In this paper, the concepts of fabrication, subjectivation and performativity are mobilised in an analysis of varied exclusionary practices in England's schools with particular reference to "off-rolling", defined by the national school inspectorate as the illegal removal of a student from a school roll in order to enhance academic…

This article provides a critical review of school leaders' data-driven decision making (DDDM), drawing attention to the potential tension between DDDM and moral decision making. With mounting accountability in education, DDDM has been espoused as one of the core values in school leadership. Making a data-driven decision means that school leaders…

For several years, WestEd's Measure to Learn and Improve (MLI) project team has kept California state policy leaders informed about the statewide implementation of the California Academic Standards in English language arts and mathematics, by summarizing and disseminating results from the RAND Corporation's annual American Educator Panel (AEP)…

After decades of accountability and market-based reforms in education, school systems are now organizing more around improving teaching and learning. Yet these efforts frequently yield unintended, superficial, or even counterproductive changes at the school level. In this article, Maxwell Yurkofsky develops the concept of technical ceremonies as a…

The accountability pressures of the recent decade require that instructional leaders work with teachers to ensure student academic success. The "walkthrough" or "walkthrough observation" is an instructional leadership practice that has been regarded as a promising avenue to collaboratively work with teachers. This exploratory…

Research has demonstrated that principals have a powerful impact on school improvement and student learning. Principals play a vital role in recruiting, developing, and retaining effective teachers; creating a school-wide culture of learning; and implementing a continuous improvement plan aimed at increasing student achievement. Leithwood, Louis,…

With a focus on exemplary practices, this article described and analyzed a principal's understanding of the conceptual framework of the US-based response-to-intervention and his strategies to mobilize school staff to understand and practice the model to achieve effective inclusive education with the principles of whole schooling. This principal…

This paper introduces and explores the concept of "salutogenesis" as a way of interpreting school leadership research and its findings in two significant areas: its effect on student outcomes and the motivation of incumbents. In its original setting, salutogenesis describes an approach that focuses on health, rather than on disease, but…

The TELL Survey utilizes items representative of twenty different factors, or variables, within the domain of campus climate and culture. However, since the district began using the TELL Survey, a thorough examination of these factors and the items within each of these factors has not been conducted. This brief report aims to uncover the factor…

Research on school leadership has highlighted the impact principals have on student achievement through their influence on classroom instruction, organizational conditions, community support, and setting the teaching and learning conditions in schools. However, there is limited rigorous quantitative research on the best district policies and…

In this case, Sharon Rowley, a veteran principal, volunteers to participate in a new community-driven accountability initiative and encounters dilemmas about what it means to be a "data-driven" instructional leader. This case provides an opportunity for aspiring school leaders to explore and apply data-use theory to the work of leading…

International research documents a variety of approaches for fostering the professional development of principals. These studies mainly draw upon survey and interview data. Less attention has been paid to observing professional development processes. This article aims to examine how professional learning is played out empirically in the…

School systems have access to more data than ever before, but most teachers and school leaders lack the skills to use the data for student and school improvement. Current attempts to use data have lacked depth and have been more focused on accountability and meeting state and federal requirements than on systematically investigating the factors…

For several years, WestEd's Measure to Learn and Improve (MLI) project team has kept California state policy leaders informed about the statewide implementation of the California Academic Standards in English language arts and mathematics, by summarizing and disseminating results from the RAND Corporation's annual American Educator Panel (AEP)…

This article takes the role of provocateur to "queer(y)" the rules of intelligibility surrounding new schooling accountabilities. Butler's work is seldom used outside the arena of gender and sexualities research. A "queer(y)ing" methodology is subsequently applied in a context very different to where it is frequently…