Do school district central offices and school principals have the same level of influence on school decisions? What does the district-principal power relationship look like? These two questions are discussed but are rarely examined in the literature. Based on a nationally representative sample from the 2007-2008 Schools and Staffing Survey data,…

Charter school policy represents two simultaneous forms of accountability, in which schools are accountable to both parents and authorizers. This study of a K-8 charter renewal decision interrogates these accountability relationships and the role of race and power in privileging the interests of particular stakeholders over others. Using…

Propelled by accountability policies, leaders have touted data-driven decision making as a means to improve K-12 student outcomes and drive equity, as teachers analyze data to change instruction. However, many data-driven decision-making reforms have failed to challenge inequity. Melanie Bertrand and Julie Marsh's study of six middle schools shows…

In this article, the author explores the phenomenon of children's language choice and language use in a Korean-English two-way immersion (TWI) program. She does so by drawing on situations in which the children spoke of the principles guiding their choice of languages, and instances in which they voluntarily adopted Korean as the means of…

This article reports on findings from a qualitative research project (Overton, 2006) that highlighted a lack of empowerment experienced by, with and for eight early childhood teachers working in Tasmanian schools. The study investigated how change affects teachers, and focused on the theme of power as experienced by these teachers. The study noted…