Despite long-standing efforts to address and eliminate disproportionality in special education, inequities remain and continue to negatively impact Black, Indigenous, and other students of color with Individualized Education Programs. This brief from the Western Educational Equity Assistance Center (WEEAC) supports state education agencies, local…

Nationally, the number of charter schools opening and the enrollment size at charters is on the rise. But what happens when charter schools are low performing? For most charter schools and their authorizers, closing low-performing schools seems inevitable. However, school closures have dramatic impacts on students, families, and communities --…

When K-12 schools in California closed for in-person instruction in response to COVID-19 in March 2020, few would have predicted that most schools would remain physically closed for more than one year. Throughout this period, California's educators and students have continued teaching and learning remotely for the most part, demonstrating…

To assist system administrators as they pursue their own teacher leadership initiatives, this profile from Leading Educators and the Aspen Institute details the steps Denver Public Schools (DPS) took to design and implement its Differentiated Roles pilot. Specifically, it examines the initiative's opportunities and challenges within the context of…

As new performance-management-related policies go from idea to implementation, policy makers and education leaders will be called upon to flesh-out what are still broad principles in many areas. This represents a significant inflection point for the teaching profession and the management of public school systems. Early decisions will determine…

What fundamental ideas from higher performing schools underlie a coherent approach to educational improvement? First, only a system-wide approach to improving teaching and learning can make it possible for students to receive good teaching, year after year, across different subjects. Given the difficulty of the task, isolated and uncoordinated…

This report begins with conclusions drawn from a wide range of research, reports, and other sources that convey what superintendents say is driving their work. The focus first is on what they identify as the challenges and frustrations of the job and what they say are factors interfering with student progress. Then, discussion turns to the…

In light of recent data showing that educational attainment rates in the United States have stagnated, the Obama administration and others have called for renewed efforts to bolster higher education outcomes. Strengthening the role of community colleges is undoubtedly an important component of any plan to dramatically increase the number of…

In her role with the School Administrators of Iowa leading Iowa's leadership grant from The Wallace Foundation, the author works with a coalition of individuals and groups striving to implement a cohesive leadership system for school leaders. Efforts to create a cohesive leadership system in Iowa for the past nine years have resulted in many…

Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) are places where teachers work with intentionality to improve their own craft for the benefit of students. Teachers and administrators study collaboratively and analyze student learning results to improve academic achievement for all students. Administrators working to implement PLCs seek to expand…

Organized action need not depend on group consensus. Karl Weick's theory argues that only minimal shared understanding is needed and that common ends and shared meanings may be outcomes of organized action, not prerequisites. This paper reveals four communication mechanisms that generate and sustain equifinal meaning (multiple routes to a single…

Often times, there is a lack of preparation provided for the new superintendent by universities and professional associations. Meanwhile, new school superintendents are so focused on campaigning that little time is spent on what it takes to succeed in the position. In this book the author lays the foundation with a systematic mindset, a strategic…

This discussion of the legal aspects of acquiring a computer system emphasizes the buyer's rights. Guidelines are provided for drafting a contract specific to the individual buyer's needs and modifying the vendor's standard form contract. (EM)

This article provides perspectives about influences on the principalship following a state's 1998 adoption--without modification--of the Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium "Standards for School Leaders". Using literature about reconceptualizing school leadership as the framework, the paper summarizes changes in…

The institutional planning, budgeting, and monitoring system used by the National Technical Institute for the Deaf at Rochester Institute of Technology, which provides continuous development, evaluation, and modification operating in advance of rather than in reaction to potential administrative crisis, is described. (MSE)