School leaders work in increasingly complex systems. Alongside leading learning, they daily navigate the needs and expectations of educational departments, teachers, students, parents, society, and themselves. Leadership can therefore be a dynamic vocational calling, but studies show that principals' professional agency, career sustainability, and…

This study developed a grounded theory model describing how principals manage feedback on their leadership. Our research was conducted through interviews with 12 principals and led to the identification of three distinct phases. In Phase I, 'Feedback Collection', principals choose between formal and informal feedback methods, decide the scope of…

This study is focused on exploring ways to disrupt imbalanced power dynamics in educational settings, specifically elementary schools. It includes reflections of the researcher's journey and experiences as a teacher in District of Columbia public and charter schools and how those experiences shaped who she became when she entered school…

Research suggests discrepancies between principals of color and White principals in their motivations and reflections on racism and how it shapes their philosophies, practice, and persistence in leading schools in historically underserved urban communities. Several scholars have discussed the pivotal role of early racial identity experiences in…

School leaders increasingly view inquiry-based professional learning as a means to address diverse aspirations concerning teacher development, school improvement, and regulatory requirements. This qualitative, case study uses interview data to investigate the experiences of school leaders during a one-year cycle of "Practitioner Inquiry:…

This research study focuses on school leadership groups taking part in an action research project (AR project) within schools in a Norwegian municipality. The study aims to show and discuss how action research (AR) adopted in school change can help build collective leadership capacity in school leadership groups. Combined with the theory of…

In 2012 Massachusetts implemented a new educator evaluation system designed to create a "cycle of continuous improvement" that includes self-assessment, goal setting, evidence collecting, and evaluation. This new system was supported by more than twenty years of educational research demonstrating that highly skilled teachers remain one…

Across the United States, school districts are reshaping the role of principal supervisors to include supervision practices intended to enhance the instructional and leadership skills of the principals they supervise. The purpose of this research study is to add to the existing body of research involving the predominant practices that principal…

Purpose: The aim of this case study is to describe what commitment and actions are needed in the Swedish school so that principals -- within the Swedish school policy framework and with the goal of creating an inclusive school culture and practice -- can positively affect schooling for students with disabilities, with a particular focus on…

Many district and school leaders have leveraged instructional leadership or social justice leadership to advance student achievement for minoritized students. While research has examined these approaches separately, we identify a potential gap at the nexus between instructional and social justice leadership. In particular, we find a need for…

Whether or not to stay in a difficult and stressful job is not always a choice for school site leaders, but when it is, it can be an agonizing decision process. In this article, the author examines her own process of leaving a site principal position over the course of two years, specifically describing the reflective pattern of using particular…

Conducting an investigation on the needs and experiences of doing Reflective Practice (RP) by Indonesian EFL teachers, this article exposes three main points: EFL teachers' needs for RP model, their understanding and previous experiences of conducting RP, and a proposed RP model with the integration of Lesson Study (LS) principles. All data were…

This program evaluation delves into the hybridization of implementation science and traditional site planning at ABC Elementary. Over an 18-month period, this evaluation utilizes an array of instruments within the principal's professional duties, including reflective notes, internal documents, and developmental materials. These tools are aimed at…

Following a professional program to ensure qualification for school leadership is a growing trend. However, school leaders have also come to understand and use content from educational programs in widely different ways. There is therefore a need to study how participating school principals experience learning differently within one and the same…

Using a Critical Race framework, researchers conducted semi-structured interviews to explore how educational leaders across Texas have made meaning of the impact of George Floyd on their practices. Findings from this study add to the literature by examining administrators' reflections on race, racism, and their impact on their approaches to…