After viewing a video about Black teachers' experiences, Vince Matthews, a White male middle school principal, invited Black teachers to a listening session to learn about their school experiences. He was certain that it would be a short, pleasant meeting because he believed he did not have a racist bone in his body. Instead, four teachers shared…

Although distributed leadership and inquiry-based working are relevant topics to primary education, there has been little discussion about how team members perceive these practices as meaningful in their day-to-day work. Following on from prior quantitative studies, the present study conducted a case study in which semi-structured interviews were…

Decisions about hiring are never easy, especially in education. Sharpwood Elementary School has an open teaching position and the principal is charged with hiring the best candidate. The principal knows that a diverse teaching staff benefits all stakeholders in a school, especially students, and he wants to honor that expectation. The staff really…

This case is designed to highlight issues related to data inquiry in education, the role of leaders (specifically building-level administrators) in setting conditions for effective data conversations on teams, and the challenge of developing and deepening data use in a school over time. It was created based on interviews with a real elementary…

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…

This no-nonsense handbook from a working principal helps school leaders bring transformational change to struggling or underperforming schools. Based on the wisdom and experience gained during the author's years as a teacher and principal in Chicago public schools, the book shows you how to become a visionary leader and build a culture of respect…

Today, more than ever, teachers must work effectively and efficiently to meet seemingly contradictory demands placed on them by society. On the one hand, school personnel are tasked with attaining and publicly reporting high levels of student achievement in response to No Child Left Behind. On the other, school personnel must ensure that students…

This case describes initial conflicts experienced by a new superintendent that involve faculty resistance and diminished academic expectations at the high school, compared with the district's other schools. Compounding the situation is the fact that the Board of Education was bitterly divided when reaching their superintendent hiring decision,…

A framework using concepts from systems theory, theories of power, and the garbage can model of decision-making was developed for the purpose of teaching aspiring school administrators to analyze situations using a political lens. The framework is demonstrated in an analysis of the process that led to Ohio's establishing a school facilities…

The evidence is clear. The most effective principals have a clear sense of vision and purpose. They know themselves and their personal ethic. They also recognize the importance of vision to guide their work with teachers and other school personnel. A "clear, strong and collectively held vision" was identified by the North Central Regional…

Collective, not individual, leadership in schools has a greater impact on student achievement; when principals and teachers share leadership responsibilities, student achievement is higher; and schools having high student achievement also display a vision for student achievement and teacher growth. Those are just a few of the insights into school…

This article examines the effects of servant leadership behaviours of primary school principals on teacher job satisfaction. The population of this study is 29 primary schools in Duzce, Turkey. Data were collected from 595 teachers working in primary schools in Duzce province of Turkey. Servant leadership behaviours of principals were determined…

This study probes teachers' attitudes toward parental involvement in schools as a function of four types of school governance as suggested by Bauch and Goldring. Participants of the study included headteachers, chairpersons of parents' committees, and teachers of 11 primary schools in a medium-sized town in Israel. A discriminant analysis found…

The idea of collective decision making in schools has been a popular democratic educational reform model. One of its claims is that participation in school decision making empowers teachers and improves teaching. This research investigates this claim by exploring seven teachers' experiences with a unique democratic school reform in Porto Alegre,…

The traditional roles of teachers and principals have changed and improved organizational teamwork is fostered by all members of the learning community assuming decision making roles. Toward this end, the purpose of this correlational study was to explore the relationship between teachers' perceptions of the leadership behaviors of secondary…