How might a district support significant teacher and program change that results in higher student reading achievement while using its own personnel? To answer this question, we explored five districts in one Midwestern state that tried to do just that with the help of a local university. We used both quantitative and qualitative data, including…

In 2002 the Prime Minister of Norway initiated a central Manifesto against bullying and invited all schools to participate in anti-bullying programs. Two programs were supported by the central authorities. This paper draws on a Norwegian project where six compulsory schools participated in one of those programs. Our focus was on the implementation…

Research on district-supported improvement efforts has identified nine areas as keys to success. But a top-down approach often comes at the cost of curriculum control and site-based management.

Students who engage in physical aggression in school present a serious challenge to maintaining a safe and supportive learning environment. Unlike other forms of student aggression, fighting is explicit, is violent, and demands attention. A fight between students in a classroom, hallway, or the lunchroom brings every other activity to a halt and…

Administrators sometimes let themselves get locked into the "front end" of their buildings. There are phone calls to take, emails to answer, payments to post, and events to plan. It's easy to find the day coming to a close and they haven't even taken time to grab lunch or venture beyond the lobby of the building. In this article, the author…

In this article, the author first outlines the responsibilities of governors as explained by the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF), Audit Commission and the Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted). Governors' work includes not just developing strategy and policy construction, but conflict resolution, too. Brief case studies…

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 put great pressure to improve student achievement upon principals. Because the principals' work is much more complex since NCLB, it demands a more sophisticated set of skills and understandings than ever before. This qualitative case study examined changes in the principal's role and how current accountability…

This study analyzes the relationship between school management strategies and student's academic achievement, while controlling for factors such as the school principals' age, gender, experience, as well as school size and location, Student's Social Economics Status (SES), English as a Second Language learner's population (ESL), Special Education…

This study was conducted to identify the self-perceptions of superintendents regarding their instructional leadership practices. The focus of the research was to explore the linkages that exist between these perceptions and factors such as superintendent characteristics and district demographics. In their role as district instructional leaders,…

Principals must be instructional leaders in their schools in order to adhere to federal, state, and local mandates as well as being able to discern that the programs for students with disabilities are being developed and implemented with fidelity to meet the needs of those students. The transition a school goes through to include students with…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of governance and managerial characteristics of schools. More specifically, the aim is to individuate the factors that are associated to higher schools' performances, as measured through student achievement. Design/methodology/approach: The research is conducted by means of a survey in…

The purpose of this research is to describe how an alternative school leader taught at-risk students and their parents to advocate for students' educational interests and how this affected students' academic and social success. In social justice leadership literature, parents and students are described as passive recipients of a strong social…

A federal policy in the United States has required sweeping changes in K-12 education. With No Child Left Behind legislation, schools are challenged to create conditions that bring each student to federally-set academic proficiency levels. Many schools have become more attentive to data about student performance and how it can inform their…

Improving early literacy is essential to increasing high school graduation rates allowing students to be successful in postsecondary education and ensuring the prosperity of all Americans, according to a report released by the National Governors Association (NGA). "A Governor's Guide to Early Literacy: Getting all Students Reading by Third…

Education Funders Research Initiative (EdFunders), a project of Philanthropy New York, is supported by a group of diverse funding organizations that have pursued an array of education reform strategies. EdFunders have come together to engage New Yorkers and focus leaders on new research into how to best prepare students for college and…