Purpose: The purpose of this article is to explore the leadership practice of two urban elementary school principals through a distributed leadership framework. Methods: The study employed an ethnographic case study and data were collected through semistructured interviews and observations. A case study for each principal was created, followed by…

This article provides a discussion of how fieldwork can enhance the preparation of school leaders, and how this emphasis on practical, experiential learning can expose students to the wide array of challenges facing public schools. We discuss ways to transform traditional and procedural fieldwork objectives of our students to those that address…

As schools and school districts find their funds being cut or eliminated, they are turning to various organizations for assistance to help in the teaching/learning process. One such organization is the university. Quite often these schools or districts not only lack the funds, but also lack the technical and resource capacities to implement the…

Schools, and especially principals, are challenged constantly to improve learning outcomes for students. We advance five ideas that should help principals address these challenges: (a) student learning "plus," (b) school accomplishments, (c) organizational context and depth of repertoire, (d) social and political context, and (e)…

Educational leaders are faced with a moral, ethical and practical need for improving schools. Together leaders and teachers are searching for ideas, strategies and ways in which to turn around failing schools. Education, of course, is all about people who want the best for their students. In this article we discuss what teachers want in leaders…

Increasingly, the viability of university programs to develop in school leaders the knowledge, skills and dispositions needed to bring about reform are being questioned. This article uses case study methodology for looking at how an increasing emphasis on collaborative inquiry in one university's program influenced a school principal several years…