School leaders play an important role in creating a caring and supportive environment in which teachers can be successful. In this dissertation in practice (DiP), the scholar-practitioner examined an active learning environment that demonstrated how school leadership took strategic measures for improving student participation in a national…

Community college presidents are facing many challenges as they attempt to lead their organizations. Unfortunately, community college presidents are leaving the field in large numbers with over 54% of all community college presidents planning to leave within the next five years (Gagliardi, Espinosa, Turk, & Taylor, 2017). Concurrently, the…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify the extent to which human resources (HR) decision making is influenced by the social context of school systems. More specifically, this study draws upon organizational theory focussed on the microfoundations of organizations as a lens identify key aspects of school HR decision making at the…

Building relationships is the essence of the community college. Higher education administrators learned long ago that building rapport with businesses, state and local government, and constituents is the best way to represent the interests of the community. But that does not make it easy. Board members come and go and the shifting dynamics of…

Purpose: This study examined how labor-management relations between school districts and teacher associations seem to affect teacher contract provisions regarding the role of seniority in teacher assignment and how contract provisions and teacher assignment policies seem to affect beginning teachers' perceptions about their work environments.…

In December 2012, the "U.S. Department of Education Chapter of Blacks In Government (BIG) Report: The Status of the African American Workforce at the U.S. Department of Education" (ED538186) described racial and demographic data by grade levels for Pay Period 11 in 2012 compared to similar data towards the end of the Bush administration.…

Following an unprecedented increase for education aid in the federal economic-stimulus package, President Barack Obama's fiscal 2010 budget request for the U.S. Department of Education is being met with a tepid response from some school advocates. While few complained outright about the overall funding level, some educators are opposed to specific…

In the final sprint to polish Race to the Top applications, hundreds of school districts shunned a shot at a share of $4 billion in grants by refusing to sign on to their states' plans for the federal competition. California officials had secured the signatures of 790 local education agencies (leas) late last week, including most of the state's…

Almost a year after assuming leadership, the administration of Barack Obama has taken on enormous tasks in confronting the recession that has gripped the U.S. economy. Americans have watched tentatively as the president has extended federal powers into handling corporate bailouts, overseeing the rehabilitation of banks and General Motors, laying…

In 2001, President George W. Bush signed the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) in an effort to improve the quality of education for all students and to ensure that students of disadvantaged circumstances were not unnoticed. School administrators in Mississippi are seeking ways to meet the requirements of NCLB and to increase the number of successful…

At this workshop, opinions were expressed on the value of certain attributes of a president, such as: his personal qualities of self-esteem, intelligence, patience, and idealism; his role as an example to school and community; his integrity and human warmth; his interest in young people; an ability to work hard under pressure without loss of…

This study was conducted to ascertain the most important personal characteristics of community college presidents. In spring 1973, an inventory of personal characteristics was sent to the presidents of 112 institutions; 92 (83 percent) of those sampled responded. The survey form asked respondents to provide descriptive background data and to place…

College presidents should not be squandered by reckless exploitation but conserved and developed through judicious selection, frequent evaluation, regenerative opportunities and preservation of professional ethics. (Editor)

Reports a study that explored the extent to which theoretical estimates of attrition rates presented by Cohen and March (in a 1969-70 study) predict recent presidential departures within their national sample. Results show that in 1971-74 there was little change in the attrition pattern among these college presidents. (Editor/JT)