For-profit educational management organizations (EMOs) are a growing phenomenon in public education, and they are an integral part of charter school reform in many states. Research suggests that charter schools operated by for-profit entities may take a more entrepreneurial approach when expanding their operations and thus may be more inclined to…

This article reviews educational initiatives of state and federal government that were designed to remedy the effects of racial segregation on Black public school students in the United States after the famous "Brown v. Board of Education" decisions. Several policy and legal initiatives are reviewed, including school desegregation, compensatory…

Using an organizational theory to study how people can actually change routines, this study examined alterations made to two aspects of a high school's attendance procedures over 5 years. The authors drew primarily from interviews and school documents to describe and analyze changes made by administrators, faculty, and staff. Organizing questions…

Since its inception, America's system of public education has faced many challenges. One of its more important challenges has been how to teach children from diverse backgrounds and cultures. As a society that prides itself on a democratic ideology, cultural diversity and schooling are not trivial issues. One of the more significant diversity…

In order to truly desegregate urban schools, there must be a focus on finding, hiring, and supporting black women superintendents. Examines the lack of black women among public school superintendents; strengths that black women superintendents bring to urban school districts; factors contributing to their success; challenges they face; issues in…

Reviews the main issues conveyed by a collection of articles exploring various dimensions of the urban school principalship, highlighting the advantages and value of a knowledge management system for schools to support organizational decision making and describing a training intervention in the form of an academy for aspiring urban principals that…

Investigated teachers', principals', and superintendents' perspectives on factors that influence, increase, and retain urban principals. Teachers cited discordant relationships between the board, administrators, and teachers, and principals cited salaries commensurate with responsibilities as critical factors. Superintendents perceived elementary…

Examines characteristics of urban principals nationally, discussing expectations for principals and analyzing data from a national survey of urban public school principals. Results reveal that over time, principals have become more diversified, have had stronger backgrounds in instructional leadership, and have actively pursued degrees and…

Reviews recent research on urban principalship, investigating characteristics of and changes in the roles of principals in urban, suburban, and rural settings. Results suggest that there are substantial differences between the settings. The urban principalship appears to be more challenging as it relates to entrepreneurial requirements, managing…

Discusses how difficult the job of urban school principal, as currently conceived and structured, has become, making the case that administrator preparation programs of improved scope, quality, and impact, together with a reconsideration of the notion of educational leadership, would have a salutary effect on the viability of the urban school…

Reflects on the dominant idea in this issue that efficiency and productivity criteria are the basis for educational accountability policy, and relates this to leadership of urban schools. Policy makers should be held accountable for knowing the credible research that informs their decisions. (MMU)

Discusses public school governance and management under decentralization and explores whether decentralization can lead to school improvement. It further examines the types of external support and oversight that public schools need under decentralization, such as the functions of school boards, central offices, and teachers unions. Finally, it…

Argues that "no one and everyone" controls Catholic schools, and that empirical investigation is needed to determine who controls any particular Catholic school. However, "the chaos of organization the obscurity of control, the general structural messiness of Catholic education doesn't seem to do much harm to anybody." (Author/JM)

Four research studies that examined the perceptions of school principals regarding the effect of collective bargaining on their work are reviewed and analyzed. Suggestions for additional studies on this topic are made. (EB)

The current bargaining model, by its very structure, nature and operating assumptions, tends to restrict active citizen participation in deciding many educational policy issues. (Author/EB)