This case study is a combination of real-life events that describe the complexity of dual roles within a small school. The administrators in this case have to determine the consequences in response to a student's misbehavior, who happens to be the godchild of the superintendent and the daughter of a middle school principal. The child's high school…

The expectation that educators will use data in the service of school improvement and planning is a major feature of national and local reform agendas. Prior research has found that the principal plays a critical role in making policymakers' visions for data use a reality at the school and classroom levels. Most prior studies, however, have not…

The purpose of this study was to identify effective leadership practices, processes, and strategies utilized by elementary school principals in low-achieving schools as well as to discuss and identify leadership practices as they emerged in the literature. Qualitative methods in the form of case studies of three elementary school principals…

This case study describes tensions that became apparent between community members and school administrators after a proposal to close a historically African American public high school in a large urban Southwestern city. When members of the city's longstanding African American community responded with outrage, the school district's senior…

Veteran school board member, Richard E. Mayer, takes a humorous but substantive approach to the serious relationship between school administrators and board members. While the overwhelming majority of school board members have good motives, even people who mean well can make bad moves. This book shows how to prevent good intentions from creating…

This qualitative single-site case study examined the philosophy, decisions, and behaviors of a particular male school principal who subscribed to a form of care-based leadership practice. A Pennsylvania high school principal with a distinct leadership philosophy centered on the ethic of care was chosen to participate in this study. The purpose of…

As schools expand secularization and laws limiting religious expression increase, one must not forget the religious spirituality of the individual. Individual religious spirituality is still protected under the United States Constitution. Many researchers feel that this religious spirituality should be nurtured, not discouraged in public schools.…

Elucidates how the oft-cited observation that assessment drives instruction plays out for particular individuals within particular schools. Finds that the relationship between assessment and instruction is complex. Suggests that issues of assessment and instruction are embedded within broader power structures within schools; both are influenced…

Using a case-study approach, a study sought to describe what assessment looked like in four school districts (two schools per district, two classrooms per school). Interviews were conducted with students, parents, teachers, principals, and central office staff to understand assessment from multiple perspectives. Teachers were interviewed prior to…

A study examined the relationship between assessment and decision making in one of five school districts participating in a national study. Data collected in two alternative elementary schools (one literature-based and one informal) in a large urban school district in Ohio included field notes of classroom observations during reading and language…

This document contains three papers on informal learning and human resource development. "Workplace Learning Reviewed: Confronting the Rhetoric with Empirical Research" (Rob F. Poell, Ferd J. Van der Krogt) discusses the considerable discrepancy between theory on workplace learning and actual workplace learning-related developments in…