District central offices are increasingly partnering with external organizations, such as professional development providers, to facilitate instructional improvement. Given the highly interdependent nature of partnership work, partners often need to coordinate their work together. We define coordination as how partners align different actions so…

Embarking on an initiative to implement evidence-based reading instruction can be both exhilarating and daunting for school and district leaders. Some may think that adopting a curriculum grounded in the principles of the science of reading will automatically ensure success. Choosing a strong curriculum is a crucial step, but it is important to…

In 1966, the Coleman report assessed conditions in U.S. schools and identified barriers that prevented Black students from accessing high-quality education. Since that time--and despite federal efforts to close gaps in achievement between students who are Black, Indigenous, or people of color (BIPOC) and their White peers--not much has changed.…

This paper presents a case study of a caring school district located in a farmworker community composed largely of Latinx families. I examine how central office leaders create or maintain care supports under crisis conditions. Findings suggest that district-level care was multidimensional and distributed, involving mobilization of community…

District-level central office administrators (COA) and school principals influence the efficacy of reforms aimed at improving outcomes for marginalized students. This qualitative case study examines the experiences of COA and principals from one reform-oriented school district during their participation in a master's degree program in leadership…

As our education systems continue to rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic we urge the next administration to prioritize investing wisely in the future of our nation through federal programs and policies that support the nation's 50 million K-12 public school students. A comprehensive and significant investment in the education of our public school…

School principal demands, compounded by increased accountability and insufficient support, significantly contribute to principal burnout and adversely affect educational leadership and institutional efficacy. This interpretive qualitative case study examined the role of district leadership in mitigating principal burnout within a Texas school…

Purpose: Districts across the country are calling on their principal supervisors to shift from mainly focusing on operations and compliance to dedicating their time to help principals grow as instructional leaders. Learning theory elaborates that such support for principals demands that supervisors take a teaching-and-learning approach -- which…

A number of districts are moving toward a portfolio management model, in which central offices act as "portfolio managers" (PMs) that oversee--but may not actively manage--publicly funded schools. Using principal-agent theory, with its focus on goal alignment and the use of incentives, we explore how PMs operated in ways distinct from…

Federal entitlement policies like Title III and the IDEA help grant multilingual learners (MLs) and students with disabilities (SWDs) access to public schools. Yet they have operated in ways that continue to "other" the very student populations they intend to integrate. Drawing on social network surveys and semi-structured interviews…

Boston Public Schools (BPS) serves approximately 49,000 students across 119 schools and is dedicated to providing equitable, high-quality education for every student, regardless of background or circumstance. While schools create improvement plans, they can struggle to use them as an adaptive tool. Central office leaders often collect these plans…

This case study of one "no-excuses" charter management organization (CMO) uses teacher surveys and interviews with principals, central office staff, and teachers to examine how a realistic job preview is enacted during the hiring process, and how newly hired teachers perceive their fit with the job and the organization before and after…

Currently there is a gap in research literature that displays examples of how central office and building level administrators interact, collaborate, and make decisions concerning dual language immersion programs. This qualitative single case study attempts to answer the following questions concerning this problem of practice: What are the forms…

Data use has become a priority in educational systems throughout the world under the belief that rational instructional decisions can be tailored to individual learner needs. Despite increasing expectations for school principals to be instructional leaders, there is little evidence that they -- or other system or school leaders -- are responsible…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to test the effects of nine district characteristics on student achievement, explored the conditions that mediated the effects of such characteristics and contributed to understandings about the role school-level leaders play in district efforts to improve achievement. Design/methodology/approach: Data for the…