Purpose: Many of the predominant leadership models acknowledge the need to support teachers' work, but these models rarely specify how to support teachers' implementation process. This article studies the relationship between leadership support and teachers' sensemaking processes. It brings together three divergent bodies of…

Purpose: To investigate the problems of practice experienced by novice school principals as they transition into their new occupation, focusing in particular on the first 3 months on the job--a critical transition period according to the literature. Research Methods/Approach: This theory-building, mixed-methods, longitudinal study examines a…

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine if collective student trust functions as a resource for urban elementary students. Methods: Data from 1,646 students nested in 56 elementary schools in an urban school district were used to test the hypothesized effect of collective student trust on school identification, self-regulated…

Research Approach: This cross case study describes the challenges that two principals working in one urban school district addressed while attempting to transform their school cultures to embrace an inclusion model. Analysis of interviews and observations in each school revealed the actions, values, and orientations of the individual leaders and…

Purpose: This article highlights the complexity of accountability issues associated with one charter school from the charter application process, operation, and functioning of the external mechanism and the internal mechanism to hold the charter school accountable, closure of the school, and consequences of the charter school's closure on its…

Purposes: This study investigates the role of formal and informal leaders in the diffusion of external reforms into schools and to teachers' practices. Formal leaders are designated by their roles in the formal organization of the school (e.g., principals, department chairs, and instructional coaches) and informal leaders refer to those who…

Purpose: Given the preponderance of education reform since the No Child Left Behind Act (U.S. Department of Education, 2001), reform efforts have shaped the nature of the work and culture in schools. The emphasis on standardized testing to determine schools' status and student performance, among other factors, has generated stress,…

Purpose: The field of socially just educational leadership focuses on reducing inequities within schools. The purpose of this article is to illustrate how one strand of social learning theory, communities of practice, can serve as a powerful tool for analyzing learning within a school ostensibly pursuing social justice. The author employs a core…

Purpose: Given the increasing role of the principal in the administrative and supervision of special education programs and services, this research examines how elementary principals interpret their experience of leadership decision making as a moral activity in relation to the Ethic of the Profession and Model for Students' Best Interests.…

Purpose: Educational leadership is key to addressing the persistent inequities in low-income urban schools, but most principals struggle to work with parents and communities around those schools to create socially just learning environments. This article describes the conditions and experiences that enabled principals to share leadership with…

Purpose: The purpose is to examine how recent conservative cultural political shifts have affected the meanings of curriculum leadership in schools. The author examines four principals in the wake of the No Child Left Behind Act and other related policies and trends. Design: This is a critical ethnographic study of principals' curriculum…

Purpose: This study explored a theoretical model that links teachers' perceived uncertainty and teachers' sense of collective efficacy with organizational learning mechanisms (OLMs) in elementary schools. OLMs serve as a mediator construct. Research Design: For testing the primary theoretical model, 801 teachers from 61 elementary schools (33…

Purpose: Research finds that the attitudes of principals and teachers create an atmosphere for learning, often referred to as school climate, that influences school effectiveness. Other research shows that atmospheres of trust, shared vision, and openness create positive school climate conditions. Little is known, however, about how these climates…

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to describe the preappointment experiences of early-career headteachers in Tanzania and to discuss implications for postsecondary institutions and ministries of education in East Africa. Research Design: Seven novice headteachers in a suburb of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, completed questionnaires and participated…

Purpose: The primary purpose of this study is to explore how the characteristics of the principal preparation programs of newly hired elementary school principals might influence school achievement through the development of well-qualified teams of teachers by the school. Of primary interest is whether elementary school principals from preparation…