Purpose: This exploratory case study examines how school systems and other local organizations have been working within two major U.S. cities to improve high school graduation rates. Systematically assessing active interorganizational dropout prevention networks may reveal characteristics affecting communities' capacity to support school…

Purpose: At a time when school leadership takes on great import, we must ask how leadership can move beyond a focus on individual- and school-level changes to collective leadership that relies on the strength of relationships between schools and the communities in which they reside to foster and sustain change. Such leadership is termed…

Purpose: This article explores the possibilities for reciprocal dialogue between educational decision makers and Students of Color. Such dialogue--defined as interactions in which participants build on each other's words--may provide the means to develop creative ways to address manifestations of systemic racism in education. The article uses…

Deregulation has formed the primary core of education reform in Taiwan in the past decade. The principal selection system was one of the specific recommendations in the deregulation of education. The method of designation of senior high school principals has changed from being "appointed" to being "selected." The issue as to…

This article presents a case study examining the demise of a high school Mandarin language program in a school district that appeared to offer an exceptionally friendly habitat for its survival. Though members of the school board majority who voted against funding the program offered rational explanations for their decision (e.g., insufficient…

This study compared PISA 2009 student reading literacy scores with principal perceptions across three countries with varying levels of student performance: Korea, Mexico, and the United States. Seventy-five countries participated in PISA 2009, which measured 15-year-old children's reading achievement and principal perceptions. The study…

Purpose: This article examines the impact that a principal's community-leadership has on school-community relations and student outcomes. Comparisons are drawn between leadership behaviors that emphasize school-centered approaches and community-centered approaches. Research Methodology: Ethnographic research methodology was conducted over a 2-year…

Background: In the 40th Annual Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll of the Public's Attitudes Toward the Public Schools, Americans rated student discipline as the second largest problem facing public education. This poses a substantial problem for administrators striving to employ school reform policies, address public demands, and meet the needs of…

Purpose: This study examines the influence of principal leadership in high schools on classroom instruction and student achievement through key organizational factors, including professional capacity, parent-community ties, and the school's learning climate. It identifies paths through which leadership explains differences in achievement and…

Purpose: This article focuses on a specific model of teacher leadership in schools--the studio classroom. In answering the call for more targeted studies of teacher leadership, the study is designed to assist educational leaders in putting in place the organizational and social structures that allow teacher leaders to have the most positive impact…

Purpose: Efforts to compare schools nationally tend to focus on educational outcomes (e.g., test scores), yet such an approach assumes that schools are homogeneous with regard to their overall purpose. In fact, few studies have attempted to systematically compare schools with regard to their primary aims or mission. The present study attempts to…

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine the meaning of teacher leadership from teachers' perspectives. The authors examine teachers' practice of and talk about legitimate sources of power and influence in the context of an urban high school reform. Design: This is an interpretive study of teacher leadership situated in one small high…

This article explores the cultivation of collegial trust as a central feature of the capacity-building work of 11 high school principals, nominated for their expertise with capacity building. This qualitative study examined interview data and school documents collected over 18 months. Principals regarded trust as critical and were motivated to…

Purpose: By examining data from interviews with students in the Upward Bound (UB) Program (a federally sponsored program that provides academic support to students at risk preparing for college entrance), this study seeks to strengthen understanding of the stages of trust in educational organizations that serve urban youth and in so doing provoke…

Background: School leaders must make sense of the messages they receive from multiple, overlapping contexts of their school environments. Equally important, they must shape meaning of school issues and events with and for other school members. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the ways in which school leaders defined and made sense…