To create a coaching culture, school leaders have to make it a priority and support coaching at every level, and continuously. This article offers five "dos" and four "don'ts" for school leaders on how to support coaching at their schools, highlighting topics such as professional development for coaches, scheduling time for…

Teachers in high-poverty schools often feel stressed and fatigued. We might expect that if we ask these teachers to take on even more work by meeting regularly in collaborative improvement teams, they will respond with skepticism, even resentment. But in a study of 83 teachers in six outstanding high-poverty schools, these researchers found the…

For veteran principals, new principals, and aspiring principals, this book is a valuable resource for building instructional momentum during the beginning of the school year. Educational leadership expert Shawn Joseph guides administrators through five key areas: (1) Vision; (2) Instructional Leadership; (3) Politics; (4) Data; and (5) Planning.

Since the 1999-2000 school year, TAP: The System for Teacher and Student Advancement (TAP) has been implemented in hundreds of schools across the nation and demonstrated an ability to raise student achievement, improve the quality of instruction and increase the ability of high-need schools to recruit, retain and support effective teachers. The…

This article explains two components in the review process of a university's principal preparation program. A superintendents' focus group session and an analysis of other universities' program profiles revealed a need to eliminate dated courses, include certification in the degree requirements, update the program curriculum with best practice,…

Rural schools do not usually make people think of innovation or experimentation. In fact, many people view rural areas as being too traditional or complacent to blaze educational trails. But this author is fortunate to be principal of one rural school, Federal Hocking Middle and High School, that is not afraid to innovate. Federal Hocking is also…

A harried leader is not a helpful leader. Schools need calm, well-balanced, helpful leaders as much as they need visionary ones. In fact, in this era of frenetic change in schools, principals should devote at least as much time to helping teachers be more focused and less frantic as they do to formulating new visions for the school or embarking on…

Provides time management strategies for principals who also teach. Advises organizing schedules, files, and materials, delegating routine tasks, coordinating forms and aadministrative structures, communicating directly and through conversational memos, building a cooperative staff, planning for systematic performance evaluation, and other hints.…

Educational leadership program evolution naturally creates tensions among institutional, national, regional, departmental, practitioner, and student cultures. Learning that has occurred during University of South Florida's educational leadership program's change process will be shared as well as national survey documentation examining student…

Describes a year-long, high school reading and writing literacy course developed by the National Center on Education and the Economy, designed to be delivered in a 90-minute, double-block period 5 days a week. Identifies several things principals can do to successfully implement the course. (PKP)

What administrators know and understand matters when it comes to organizing a school for teaching and learning. When principals and assistant principals discourage the use of practices unfamiliar to them or do not support best practices, they can actually hamper student achievement and professional growth. This is especially true when it comes to…

Discusses research findings that show that teacher-librarians collaborate more with teachers when they are on flexible schedules and the principal expects team planning. (LRW)

In education, there is no one best way to do anything. There are compelling reasons why some courses should be taught in longer segments of time, which the block schedule provides. There are also compelling reasons why some classes should be taught in shorter segments. At Watauga High School in Boone, North Carolina, an alternative schedule that…

Based on his experience with the Copernican block scheduling plan used in British Columbia secondary schools, a principal identifies administrative challenges (abuse of tutorial time, uneven distribution of teacher-preparation time, teacher fatigue, pedagogical changes, and unrealistic expectations) and suggests ways to address them. Involving…

Describes common characteristics of effective leaders, such as insight, strong interpersonal skills, self-growth, flexibility, and communications. Includes examples of effective leadership provided by an assistant superintendent, a middle-school principal, and an elementary-school principal. (PKP)