Clan culture is a family-like work environment with strong bonds of loyalty and close relationships. The current study seeks to understand how this organizational culture, prevalent in the Israeli education system, influences instructional leadership implementation. Participants of this qualitative study were 36 Israeli school principals. Data…

Instructional leadership was recognized as a pivotal function of principals who achieve promising school improvement outcomes. This study explored the role identity of instructional leaders, looking for the four components of role identity: ontological and epistemological beliefs, purpose and goals, self-perceptions and self-definitions, and…

Purpose: Previous studies found that principals must be involved in both instructional leadership and organizational management, yet they did not explain how the former supports the latter. To narrow this gap in the available research-based knowledge, the current study explored the contribution of organizational management to instructional…

Despite the high prevalence of student absenteeism and its wide range of negative consequences, the existing research on the role of school principals in combating student absenteeism is scant. The current study sought to understand the considerations of principals regarding the actions they take to prevent student absenteeism. Study participants…

Purpose: Instructional leadership is a major part of the responsibility of principals who achieve promising results in school improvement. This paper aims to explore the inhibiting factors for instituting instructional leadership in elementary schools located in rural areas in Israel. Design/methodology/approach: The participants of this…

Instructional leadership concerns the ongoing deep involvement of school principals in direct efforts to improve learning and achievement for all students. The goal of this study was to explore principals' perceptions regarding the knowledge required for instructional leadership. Study participants were 38 Israeli school principals, representing…

Researchers have found that despite the top-down pressures to assume an instructional leadership role, school principals demonstrate limited direct involvement in such leadership. The current qualitative study aimed to expand inquiry into inhibitors of instructional leadership in Israeli principals. Data analysis uncovered that Israeli principals'…

This qualitative study explores school principals' perceptions and enactments of shared sense-making processes during a generally-outlined pedagogical reform, i.e. "a broad-policy reform allowing educators to exercise their discretion in meeting its pedagogical goals," aiming to inquire what makes such processes critical to schools'…

Whereas school principals' instructional leadership has received research attention, assistant principals' instructional leadership role has been relatively neglected. The current research explored those instructional leadership responsibilities that assistant principals do not perform. Data collection included interviews with a diverse sample of…

Purpose: Perceptual inhibitors to instructional leadership are based on disagreements with the premises of instructional leadership. This study explored how the paradoxical approach, which advocates "both/and" approach to conflicting demands, may moderate the influence of the perceptual inhibitors of instructional leadership.…

The instructional leadership approach expects school leaders to give top priority to ongoing improvement of teaching quality and academic outcomes. Researchers have found that despite the top-down pressures to assume an instructional leadership role, school principals demonstrate limited direct involvement in such leadership. The current…

Purpose: Relying on information processing and attribution theories, which relate to the formation of leadership perceptions and attributes, the current study seeks to examine the relationship between demographic variables and principals' systems thinking (PST) in an integrated model. The present study purpose was threefold: first, the study seeks…

This study aims to explore the frequency and extent of principals' use of systems thinking activities in Israel; to examine whether principals' gender and seniority predict their systems thinking activities; and to determine how systems thinking activities are related to school outcomes. Results indicated that principals' seniority predicted their…

Purpose: Instructional leadership has been identified as a key responsibility of principals who achieve promising results for school improvement. This study investigated how the national context has influenced the adoption of instructional leadership as a defining role responsibility for Israeli principals. Research Methods: Participants in this…

School principals' decisions are made within the complex organizations called schools. This study explored how systems thinking is reflected in principals' perceptions about their decision-making processes. Based on a qualitative analysis of interviews and focus groups, principals' descriptions of their own effective decision-making reflected…