The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to explore how executive coaches describe the strategies used with their public-school superintendent clients. The theoretical foundation of Positive Psychology, specifically PERMA+4, framed the questioning and brought context to the executive coach's decisions. The lack of research from the…

Public school superintendents have a unique dependency on the capacity of their local school boards to function competently and lead their school districts effectively. As credentialed experts in all aspects of school leadership, superintendents serve at the pleasure of a board of individuals who gain their authority through political means…

This correlational study analyzed the data from surveys administered to current Illinois superintendents. Two-way MANOVAs were used to identify if there was a statistically significant relationship between the nine factors of Transformational and Transactional leadership styles as measured by the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) and…

This qualitative case study was centered around the experiences that five rural superintendents shared after being coached as part of the Illinois Association of School Administrators School for Advanced Leadership (ISAL) program. The research problem examined the challenges of coaching and development in relationship to transformation. The…

As schools struggle with student achievement outcomes and school designations, the school improvement process has become a central aspect of leadership and planning for school principals as they work to ensure that every child has an opportunity to succeed. Previous researchers have indicated that culture influences everything that occurs in…

To best train and support school leaders in their evolving roles, they require high-quality preparation and in-service pipelines that both address the changing demands on their positions and acknowledge the cascading effects that well-prepared leaders have on both student outcomes and in school culture and retention. Including school leaders in…

In 2010, Illinois passed legislation making significant changes to its principal preparation and licensure policies. With the goal of improving student outcomes and closing achievement gaps, the state updated standards for principal preparation programs with a focus on instructional leadership. Illinois's reforms were ambitious, requiring all…

This paper explores Illinois's shift from a general administrative license, called a "Type 75" license, to a "PK-12 Principal Endorsement." It includes both a history of the reform efforts and a look at how implementation has fared nearly a decade after the legislation was signed into law. It also offers lessons and…

Decades of research find that effective school leadership and access to high-quality early education are two of the most important determinants of educational outcomes. School principals affect both teacher and student performance and play an important role in turning around troubled schools. High-quality education, from prekindergarten (pre-K)…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the efficacy of foreign immersion programs in terms of increasing cross-cultural awareness among university students in business, accounting, human resources and agriculture. The authors extrapolate from their population to the practice of developing business professionals on international…

Strengthening after-school programming for city youngsters has long been an objective of The Wallace Foundation, a national philanthropy based in New York City. In its work over the years, Wallace has found that weak financial management of the nonprofits running many high-quality programs hampers their ability to improve and expand. In 2009,…

Principals who are strong, effective, responsive leaders help to inspire and enhance the abilities of their teachers and other school staff to do excellent work. Such principals also tend to retain great teachers and create opportunities for them to take on new leadership roles. This leads to the following key question: What can state policymakers…

While there is consensus among policymakers and practitioners about the importance of strong leadership in early childhood education, there is scant research on effective models of leadership development for administrators of early childhood programs, particularly those working in the child care sector. This is cause for concern because the…

Due to an aging population of currently practicing superintendents, research predicts a large turnover in public school superintendent positions in this decade. Questions exist regarding whether there are sufficient numbers of potential superintendent candidates in training to fill these positions. Although principals have been recognized as a…

Teachers have the greatest school-based effect on the achievement of any child in their classrooms, but highly effective principals can positively affect the achievement of every student in their schools. The difference between a highly effective principal and an average one is equal to two-to-seven months of extra learning per year for each child…