In this qualitative grounded theory study, I interviewed participants from and analyzed documents associated with three community/state colleges in Florida. Additionally, I have included the perspective of key informants from the state and/or the Florida College System. The purpose of this qualitative grounded theory study was to develop a…

US colleges and universities have operated on the belief that academics need the freedom to question received wisdom, test new pedagogical methods, and produce knowledge that can be transparently shared for the public good. However, the same institutions are increasingly engaged in competition for resources through externally imposed…

Research shows that effective teachers are one of the most important in-school contributors to student learning. To improve low-income minority students' access to effective teaching, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation launched the Intensive Partnerships for Effective Teaching (IP) initiative in the 2009-2010 school year. The program was…

In 2018, The RAND Corporation and the American Institutes for Research (AIR) published an evaluation of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's Intensive Partnerships for Effective Teaching (IP) initiative, which was designed to improve achievement among low-income minority (LIM) students. The initiative provided support for several reforms that…

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 article profiles Margaret A. Smith, superintendent of Volusia County School District in Florida. In the six years since her appointment as superintendent of Volusia County--a district that has 63,000 students in 16 cities, including Daytona Beach--Smith has had her share of success. But what makes her so different from other superintendents…

This Wallace "Perspective" summarizes a decade of foundation research and work in school leadership to identify what it is that effective school principals do. It concludes that they carry out five key actions particularly well, including shaping a vision of academic success for all students and cultivating leadership in others. The…

This paper presents findings of a study that examined how school participants in two schools in a Florida city coped with conflict, with a focus on developing a cooperative school climate. Constructivism, which states that learning is the making-sense of experiences in a social environment, provides the theoretical framework. From this…

A chart presents details about school-based management systems in Chicago, Boston, Kentucky, Duluth, Dade County (Florida), and Texas, focusing on decision making, parent and community involvement, and structure. (SM)

This study was conducted in Dade County, Florida, school district that has been involved in the restructuring movement since 1987. In the mid-1980's the district piloted a school-based-management program, aimed, in part at increasing teachers' decisional participation. The sample was chosen from 14 elementary and 2 senior high pilot schools and 14…

This study investigated how teachers described current decision making structures, culture, and the power/micropolitics of their work, examining how they used their agency to accomplish work and make decisions together under Florida's reform. Data came from interviews with 1996 and 1997 elementary educators selected as teachers of the year. The…