Purpose: This study aims to explore how the theories of professional capital and decisional capital can be extended to introduce "professional mathematics capital" and "decisional mathematics capital". Design/methodology/approach: Professional development (PD) efforts in one school district in elementary mathematics education…

The National Association of School Psychology recognizes the role that family engagement holds on school functioning and student outcomes. This article describes a qualitative study using constructivist grounded theory to explore systems-level family engagement practices in urban schools that implemented a Comprehensive Behavioral Health Model…

National and state-based assessments have been a common practice for the past several decades. These assessments often come with high-stake consequences for students and schools, which tends towards the creation of a test-centric environment where educators prioritize test-based instruction to prepare students to be successful on those…

The success of school communities and their stakeholders is determined by the leadership at the helm of the organization, as the arc of decision-making lies within their hands. Therefore, an analysis of principals' decision-making processes and their potential impact is of great significance. In the realm of decision-making, "systems thinking…

Drawing on the science of reading and research on high-performing schools and effective leadership, authors Pati Montgomery and Angela Hanlin provide school and district leaders with the tools to systematically implement and create the necessary systems and structures for evidence-based literacy instruction. By focusing on the establishment of…

The COVID-19 pandemic has negative effects on children, adolescents, and adults. Despite these effects, information about the nature of mental health concerns and services provided to address these concerns by elementary school counselors is unknown. The purpose of this generic qualitative study was to examine mental health concerns elementary…

Citizens show misunderstandigs about groundwater that hinder making informed decisions about problems like the deterioration of aquifers. Science education should address this, including modelling practices about the aquifer model. Physical models (PM) have been extensively used in geology teaching, but students rarely construct, evaluate or…

School principals' decisions are made within the complex organizations called schools. This study explored how systems thinking is reflected in principals' perceptions about their decision-making processes. Based on a qualitative analysis of interviews and focus groups, principals' descriptions of their own effective decision-making reflected…

Systems thinking (ST) is a holistic leadership approach that puts the study of wholes before that of parts. It focuses attention on how organization members act together in networks of interactions. This is done by researching organization members' mental models, which are deeply ingrained assumptions, generalizations, or even mental pictures or…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to give practical insights into the systemic approach to organizational learning "triple loop learning" (TLL; introduced in Part I) by reflecting on a facilitated research-and-intervention undertaken in South Africa as part of the "500 Schools Project". Design/methodology/approach: The…

This qualitative case study used General Systems Theory and social network analysis to explore the relationships between the members of a district central office and principals of elementary schools within an urban school district in the Midwest. Findings revealed sparse relationships between members of the district central office and principals,…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the characteristics and practices of principals in four successful Singapore primary schools. Design/Methodology/Approach: Multiple perspective case studies were used which included semi-structured interviews with the principal, teaching and non-teaching staff, students, parents and school board…

The Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS) framework, which uses a systems approach to promote school improvement and support all students in improving academics and behavior using data-based problem-solving, is a key part of the Wake County Public Schools System (WCPSS) Strategic Plan. As of 2017-18, MTSS schools were at the initial stages of MTSS…

Facilitative leadership, in the context of whole school development for greater inclusive practices offers a positive contribution to the discourse of school leadership. This article presents an exploration of the development of greater inclusive practices across an early years service and an elementary school that are both adopting a whole school…

This paper discusses inclusion in relation to centralised systems, in particular the constraints central control makes upon decisions at school level. The discussion is empowered by an evaluative case study research undertaken to understand the development of inclusion in contexts where flexible teaching and curriculum change are sometimes hard to…