Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine first-year principals' sense-making about two potentially conflicting demands as they take over low-performing urban schools: the demand to exert control over their teachers' practice, and the need to build their teachers' trust, collegiality, and commitment. Design/methodology/approach: This study…

Although research has established links between the principal's instructional leadership and student achievement, there is considerable concern in the literature concerning the capacity of principal preparation programs to prepare instructional leaders. This study interviewed educational leadership faculty as well as expert principals and teacher…

This qualitative study examined the instructional leadership perceptions of four first-year principals. Findings illuminate five themes drawn from the data: definitions of instructional leadership, challenges that first-year principals faced, how these principals addressed these challenges, how the novice principals plan to enact their…