Purpose: Research shows data-informed leadership matters for school improvement and student achievement, but less is known about what motivates leaders' data use toward such outcomes, particularly in the Catholic school context. Design/methodology/approach: This qualitative interview study uses interview (n = 23) data from a sample of Catholic…

Purpose: This paper aims to apply the garbage can model to identify factors that affect managerial decision-making processes in educational systems undergoing reforms. Design/methodology/approach: This paper used a qualitative approach using semi-structured interviews with 39 teachers and managers in schools undergoing a system-wide reform.…

Purpose: In Arizona's mature, market-based school system, we know little about how school leaders make meaning of school choice policies and programs on the ground. Using ethnographic methods, the author asked: How do school leaders in one Arizona district public school and in its surrounding community, which includes a growing number of…

Purpose: This paper has a twofold purpose: (1) to demonstrate, largely with historical evidence, that, contrary to what some have argued, thinking about educational research articulated at the start of the twenty-first century was not really "new wine in new bottles" but, rather, a continuation of the so-called paradigm wars about,…

Purpose: Chile has developed the school improvement networks (SINs) strategy to support the work of school leaders. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the functioning and effect of the SINs strategy as perceived by principals and curriculum coordinators across the country. Design/methodology/approach: An adapted version of the Educational…

Purpose: This article presents a conceptual synthesis of the international literature on inclusive education while expanding upon, and incorporating, the articles in this special issue. The authors present their 3P model (philosophy, policy and praxis) and relate each paper in this special issue to different aspects of their model.…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyse the Swedish National Agency for Education's launch of the nationwide Lgr11 curriculum reform and how local education authorities (LEAs) in one municipality translated and responded to the National Agency's directives. Design/methodology/approach: This paper presents empirical data from a qualitative…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate ethical leadership in the context of the Arab educational system in Israel. It questions the relations of ethical leadership dimensions with decision making as well as background characteristics of the educational leaders. Design/methodology/approach: Arab educational leaders (n=150) from…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to probe the extent to which principals, as boundary spanners, manage with the influence of the local educational authority (LEA) and the superintendent over school matters. Design/Methodology/Approach: The study is based on sequential quantitative?qualitative explanatory mixed research design. It is based on…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to undertake a personal, historical, analytical and interpretive investigation of the evolution of the concept of authentic leadership in educational administration/leadership over a number of decades. Design/methodology/approach: The paper includes the author's reflections on his own journey on the topic as…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to present qualitative evidence on the processes and forces that shape school administrator career paths. Design/methodology/approach: An embedded case study approach is used to understand more than 100 administrator career transitions within the Delaware education system. Semi-structured interview data were…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the way in which low-performing schools and their district define, acquire, use, and diffuse research-based evidence. Design/methodology/approach: The mixed methods case study builds upon the prior research on research evidence and social networks, drawing on social network analyses, survey data and…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper was to conduct a critical analysis of the origins and implementation of problem-based learning in educational administration as a window into the limitations of this approach and more generally administrator preparation. Design/methodology/approach: The author reviewed the published work of the originator from…

Demonstrates the continuing importance of a historical perspective for studies in educational administration and educational decisionmaking. (Author/WM)

Attempts to clear up the meaning of administration'' and philosophy,'' clarify somewhat their conceptual affinities, and explore briefly what the analysis may mean for administration. Contends that administration and philosophy, in that they both have to do with human behavior, have important affiliations. (Author/DN)