Policy makers increasingly acknowledge that problems and challenges arising at the school level should be resolved on site. At the same time, the political expectation to delegate more responsibility to the individual school is rather heavily contrasted with the weak knowledge about how this new public management approach can be translated into…

Principal leadership is a crucial element in high-performing schools. Research reveals that principals are second only to teachers in impacting student achievement at school. Accordingly, how school leaders are prepared has received increasing attention in recent years. Drawing from the findings of recent reports highlighting exemplary programs…

Educational leaders have many responsibilities across a variety of settings. This is especially true of special education leaders, who work with an expanded age range, expanded needs, and expanded complexity not only resulting from compliance expectations and enhanced regulation but because of increasing research in the field guiding best…

Is there a viable pedagogical method to prepare people, as they engage together in their practice, for the assumption of collective leadership? In this article the author makes the case that such a method is already available via action learning but for its adoption as a collective leadership development approach. The author's agenda is twofold:…

This article provides an overview of the development and components of LEAD95, University of Tennessee (UT) Extension's comprehensive leadership program for county-level leaders. The program was designed in accordance with results from a Delphi study, which identified critical skills and resources new county directors need to be successful. The…

In "Crisis as Catalyst," Patricia M. Virella uncovers opportunities for school leaders to act as agents of equity and inclusivity during crisis situations. Virella interviewed dozens of school principals across the United States and Puerto Rico, and in this book she shares the key lessons from their experiences with crisis events of all…

One of the National Association of School Psychologists' (NASP) key initiatives is to "develop leadership skills and qualities of school psychologists." This is a major task of the NASP Leadership Development Committee (LDC), which has the responsibility of providing ongoing training in leadership skills for NASP leaders, orienting new…

Continuous improvement is being embraced in California as the path for improving student outcomes. In 2018-19, Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE) researchers undertook a third year of study of the "CORE Districts"' continuous improvement work. This brief summarizes the main lessons presented in four reports stemming from…

The American Rescue Plan Act has made funds available to states and districts to speed up recovery from the effects of COVID-19, including addressing learning loss. The Wallace Foundation has distilled evidence from its work that may be helpful in informing choices about how to spend those funds, as well as how to implement key strategies.…

Purpose: This article presents a model based on a review of international and European policy and current European Agency for Special Needs and Inclusive Education work on school leadership for inclusive education. The model aims to support analysis of the policy context and interactions between the structures and processes at different levels to…

This paper highlights one state model providing mentoring and induction for new school leaders in the U.S.A. The importance of mentoring and induction as a continuation of leadership preparation is highlighted in program components and participant perceptions in The Kansas Educational Leadership Institute's (KELI) mentoring and induction program…

This article focuses on the "learning leader," exploring "What is professional learning leadership at its core?" Leaders of professional learning come to their responsibility from many roles, from teacher to district administrator, to instructional coach. They set the agenda for professional learning by aligning it to…

"Professional Standards for Educational Leaders" introduces the foundations of the recently revised professional educational leadership standards and provides an in-depth explanation and application of each one. Written by the primary architect of PSEL, educational leadership expert Joseph F. Murphy, this authoritative guide to…

This brief summarizes the January and February 2018 Thought Leadership Forum presentations. January featured a content-based presentation by William Robinson from the University of Virginia on turnaround leadership competencies and February featured Hannah Peria and Elisabeth Peterson from the New Mexico Public Education Department profiling New…

Principal evaluation systems without explicit and aligned professional learning simply re-create a system of compliance and fail to improve leadership capacity. Given the complexity of the role of today's principals, they must learn a new set of skills and knowledge to create innovative learning environments. To use principal evaluation as a tool…