A leadership academy is a formal professional learning opportunity for current school leaders, focused on augmenting knowledge and skills, increasing specialization, and refreshing leadership practices. States interested in supporting leadership academies through federal or other funding sources can look to current models of leadership academies…

The researchers explored educational leadership program coordinator (PC) roles in developing university-K-12 school district partnerships. Little is known in regards to the PC's role in educational leadership preparation programs, and there is even less evidence of the PC's role in K-12 school district partnership development. This burden appears…

The Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) identified a need for a comprehensive set of best practices in nutrition education for low-income audiences for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) educational projects, including SNAP-Ed. A comprehensive list of best practices would promote consistency and efficacy in program planning,…

In 2011, the Arizona State Legislature adopted a law creating the first education savings account (ESA) in the United States. Following Arizona's lead, several other states, including Florida Tennessee,Mississippi and Nevada, have implemented ESA policies. Typical eligibility requirements include conditions such as a pupil's diagnosed disability,…

There is a pervasive and ongoing perception that leadership preparation is a problem. Important questions remain about the intentions, capacity, and impact of state departments of education engaged in leadership preparation program redesign. In this essay, I take up several issues concerning this state policy work, including whether a one size…

Educational leadership redesign efforts have been numerous in recent years. Scholars have reported descriptions of these redesigns and have included important and relevant program improvements (Brooks, Reames, & Reed, 2010; Browne-Ferrigno, 2011; Buttram & Doolittle, 2015; Mountford & Acker-Hocevar, 2013; Phillips, 2013), unique…

Calls for changing educational leadership preparation have led many state policy makers to initiate program redesign efforts; the governor of Alabama constituted a working group to examine the situation and develop recommendations. This article details the school leadership preparation program redesign process in Alabama from the perspective of…

Increasing criticism of practicing educational leaders has led to additional critiques of the university programs in which they are prepared. In response, many states have mandated statewide university preparation program redesign. The articles in this special issue describe five unique cases of principal preparation program redesign--including…

"Accelerating Opportunity" responds to the nation's growing need for improved pathways from Adult Basic Education (ABE) to credentials of value in the labor market. It builds on promising practices developed in "Breaking Through," an initiative of Jobs for the Future and the National Council for Workforce Education, and…

This paper is a case study of a Master of Library and Information Studies degree program online option that has been unusually successful in retaining and graduating students. Design characteristics of this program that has maintained a retention rate of over 90 percent over five years are described and mapped to the literature on distance…

Principal preparation programs in colleges throughout the country are being initiated and redesigned using diverse models and approaches. Creating change in any organization requires the involvement and support of supervisory personnel in leadership positions. Thus, although supervisory roles in colleges and universities tend to be less direct…

The Auburn University Educational Leadership Team and its K-12 practitioner and community partners collaboratively developed a comprehensive, on-going evaluation plan to assess a newly implemented field-based graduate program. The purpose of the present manuscript was to describe the evaluation guidelines and plans. The leadership team and…

Many states are mandating reforms in university-sponsored principal preparation programs, but faculty and school system personnel often have concerns about the prescriptive nature of state mandates related to these reforms. Auburn University served as one of four pilot principal preparation program redesigns in Alabama, a process that took over…

The American Lung Association's Not On Tobacco (N-O-T) program is federally recognized as an accessible and effective option for teen smoking cessation. The program is the most widely used teen smoking cessation program in schools and communities across the U.S. Over a decade of research demonstrates the program's solid evidence base, with…

Purpose: This study describes the preliminary experiences of 10 states in providing support services to family or informal caregivers of elderly adults and adults with disabilities; it focuses on the newly created National Family Caregiver Support Program, state general funds, Medicaid-waiver programs, and other state-funding streams. Design and…