Principals know that effective teachers are the greatest school-based contributors to improved student outcomes. What is not always clear is how principals can help teachers adapt their instructional practices to the increasingly diverse learning styles they find in their classrooms. Teacher evaluation practices are typically not seen as a tool…

International partnerships have become an increasingly important trend in African higher education. The creation of partnerships with African universities has been on the rise in the last few years. Different factors (U.S., European, and African initiatives) suggest this trend will continue to increase. This study draws from a survey of a random…

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the efforts implemented in a high-poverty, urban elementary school in order to increase academic achievement. The central research question was: (1) How do teachers and administrators in a high-poverty, urban school describe the strategies they use to achieve academic success? The sub-questions…

Co-teaching and various forms of team teaching are common in today's schools but have rarely been viewed in relationship to supporting novice special education teachers. Personal compatibility is consistently reported as a key factor in the success of co-teaching. Special educators who co-teach often take a backseat role in the general education…

Many teachers have known of (or been members of) departments in which all of the potentially successful chairs--after having proven themselves by running subunits or graduate programs--have decided to devote themselves solely to research or teaching, and to leave department administration to whoever is willing to do it or whoever can be talked…

Purpose: School principals make sense of multiple messages, policies, and contexts within their school environments. The purpose of this paper is to examine specifically how school leaders make sense of hiring and subjective evaluation of on-the-job teacher performance. Design/methodology/approach: This qualitative study drew from 42 interviews…

This article examines the significance of materiality for management and leadership in education using resources provided by actor-network theory (ANT). Espousing the idea that human interactions are mediated by material objects and that these objects participate in the production of practices, ANT affords thinking management and leadership in a…

Much has been written about the disconnect between education research produced in graduate schools of education and the practice of school leaders. In this article, the authors share one story of an external partnership that promotes the development of a principal's capacity for complex problem solving and the early research that suggests this…

In this article, the author considers some issues in the educational research community that relate to ethical conduct. The author will not be concerned with surface issues in research ethics, however important, such as whether one has informed consent, but with deeper ways in which educational research can end up reinforcing unethical conduct.…

Faculty members typically have few opportunities to understand the full scope of trustees' responsibilities and the work they do for institutions. But the author argues that when faculty can appreciate the work of trustees and trustees appreciate the role of faculty, an important framework for bridging worlds can be established. Furthermore,…

The recent resignation and hasty departure of Gene R. Nichol as president of the College of William and Mary has prompted the usual round of speculation about the state of the college presidency. Why do certain circumstances doom well-intentioned people and their presidencies? What determines success and wards off failure? Two intertwined…

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine the degree of importance that DuFour's nine characteristics of highly effective schools have on closing the academic achievement gap on the California High School Exit Exam, as perceived by high school principals. The study also examined the strategies believed to be most important in developing…

To improve educational opportunities within communities, schools, universities, and neighborhood organizations are establishing educational partnerships. Research suggests these partnerships are one of the most promising ways to expand, enhance, and improve educational opportunities within communities. The rationale for this study was the dearth…

Bullying is a serious problem among students. Research linking school climate and trust as to bullying is minimal. This study examined elements of school climate and trust in relation to bullying and protection using Hoy and Smith's (2004) climate study and Smith and Birney's (2005) trust study. Trust was found to be the significant predictor of…

Prior to the mandatory testing and reporting required by the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), school improvement efforts were shown to lack coherence (Newman, Smith, Allensworth, & Bryk, 2001) and often included conflicting programs (Hatch, 2002). Part of the theory of performance-based accountability in general, and NCLB in particular, was…