out, or being kicked out of high…

This study examines principals' understanding and implementation of social justice (SJ) in the Arab education system in Israel. Qualitative research employed observations and fourteen semi-structured interviews with school principals to clarify their perceptions of SJ at school, activities to promote SJ, and leadership characteristics advancing…

This case study explores Costa Rica's National Executive Decree No. 31.900, requiring all public schools in the country participate in the National Program of Science and Technology Fairs (Programa Nacional de Ferias de Ciencia y Tecnología [PRONAFECYT]). The purpose of the decree is to promote innovation and to prepare students with the skills to…

Several national standards and accrediting bodies highlight the importance of fostering supportive school-to-home relationships. Despite initiatives to connect schools with parents and family members, family engagement and parental involvement practices for families of diverse racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic backgrounds varies considerably. Such…

The practicum experiences in which educational leadership students participate serve as critical bridges between the classroom work and the field. One regional university restructured the experience to include 15 hours of fieldwork embedded in each course leading up to an 85-hour field-based capstone course. The intent was three-fold: (1) to…

While learning from problematic events has become a major analytical lens for staff's collaborative learning at schools, successful practices have rarely been used for this purpose. The present qualitative study explored the perceptions of aspiring principals regarding the integration of learning from problems (LFP) and learning from successes…

Programming for students is a primary task of building principals that has increased in intricacy as the role of accountability in education has evolved. Despite this, little research exists which examines how principals program for students in light of social, community, and policy influences. Research which reflects upon the lived experiences of…

With this practitioner action research study, I describe what happened when I, serving as an elementary school principal, disrupted the typical faculty meeting schedule with a structure called Design Your Own Learning. Here teachers were responsible for planning and carrying out professional learning based upon their own inquiry into their daily…

Federal legislation requires all low-performing schools to create yearly school improvement plans (SIPs), and in many cases, school principals are responsible for conceptualizing and drafting the SIP. However, this year-long approach may not create the necessary focus and sense of urgency low-performing schools need to learn, adapt, and turn…

As a continuum of professional learning for building and district leaders transitioning from leadership preparation programs into practice, the state of Kansas enacted mentoring and induction requirements as part of their role in supporting development of leadership skills important to on-the-job application of essential knowledge. One approved…

The primary aim of this study is to use the survey items from the TELL Tennessee Survey (2013) using the Competing Values Framework (CVF) to determine whether teachers' observations about a set of topically organized school climate dimensions and performance levels are associated with teacher satisfaction. Specifically, the study sets out to…

This study examined perceptions of Illinois public elementary school principals regarding the effectiveness of their school districts' evaluation systems for special education teachers in promoting professional development and job performance accountability. Using an online questionnaire, 330 of the state's 1,551 elementary principals responded to…

Research-Practice Partnerships (RPP) can enable and support an evidence-based school culture for decision-making in districts across the nation. Based on our experiences in a large urban district, a key element for a successful RPP is to understand that school districts have their own research needs/agenda typically articulated in strategic plans.…

Professional Learning Communities are an important means toward the goal of improving schools so that students can learn at high levels. Professional Learning Communities, when well-implemented, have a laser-focus on learning, work collaboratively, and hold themselves accountable for results. In this article, the central concept of…