Policy changes to school governance have led to Governing Bodies (GBs) increasingly appointing skilled professionals from the business community. Research into these GBs views governors from business as a threat to lay governors and the stakeholder model. Whilst there has been exploration of the contributions of business governors, the ways in…

Recent federal legislation has created strong incentives for states to adopt principal evaluation systems, many of which include new measures of principal effectiveness such as estimates of student growth and changes in school climate. Yet, there has been little research on principal evaluation systems and no state-by-state analysis of the…

Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) provide the basis for meeting the challenges and expectations in today's educational environment. Effective PLCs provide the framework for school improvement and ultimately impact student academic success. School leadership is fundamental in this process (Bennis, 2009; Buffum, Mattos, & Weber, 2009;…

This three-volume report describes the "SAM (School Administration Manager) process," an approach that about 700 schools around the nation are using to direct more of principals' time and effort to improve teaching and learning in classrooms. Research has shown that a principal's instructional leadership is second only to teaching among…

A serendipitous moment, a passing conversation, led to this study. A university professor expressed concern that his second-grade son was "bored" with his weekly spelling lists, homework, and tests. A colleague of his, a former elementary teacher with 30 years experience and currently teaching field-based methods courses in this child's…

Schoolwide positive behavior support (SWPBS) is a systems-level intervention designed to prevent the occurrence of problem behavior and increase social competence. A growing body of research documents that SWPBS reduces problem behavior and improves academics (e.g., McIntosh, Chard, Boland, & Horner, 2006), yet documentation of the feasibility…

Purpose: The purpose of this article is to describe the aims, rationale and design of a principal preparation programme that draws, partially, on career stage perspectives, and to provide an assessment report of it gleaned from two cohort groups of participants. Design/methodology/approach: The programme was evaluated using two modes of inquiry:…

How leaders learn to become leaders has been an area of much research. When asked what were the key experiences in learning leadership, leaders often speak of the importance of "on-the-job" experiences, yet these experiences are rarely fully detailed in the research literature. The importance of "apprenticeships" and being…

Investigating University-School Partnerships: A Volume in Professional Development School Research, the fourth book in the PDS Research Series developed by the same editors, includes a collection of organized papers that represent the best and latest examples of practitioner thinking, research, and program design and evaluation in the field at the…

Previous research indicates that the principal is second to the teacher in their impact on student learning. However, oftentimes principals enter their position lacking the skills and knowledge of an effective instructional leader. Moreover, districts may lack the internal capacity to support principal's professional development and learning. If…

Although there are a million reasons why some schools do not work, there is one thing that Breakthrough High Schools (BTHS) have in common: a principal who has a focused vision that is based on the needs of his or her school and district and an ability to rally the troops and move the school away from the herd. The principal's ability to carefully…

The experiences of middle school science teachers at two schools in the southeastern US who participated in collaborative, sustained, whole-school professional development and their implementation of standards-based instructional practices are the focus of this study. Participants were involved in their second year of the professional development…

New heads taking up their appointments in English schools in recent years have had supportive programmes to help them, both prior to headship and on taking up the role. This study examines the experience of heads new to their role in primary and secondary schools over the period 2002-2004. All were participants in the National College for School…

The writer of this paper was invited to act as a consultant to Minnesota's Independent School District 196 to generate a plan and program for the inservice education of school principals within the district. The paper presents an analysis of the problem; a discussion of the organizational context and the client system; a description of the methods…

A management plan is outlined for the development of an inservice teacher education program. Suggested roles and responsibilities of key personnel are discussed. Critical decisions and events in the planning process are pointed out, and a management blueprint is included. This revision of an earlier guide also contains a monograph on the generic…