The institutional environment of U.S. school systems has changed considerably over a quarter century as standards and test-based accountability became central ideas in policy texts and discourses about improving education. We explore how U.S. school systems are managing in this changed environment by focusing on system leaders' sense-making about…

This article focuses on a development project led by the lead author in her primary school. Samantha's story provides insight related to the pedagogical focus of the project but importantly highlights the challenges and triumphs involved in the process of improving and changing practice in the school workplace. Two vital conditions of support for…

This paper reports on the ways in which teaching principals in rural schools in Alberta, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan, Canada enact instructional leadership within the five leadership domains conceptualized by Robinson, Lloyd, and Rowe (2008). Although participants suggested that they were "not where they wanted to be" in their efforts to…

This study identified Masters of School Administration (MSA) students' knowledge and understanding of poverty and homelessness in schools and sought to increase leadership capacity to mitigate issues of homelessness and poverty in schools. This study provided targeted instruction, an opportunity for school leaders to engage in self-assessment and…

Understanding different cultural beliefs and practices has become increasingly important for early childhood educators in the contemporary United States. This paper investigates how preschool teachers and administrators navigate different cultural discourses in classrooms that frequently go unidentified or ignored, and how they support children…

This article advances compelling information about deficits in training for inclusive school leaders, and presents viewpoints along with options intended to help support their efforts to lead others through cultural challenges and conflicts. It asserts that social justice on a whole and related values and norms have increasingly been caught up in…

Following educational reform in Israel, teacher-leaders create and lead professional development communities (PDCs), which are professional learning communities with a focus on in-service professional development and/or improving pedagogical effectiveness. Interviews with 30 teacher-leaders and all four district-level program coordinators revealed…

The challenges and opportunities faced by rural principals often fundamentally differ from those of urban and suburban principals due to geographic and social isolation, low enrollment, and small staff. Recent research, such as the special issue of Peabody Journal of Education (2014) on rural school leadership have explored the unique challenges…

The institutional environment of US school systems has changed considerably over a quarter century as standards and test-based accountability became central ideas in both policy texts and discourses about improving education. We explore how US school systems are managing in this changed environment by focusing on school system leaders'…

This study uses a national sample of middle and high mathematics teachers from the Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS) to predict the usefulness of professional development on mathematics reading instruction. We found that teacher collaboration is significantly related to teachers' perception of useful professional development on mathematics…

Ten years ago, the reform of teacher evaluation was touted as a mechanism to improve teacher effectiveness. In response, virtually every state redesigned its teacher evaluation system. Recently, a growing narrative suggests these reforms failed and should be abandoned. This response may be overly simplistic. We explore the variability of New York…

This work explores how mindful leadership practice can inform school and district leadership specifically as it occurs in professional learning communities (PLC). When school and district leaders create PLC cultures that encourage rich thinking and intentional practice, individual and organizational mindfulness is present. As leaders work to craft…

Bullying behavior is not a new issue, but despite the efforts of many, the problem continues to plague our students and schools, particularly in secondary schools. Secondary school leaders need a school-wide strategic plan for bullying prevention. Students need to be engaged in learning how to resolve conflicts and in understanding how bullying…

The Connecticut Center for School Change has been working for several years to provide timely, effective, research-based coaching to principals, particularly those who are new to their role in relatively low-performing schools and districts. The Center has been studying their efforts with the help of an expert external evaluator, and the Center…

In November 2015, the National Policy Board for Educational Administration--a coalition of nine professional associations--adopted the Professional Standards for Educational Leaders (PSEL), a set of guidelines for the training, certification, hiring, evaluation, and supervision of school principals and superintendents. While it draws heavily from…