Sustainable school leadership is essential to the academic growth of students and professional growth of faculty and staff. Shedding light on what constitutes sustainable leadership from the perspective of teachers will increase our understanding of how specific leadership practices and processes impact those in the learning community who are…

This longitudinal study examined how the approach leaders in two schools took to implementing the Common Core State Standards shaped the way that two first-year teachers constructed meaning related to being a teacher. Instructional leadership constructs and threat rigidity theory were used to analyze qualitative data gathered over a nine-month…

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 Masters of School Administration (MSA) at East Carolina University culminates with a year-long internship that incorporates multiple assessments to evaluate administrative experiences. One of the assessments allows for faculty to determine how each student's experiences align with the North Carolina School Executive Standards (NCSES). Analysis…

Legal research methodology is not included in the cluster of research and design courses offered to undergraduate and graduate students in education by traditional departments of research and foundations, so it becomes the responsibility of education law faculty to instruct students in legal methodology. This narrow corridor of opportunity for…

Principals in school buildings are under immense pressure to improve outcomes for all students. Recent literature suggests this accountability may be at least partly warranted, as there is overwhelming evidence that building principals can positively impact student achievement through their behavior as effective instructional leaders. Much of the…

The authors' purpose in this study was to report on research that examined the meaning of leadership as a public pedagogy of socially just practice. Drawing on practitioners' voices, the authors' focused on what social justice means in the world of schools, what socially just practice is from a practitioner's perspective, and the role that…

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 reports on the qualitative second phase of a mixed method study that examined the relationships among leader preparation practices and leader, school, and student outcomes through the use of two focus groups (N=8, N=7) to investigate the following research questions: (a) What practices are used by leaders to improve student achievement…

This is an Instructional Module for a course entitled Assessment and Instruction for Educational Leaders addresses classroom assessment and the evaluation of instruction. The goal of this course is to help aspiring educational leaders to develop teacher observation and evaluation skills, better understand the construction of teacher generated…

Education leaders and much literature exhort teachers and school leaders to use data more often and more effectively to guide planning and decision making--called, "data driven decision making." This term is ubiquitous in literature and reform discourse, but "on the ground," so to speak, practitioners face significant challenges in analyzing,…

From 2006 to 2008, refugee resettlement agencies brought 4018 refugees to Chicago, Illinois. Using the example of the challenges faced by 14 refugee students from Burundi in adjusting to the U.S. school system, the authors call the attention of schools to the distinction between educating English Language Learners (ELL) and Educating Culturally…

In this manuscript, we examined the literature regarding current disciplinary practices in American schools. Specifically, we discuss in-school suspension, out-of-school suspension, and disciplinary alternative education programs. Moreover, the issue of zero tolerance policies and their relationship with increased use of disciplinary practices is…

A questionnaire was administered to school principals (N = 88). The questionnaire data, along with student achievement data and school practices data, were analyzed using hierarchical multiple regression to investigate the relationships among leadership preparation practices, self rated leader behavior, the school learning environment, and student…

Recent critics of university-based educational leadership preparations programs have alleged that the programs are out of touch with the contemporary practices of PK-12 school leaders. These complaints about preparation programs have resulted in new and innovative ways to prepare leaders, including the federally funded United States Department of…