Background: Educational leadership for social justice and equity is the primary leadership response to inclusive and equitable education. This inquiry builds on multicultural education and educational leadership to explore an alternative approach to mainstream leadership practice. Purpose: To examine ways in which educational leaders of color in…

Purpose: Charter schools are unique public schools in part because this type of school can close if it fails to meet objectives set forth by the chartering body that approved it. Thus far, however, little research has been conducted into the causes of charter school closures. In this article, we examine charter school accountability. Research…

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 article is to examine the assumptions underlying efforts to evaluate principal effectiveness in terms of student test scores, to review extant research on efforts to estimate principal effectiveness, and to discuss the appropriateness of including estimates of principal effectiveness in evaluations of principals.…

Opportunities for K-12 students to choose virtual and blended learning experiences continue to grow. All 50 states including Washington, D.C., now offer some virtual experience in K-12 education. Of these, 40 states have state virtual schools or state-led online learning initiatives. In addition, federal and state support for this type of learning…

Purpose: Suburban school districts have undergone significant demographic shifts over the past several decades. The research literature to date, however, has yet to explore how suburban district leaders are responding to such changes, or examine the factors that shape response. In this article, we apply a "zone of mediation" framework to…

Purpose: This article examines the experiences of urban, public school principals noted for their instructional leadership and highlights a leadership approach grounded in a learning imperative. Framework: This article explores the concept of instructional leadership, defined as attending to instructional matters, as embedded in an urban public…

Purpose: This qualitative study reports on beliefs practicing educators hold about diverse students and families. Specifically, this study examined educator beliefs related to culturally, linguistically, and economically diverse students and families along with participants' knowledge of culture and its application in practice. Research…

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…

Purpose: Effective styles of principal leadership can help address multiple issues in struggling schools, such as low student achievement and high rates of teacher attrition. Although the literature has nominated certain "idealized" leadership styles as being more or less effective, such as transformational, instructional, and shared…

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: School administrators and policy makers live in a complex, changing policy universe in which there are many competing demands and political pressures. Rarely is there much time to think about sensitive issues of long duration that are not part of the immediate demands they face. This article is about such an issue, a question that will…

Background: Since the passage of "Brown v. Board of Education" in 1954, the demographic landscape of American schools has changed dramatically. By 2011, there were 12.4 million Latinos enrolled in prekindergarten to 12th-grade public schools, which constitutes 23.9% of the U.S. student population. A primary challenge that faces schools…

Purpose: In this article, I explore White racial purity desire as an underexamined ideology that might help us understand the compulsion of disciplinary violence against Black boys in U.S. public schools. By pointing to the dearth of research on sexual desire as a site of racial conflict and through revisiting Civil Rights-era fears about…

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…