Preparing good leaders depends not only on providing good initial professional learning, but also on creating a strong support structure during the early years of practice. However, what good mentoring looks and sounds like varies widely in practice. Many mentoring programs for education leaders consist of buddy-like relationships that provide…

Up to 50 percent of principals exit their role in fewer than five years, depending on geographic region. Thus, understanding undesired turnover may provide school systems leverage points in preventing undesired attrition by maximizing limited resources. Utilizing a grounded theory methodology, this study examines the decision-making process that…

Background: Systems thinking is a holistic approach that puts the study of wholes before that of parts. It does not try to break systems down into parts in order to understand them; instead, it focuses attention on how the parts act together in networks of interactions. Purpose: This study explored the development of holistic school leadership--an…

The purpose of this study was to understand the instructional leadership role development of new principals. The overarching research question that guided this study was: How do new principals transition into an instructional leadership role? Using a basic qualitative approach, 12 new principals participated in the study. Data collection included…

First-year principals encounter multiple messages about what it means to be instructional leaders; this may matter for how they enact instructional leadership. This cross-case qualitative study uses a qualitative approach of social network analysis to uncover the mechanisms through which first-year principals encountered particular beliefs about…

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…

Principals shape the academic setting of schools. Yet, there is limited evidence on whether principal professional development improves schooling outcomes. Beginning in 2008-09, Pennsylvania's Inspired Leadership (PIL) induction program required that newly hired principals complete targeted in-service professional development tied to newly…

Purpose: The main purpose of this study is to explore primary headteachers' perceptions of their professional and organisational socialisation within their novice years as school leaders. There is a lack of studies exploring primary headteachers' socialisation within the Malaysian primary education context. Methodology: A total of nine primary…

This descriptive qualitative study investigated the experiences of novice assistant principals regarding how participation in a Grow-Your-Own leadership program influenced their self-efficacy to fulfill their administrative duties in one Southwestern U.S. state. Social learning theory, situated learning theory, and self-efficacy theory provided…

Mentoring is one important construct to support novice principals in this time of change. This study investigates the impact of a district-developed handbook to support co-constructed mentoring practices and cultivate a learning culture within a suburban school district. The handbook offered a framework of interactive systems and tools for…

Research on principal leadership is extensive; however, studies suggest such research cannot be generalized across all contexts, as educational leaders' needs are a result of the specific context in which they work. Since there is limited research on principal leadership in the Dominican Republic (DR), the country can benefit from current and…

This case focuses on one novice school principal's experience with an elopement incident. School elopement sets the background for this case, and in this situation, the principal sees the need to take action to increase school safety and special needs students' teacher support. The authors enumerate leadership practices and organizational…

This was a study conducted with four first-year educational leaders who were interviewed to determine whether they experienced feelings of isolation and disengagement from individuals who had been peers in the work-place. Each respondent was promoted from within their educational organization to a leadership position and was interviewed to…

This qualitative study was undertaken as part of the ISLDN global study of social justice leaders, focused on the leadership stories of the respondent. This study is framed in authentic leadership and examined the leader's self-awareness, authentic behaviors, and relationships, which both communicated and solidified the authenticity of the leader.…

School districts across the nation are grappling with the issue of high principal turnover coupled with a decrease in number of experienced applicants to fill vacancies (Guterman, 2007; Hall, 2008; Johnson, 2005; United States Department of Education, 2010; Villani, 2008). In addition, college preparation programs are being called into question as…