This introductory article presents the research background for this special issue of the "Journal of Cases in Educational Leadership". The article includes an overview of the International Successful School Principalship Project (ISSPP) as well as a description of the subsequent development of a multi-institution North American team. The primary…

Urban schools often experience rapid turnover among teachers and leaders. Yet, research and practice highlight the importance of sustained leadership over time as an integral component of school improvement. Successful leadership requires principals who operate in multiple dimensions at once, moving from individual capacity to group empowerment,…

This case focuses on culturally responsive leadership. Culturally responsive leadership is defined here by the way the principal manifests his or her advocacy for the children he or she serves. In this principal's case, the authors analyze characteristics of culturally responsive leadership in an inner-city elementary school with a majority of…

This case study asks readers to consider what leadership actions might help to sustain success for immigrant students in a small urban high school when the leader leaves. Principal Michael Perez, the founding principal of Romero High School, has been recruited to become the superintendent of a first-ring suburban district with rapidly changing…

The author begins this article with a brief review of the reasons educational leaders and schools need to promote equity and social justice. The article then critiques two approaches to educational leadership as inadequate for preparing educational leaders to foster equity and social justice. The conventional approach to both educational…

This paper documents the results of a mixed method study of superintendents who participated in a survey while attending an annual meeting in 2009. The superintendents (N= 25) were from a variety of states, and they were educational leaders in rural, suburban and urban school districts. While small in number, the results of this study reflect the…

This quantitative study investigated reasons that school principals recommend non-renewal of probationary teachers' contracts. Principal survey results from three regions of the US (Midwest, Rocky Mountains, & Southeast) were analyzed using the Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney U statistical procedures, while significance was tested applying a…

The intent of this study is to determine whether there was a difference between school board members' perceptions of their own behaviors and beliefs related to student achievement in California's high-performing poverty districts as opposed to such perceptions in low-performing poverty districts. Due to the findings of this study, the…

Social media has become common ground for many high school and college students, and its use has the potential to impact learning. With fast response times and immediate availability of ideas and data, students change their perceptions about how education should be experienced. This study explored how high school and college students view the…

This biographical account of Erin Gruwell's work with marginalized youth explores the relevancy of her work for today's educators, especially those responsible for the education of future school leaders. Through both a review of the literature and in-depth interview with Gruwell, this paper shows how Gruwell emerged as a teacher leader…

This commentary explains and expands upon Wenger's concept of communities of practice. Knowledge construction to improve common practice within a community committed to learning is critical. Vertical and horizontal communication, interactions within and between boundaries of organizations are necessary for creating learning organizations. One…

This study brings together the theoretical and empirical practices of traditional informative education, radical transformative education, and sustainable education reform. An analysis of learning disability and constructivist learning are used to elucidate the socio-complexity of historic academic constructs concerning educational leadership for…

This feature article charts the efforts of the California Association of Professors of Educational Administration (CAPEA) to move from primarily a policy-driven organization that lacked a significant number of diverse members and perspectives to a values-driven organization committed to equity and cultural competency. This is a chronicle of the…

The purpose of this effort is to share information about the variety of culminating activities used in the acquisition of the California Preliminary Administrative Services Credential. Knowledge of these varying culminating activities and related practices has not previously been readily available. The culminating activities among…

This program report provides insights on the growing national and state trends in PreK-12 and higher education to deliver fully online programs for learners of all types and from many walks of life. It documents the strategies and program constructs Azusa Pacific University's fully online Educational Leadership faculty engages within their…