The purpose of this study is to provide an understanding of how successful secondary schools located along the Texas-Mexico border, particularly those enrolling predominantly Latino students, have supported high achievement among their student population and promoted parental involvement. The roles and perspectives of parents and school community…

The purpose of this study is to describe an alternative means of estimating school effectiveness, referred to as an "absolute year" of schooling and demonstrate its usefulness as a measure of school effectiveness in the middle grades. More specifically, the study investigated (a) whether the absolute schooling effect in math and reading outcomes…

The recent policy focus on the turnaround of persistently low-achieving schools has generated considerable debate about the reforms needed to dramatically and quickly increase school performance. The purpose of this article is not to focus on specific turnaround interventions, but rather on the identification of schools slated to receive these…

This statewide study examined the relationships between principal managerial, instructional, and transformational leadership and student achievement in public high schools. Differences in student achievement were found when schools were grouped according to principal leadership factors. Principal leadership behaviors promoting instructional and…

Introduces the five articles that follow it as being addressed to principals who need to interpret recent reseach into and issues subsumed under school effectiveness. (JW)

This study examines principal monitoring and beginning teachers' experiences through interviews. Findings indicate socializing into an ineffective school will either promulgate ineffective practices or will produce an internal conflict. At schools where principals were "all about the kids," teachers demonstrated loyalty and voiced intentions to…

Analyzes data from recent studies on effective middle school principals. Formal education and professional associations are not related to principal effectiveness. Tenure, positive outlook, and ability to work with people are related to principals' effectiveness. These findings are similar to findings on effective elementary and senior high…

A systematic approach to the selection, training, and support of principals is essential to school improvement. Graduate level preparation alone is insufficient. The Brevard County (Florida) Human Resource Management and Development plan matches school needs to candidates' strengths when selecting new principals. (MLH)

Discusses Joan Lipsitz's 1984 treatise on ideal middle level school characteristics. Many middle schools' creative approaches to programing and instruction (through interdisciplinary team teaching, interest-based activities, thematic schoolwide events, creative problem solving, and hands-on experience) and responsiveness to young adolescents'…

School effectiveness characteristics provide initial clues for institutionalizing educational improvement, but successful implementation depends on systematic attention to the maintenance function--the type that provides systematic support, reinforced involvement, and a game plan. Improvement strategies may be enhanced by considering four key…

Analyzes the kinds of power principals have and their importance in determining the effectiveness of a school. Includes a proposal for the selection of principals and teachers. Good teachers should be involved in selecting principals and principals should be selected from the ranks of a school's teachers. (MD)

If schools and their programs are to prepare youth for tommorrow's world, principals today must be "dreamers of the dreams," advises this educator. He provides a rationale for his imperatives, followed by specific steps that principals should take. Includes three pages of references. (Author/MD)

Reports the results of a study examining the goal-setting process within the School Improvement Model, which evaluates relations between school goals and personal goals and between school goals and inservice interests. (MD)

Personnel references, comprising a major component in the employee screening and selection process, are viewed from three perspectives: types of information contributed, use of such information in decision-making, and legal implications of contributing the information. Advice is provided for reducing the probability of a successful suit. Includes…

The National Association of Secondary School Principals' Comprehensive Assessment of School Environment (CASE) Model is an important first step toward making an information management system available to schools. It can provide principals with a tool analogous to the spreadsheet planning programs used by business executives. Includes four figures…