Purpose: With widespread concerns around the funding and availability of care and education during early childhood, this article takes a social psychological approach to exploring some of the dilemmas facing early childhood leaders. Design/methodology/approach: The study uses an interpretivist, qualitative approach involving semi-structured…

Although mentoring interventions have helped to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) goals within STEM fields, even the most efficacious programs can be undermined without intentional cultivation of the broader mentoring ecosystem. This study examines participants from eight campus teams that engaged in a multi-session process of…

This study aims to assist preschools in achieving sustainable development by providing system thinking training for teachers and administrators. By promoting system thinking and PDCA, training helps preschool staff and teachers construct their knowledge and culture for organizational growth and effective operation. The research procedure…

The focus of this Q methodological study was to explore how professionals in the Educational Psychological Service (EPS) and schools experienced a system-based approach to expert assessment work. Forty informants from the EPS and schools sorted 60 statements about the assessment process. The following two shared viewpoints were identified: (1)…

States and school districts endeavoring to improve learning outcomes for young children typically focus on literacy, not math. Math is often overlooked in improvement initiatives, and it gets far less instructional time than literacy in preschool and the early grades. While literacy skills are unquestionably critical, so are math skills. Math…

Systems, structures, and practices perpetuate disparities because they reinforce barriers that sort and separate students based on assumed success or failure. When students are disadvantaged in this way, the implicit message is that their learning doesn't matter. The counterpoint to these discriminatory systems is an asset-based approach, which is…

This article describes a learning partnership between district or county leaders and school leaders to create a system of principal professional learning that came to life in principal learning communities across a district or multiple-district region. For more than a decade, Learning Forward has engaged with district-level leaders as learning…

The community engagement professional (CEP) plays a critical role in engaging faculty, staff, and students with communities. In order to do this in the most effective way, this essay advocates for CEPs to become familiar with the Cooperative Extension system and develop competency for engaging Extension personnel, even when those personnel are not…

This article targets local school improvement in Sweden and temporary systems as a model to organize improvement work. These data are based on a qualitative case study of teacher groups constituting a temporary system representing the different subjects in comprehensive school in a medium-sized urban municipality. A total of eight interviews were…

The evaluation of interventions is becoming increasing common and now often seeks to involve managers in the process. Such practical participatory evaluation (PPE) aims to increase the use of evaluation results through the participation of stakeholders. This study focuses on the propensity of health managers for PPE, as measured through the…

Completing a PhD on time is a complex process, influenced by many interacting factors. In this paper we take a Bayesian Network approach to analyzing the factors perceived to be important in achieving this aim. Focusing on a single research group in Mathematical Sciences, we develop a conceptual model to describe the factors considered to be…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to offer an application of a system model for Senge's five disciplines in higher education (HE) institutions. Design/methodology/approach: The paper utilizes a conceptual framework for the analysis of antecedents and outcomes of Senge's five disciplines, focusing on specific factors unique to the HE sector.…

A framework using concepts from systems theory, theories of power, and the garbage can model of decision-making was developed for the purpose of teaching aspiring school administrators to analyze situations using a political lens. The framework is demonstrated in an analysis of the process that led to Ohio's establishing a school facilities…

We live in an era of unique challenges requiring us to face a new reality mired in information overload for the 21st Century. This new reality emphasizes the critical need for educational leaders who can think and act systemically rather than bureaucratically. The bureaucratic model inherited from the Industrial Era still prevails in many…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to offer a theoretical contribution to explicate the various factors and aspects that influence Senge's five disciplines and their outcomes. Design/methodology/approach: The paper develops a conceptual framework for the analysis of antecedents and outcomes of Senge's five disciplines, and offers moderators to…