Instructional leadership has become the dominant paradigm in principal preparation and professional learning. In parallel, teacher evaluation has risen in prominence. Using interviews from 84 principals in 23 districts and three states, we asked how teacher evaluation influenced principals' reported priorities and conceptions of instructional…

This dissertation delves into the crucial realm of teacher-parent communication, recognizing its pivotal role in establishing a foundation of trust with families. This study employs a qualitative approach to emphasize the bidirectional and continuous nature of effective communication. It adopts a case study methodology, focusing on ten early…

Teacher turnover is a perennial concern that became more salient during the COVID-19 pandemic as teacher-reported intentions to leave teaching escalated. The extent to which these teacher reports may translate into actual turnover remains an open question--especially given the pandemic context. Using unique survey data from teachers in 35…

Beginning in 2009, the United States (US) federal government spearheaded a nationwide teacher evaluation reform effort, encouraging states to change their process of evaluating teachers. School principals, the primary evaluators of teacher performance, act as middle leaders in the sense they must attempt to balance messages from federal, state,…

The global effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and related closures that began in spring of 2020 created an unprecedented challenge for higher education broadly and social work education specifically. This article describes qualitative data collected from a survey of social work educators in the spring of 2020. Social work educators from across the…

Based extensive fieldwork and interviews, this study explains teacher evaluation policy enactment as shaped by three conditions: (1) a principal's backgrounds, role perceptions, knowledge of instruction, and interactions with teachers; (2) teachers' perspectives; and (3) environmental demands. Notably, principals may lack the backgrounds,…

New career principals are tasked with many sensemaking opportunities and often rely on their peers to assist with these sensemaking processes, engaging in a form of newcomer socialization. This study investigates how two first year elementary school principals in the US state of Michigan become socialized to their new roles as school leaders by…

The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to explore how public-school principals, who were identified to be self-aware, described their communication techniques and emotional responses when leading teachers through change initiatives to meet school performance goals in Southwest Michigan. Daniel Goleman's emotional intelligence theory…

The purpose of this study was to examine whether teachers' trust in their principal would positively affect their implementation of skills they learned in professional development. Four questions guided my research: To what extent is teachers' positive engagement in professional development related to teacher trust in their principal? To what…

The retention of Black teachers in the teaching profession remains challenging due to historical events and policies, low salaries, lack of support from administrators, and other school factors. This action research study aimed to investigate, develop, and implement a retention support program for Black teachers employed in their first-fifth year…

In 2009, the United States Department of Education (USDOE) incentivised states to create more rigorous teacher evaluation systems that better differentiated teacher performance as well as provided more information on what makes a high-quality teacher. One result of these revised teacher evaluation systems was principals, in most cases the primary…

Four of five teachers surveyed by "Education Week" in April said their job is more stressful than before the pandemic (Kurtz & Herold, 2020). Principals have been presented with a a host of challenges that no leadership course could have adequately prepared them for. Chief among them: How to effectively support teachers from afar as…

This exploratory multi-case study investigates the types of teacher performance data principals consider and collect when evaluating teachers. Data come from public school principals (N = 10) in the U.S. state of Michigan and includes: interviews (n = 30), observations (n = 20), and artifacts collected in 2016 and 2017. Additionally, specific…

In this study, we developed and validated an instrument that researchers can use to measure the collective effort of principals and teachers who excise their own unique leadership to generate (integrated) school leadership. Based on 644 teachers, we found sound psychometric properties of the scales of the instrument and the instrument as a whole.…

Graduation rates for high school students across the country have long been a focus for educators and policy makers. More specifically, graduating students with disabilities has consistently been a greater challenge for school districts. School leadership is complex and special education presents school leaders with an even greater challenge in an…