The COVID-19 pandemic and the rapidly changing societal issues that it occasioned have accelerated the dynamic nature of the principalship. Changing demographics, technological advances, teachers' working conditions, social unrest, and in particular the global pandemic are among the factors driving this continuous role transformation. This study…

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine school speech-language pathologists' (SLPs) experiences regarding students' eligibility for services in public schools within the United States. Method: Fifteen school SLPs participated in online focus groups to examine the complex nature of SLPs' participation within decision-making teams and…

In this report, the second in the On Shared Equity Leadership series, we highlight four distinct ways to structure Shared Equity Leadership (SEL) that we observed from our participating institutions. We lay the groundwork for understanding these structures by first describing some of the more common or traditional ways that diversity leadership…

School-based teams are a core method for stakeholder collaboration and coordination. Although school teams are responsible for making numerous decisions, a limited number of measures exist to support the evaluation of these meetings, none of which span the full range of hypothesized meeting quality variables (e.g., meeting structure, use of data).…

This qualitative case study was designed to explore how student services leaders adapted their leadership behaviors and practices in response to moving to the virtual working environment during the COVID-19 pandemic. The case study site was a midsized university in southwestern Ontario. The data collected for the study came from three sources:…

This report presents the findings of a study aimed to address the gap between policy and practice for speech-language pathologists (SLPs) who serve students identified with a speech-language impairment, including other co-existing disabilities. The following research questions were addressed: (1) What factors influence how SLPs make accessibility…

"Teacher-Powered Practices: How teacher teams collaboratively lead and create student-centered schools" focuses on how innovative teachers are radically changing the ways schools are designed and run. The how here are the common practices, structures, and processes teacher-powered teams design and use daily. The guide identifies nine…

In 2015, the United States Department of Education awarded an Enhanced Assessment Initiative grant to the Data Informed Accessibility--Making Optimal Needs-based Decisions (DIAMOND) project to create professional development resources for educators who have to make decisions about accessibility features and accommodations. This study presents…

The purpose of this study was to gather in-depth information about teachers' experiences with accessibility features and accommodations in the classroom and on assessments. Expanded options for accessibility, beyond accommodations, has accompanied the increased implementation of technology-based assessments. Asynchronous online focus groups were…

Many schools around the country are getting positive responses implementing Response to Intervention (RTI) within a Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS) framework (e.g., Abbott, 2011; Ball & Trammell, 2011; Buysee & Peisner-Feinberg, 2009). RTI refers to an instructional model that is based on a student's response to instruction. RTI…

The "Quality Practice Project" (QPP) is the National Association of Charter School Authorizers' (NACSA's) multi-year research initiative to identify what high-performing authorizers do to achieve stellar student and public interest outcomes. Participants and researchers collaboratively investigated the perspectives and practices of…

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) offers states an incredible opportunity to develop or refine a strategic vision for education to chart their own path forward. The new federal law allows education leaders and stakeholders to rethink their own accountability, funding, school improvement and grant-making systems by gathering input from the…

Leadership matters. Principals are the primary drivers of school improvement and the best long-term investment to ensure effective teaching and learning at scale. Principals are central to State efforts to implement new college and career-ready standards, execute teacher evaluation and support systems and turn around low-performing schools. These…

Although there is a strong legislative base and perceived efficacy for multidisciplinary team decision making, limited evidence supports its effectiveness or consistency of implementation in practice. In recent research, we used the Decision Observation, Recording, and Analysis (DORA) tool to document activities and adult behaviors during positive…

Is there a better education model for English learners (ELs) in the United States? The Internationals Network for Public Schools (the Network) now supports 21 schools and six academies in seven states as well as Washington, D.C. They are open only to immigrants who have been living in the United States for less than four years and who score in the…