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…

For decades, school district offices, superintendents and school boards have been cast as "villains" in the drama of school reform and raising student achievement. This article presents research encompassing a different view of district leadership as the possible "hero" in these efforts. Recent studies by Harvard University (2007), Springboard…

Educational leaders are faced with a moral, ethical and practical need for improving schools. Together leaders and teachers are searching for ideas, strategies and ways in which to turn around failing schools. Education, of course, is all about people who want the best for their students. In this article we discuss what teachers want in leaders…

Effective leadership begins with positive relationships and a healthy organizational culture. How well do professors of educational leadership model such leadership ideals within their own universities, departments, and work environments? This article addresses the critical need for professors of educational leadership to look within and determine…

School leaders carry great responsibility when a crisis occurs. Understanding the significance and use of school crisis teams is vitally important and often unknowingly overlooked. This article examines the crucial role of school leaders when a crisis event occurs. Through combining existing research, case vignettes of actual events, and…

This paper presents an international perspective on successful principals. Data from the International Successful School Principals' Project, now in its sixth year and presently in eight nations and over sixty schools, along with a critical review of the international literature on successful principals provide the basis for a discussion of both…

The goal of this comparative study was to explore the online interactions among members of two learning communities. The two cases examined two different cohorts in the same professional preparation program for school principals and administrators: a distance-learning cohort and an onsite university-district partnership cohort in which online…

An on-line education administration course was evaluated using Seven Lessons Learned by Graham, Cagiltay, Lim, Craner, and Duffy (2001 ) as the framework. The framework was found to be useful in revealing areas of strengths and weaknesses in offering virtual education administration courses. The evaluation provided information that clear…