This study examined the skills, knowledge, and attitudes necessary for aspiring school leaders from the perspective of university faculty in educational administration programs and acting school administrators and teacher leaders. Additionally, I sought to understand the congruence and/or dissonance between university faculty in educational…

The purpose of these three parallel mixed method studies was to measure the effectiveness of an urban school district's 2011 Preparing New Principals Program (PNPP). Results supported the premise that preparing principals for school leadership in 2013 must develop them as instructional leaders who can improve teacher performance and student…

Research conducted by Larsen and Hunter (2013, February) identified a clear pattern in secondary school principals' decision-making related to mandated change: more than half of participants' decisions were based on core values and beliefs, requiring value judgments. Analysis of themes revealed that more than half of administrative…

This study investigates the frequency of research-based leadership strategies utilized by newly hired school principals in the workplace. Public school superintendents in Indiana were asked to respond to two open-ended research questions. Through the use of content analysis, their comments were coded for the occurrence of effective leadership…

This descriptive mixed methods study gathered both quantitative and qualitative data on the mentoring experiences of women superintendents in a Southeastern state. The quantitative participants included 39 women superintendents from this state and the qualitative portion of the study was comprised of eight female superintendents purposefully…

This nonexperimental survey research investigated whether enrollment, location, expenditures, percentage of free and reduced lunch and percentage of minority students influenced Georgia's superintendent and board chairperson satisfaction. In addition, this study investigated whether respondents' satisfaction could predict student…

Principals have tremendous influence on the schools they lead (Bamburg & Andrews, 1990; Marzano et al., 2005). Certain leadership behaviors impact school level factors (Cotton, 2003; Hallinger & Heck, 2010; Leithwood, Begley, & Cousins, 1990; Marzano et al., 2005; Orr, 2003). To affect high levels of student achievement, school…

Principals have a clear impact on the transition of teachers into their initial work setting (Allensworth, Ponisciak, Mazzeo, 2009; S. T. Bickmore & D. L. Bickmore, 2010; Scherff, 2008). School administrators' influence on teacher induction is both organizational and relational as they develop structures and practices that support…

Instructional Leadership faculty at the University of South Alabama redesigned their program's curricula between 2004 and 2006 to include new standards for instructional leaders. Seven of eleven public school superintendents in the University's service area signed a Memorandum of Agreement with the College of Education to plan,…

The purpose of this study was to determine the decision-making and problem-solving approaches most frequently used by school superintendents in two mid-western states when confronted with district dilemmas. The research replicated a study conducted by Polka, Litchka, Caizi, Denig and Mete (2011) in five Mid-Atlantic states. The survey used in both…

This study investigated the perceived factors that enabled an Alabama School Assistance Team (ASAT) to be effective in helping improve a low performing school. A case study was conducted with the ASATs and the Local Education Agency (LEA) site they served. Data were collected from interviews, documents and observations. The perceptions explored in…

This instructional module, which is used in a principal certification graduate class entitled School and Community Relations, is fixed within the literature that describes school stakeholders' confusion about the explicit roles of school counselors, especially principals. The authors begin by creating a framework for the lesson activity in which…

The paper describes a mixed methods approach to the process of redesigning a principal preparation program. A qualitative approach was used to gather data from superintendents within the geographic area using a focused group approach, whereas, quantitative data, were gathered through a survey of program graduates with questions aligned to the…

This study attempts to identify and describe Minnesota superintendents' perceptions of barriers to district-level reform as well as compare superintendents' perceptions of district reform related characteristics. This research also strives to identify factors preventing Minnesota's district-level leadership from implementing national reform…

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…