Currently principals are involved with a variety of programs offered in schools, such as IDEA, English Language Learners, Title I remedial services, migrant education, and gifted and talented programs. However, there is a growing recognition that gifted students are being poorly served by most public schools. The purpose of this study was to…

Principals are anxious to determine which strategies, programs, and other factors contribute to increasing the achievement of English Language Learners (ELLs) so that all students in their schools can experience success. This study investigates the practices, strategies, knowledge, and expectations of an elementary principal that contribute to…

Investigating University-School Partnerships: A Volume in Professional Development School Research, the fourth book in the PDS Research Series developed by the same editors, includes a collection of organized papers that represent the best and latest examples of practitioner thinking, research, and program design and evaluation in the field at the…

The American education system is failing Latina/o students. Despite their significant representation in the student population, Latina/o students struggle in overcrowded, under-resourced schools and are too often limited to vocational curricula instead of college-bound options. About half of Latina/o students complete their K-12 education, and…

This past June, the Iowa River overflowed its banks and deluged 20 buildings on the University of Iowa's Iowa City campus. As the floodwaters finally receded, regents and administrators on the Iowa campus began dealing with all the ramifications and lessons of the flooding--including the key roles of testing emergency plans, nonstop communication,…

This study addressed the perceptions of isolation among high school principals in Georgia. The data collection process, in which interviews were conducted, provided insight into the lived experiences of 10 principals. One of the findings was that high school principals were relieved, in a sense, to discuss their perceptions of the…

This article focuses on the theory and practice of teamwork in "top management teams" in UK higher education institutions. It is informed by some of the key findings from a recent two-year research project sponsored by the Leadership Foundation for Higher Education that investigated the different ways in which UK higher education…

Purpose--The purpose of this article is to review literature in certain areas and report on related results from a study of successful school principalship in the Australian state of Tasmania. Design/methodology/approach--Surveys on successful school principalship were distributed to a population of 195 government schools (excluding colleges and…

This paper is designed to provide guidance to team chairs in conducting accreditation visits to member institutions of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. It is based on the experiences of a team chair who had conducted 33 accreditation visits, 14 of them as the team chair. It discusses the initial preparation for an…

School leaders have begun to understand that "change is a process." Leaders must facilitate change, not merely disseminate or direct it. This publication presents findings of the Leadership for Change Project (LFC). The LFC studied six sites at different stages of the school-improvement process, including two "developmental" sites in Arkansas and…

Reflective practice in professional education stands in sharp contrast to the assumptions underlying the more commonly used traditional supervisory models. This paper presents findings of a study that examined administrator use of a reflection-on-action process to build a climate of reflection and dialogue. Methodology included a case study of one…

Problem solving is one of the most important skills that new and developing professionals must learn. The process is complex, involving information scanning, problem identification, and feedback processes requiring synthesis, interim assessments, problem error recognition and rectification, and timely and appropriate conclusions. This study used…

This paper provides a framework for understanding the complexity of the chief student affairs officer (CSAO) at higher education institutions, examining existing models and an alternative, "cluster-culture" model. It notes that current literature on the CSAO position is inadequate in its description of the roles, responsibilities, and orientations…

This paper presents findings of a study that explored how staff and parents experienced one school's environment, particularly, the relationship between the principal's caring leadership and the school's environment. The Valeska Hinton Early Childhood Center in Peoria, Illinois, served preprimary and primary grades. Seventy-five percent of the…

This paper describes a survey conducted in Uganda during 1994 to determine the management training needs of primary school headteachers. A questionnaire, listing 155 tasks and duties performed by Ugandan headteachers, was administered to 47 headteachers in 3 districts of Uganda. Participants were asked to indicate the tasks they considered more…