This study reflects the voice of school leaders (principals) in a Norwegian school development project focusing on assessment for learning (AfL). The central role of the principal in school improvement is well documented, however, less is written about how the principals themselves see their roles. The voices presented belong to two experienced…

This article reports a case study that investigated the ways in which heads of subject departments managed the development and application of new assessment strategies in one secondary school in Hong Kong. The data of the study were gathered through participant observation and interviews with 12 teachers who participated in an assessment for…

The purpose of this qualitative inquiry was to examine the role of the superintendent in assessing the readiness for change in the implementation and support for Professional Learning Communities. The study findings revealed four major themes. They were: (1) the changing dynamics of leadership; (2) a sense of collective efficacy and responsibility…

This paper discusses the changing concepts of leadership in early childhood education (ECE) in England and Hong Kong during a period of significant education reform. We seek to illustrate the interplay between the impact of the policy agenda and the emerging quality leadership perspectives found in the theoretical literature, by first considering…

This paper presents a reform initiative, the Supporting Montreal Schools Program (SMSP), created by the government of Quebec to assist 184 low socio-economic-status schools in Montreal implement seven reform strategies prescribed by the government. On a regular basis, the professional team of the SMSP engages in reflection and research with…

Around the world there is a preoccupation with improving the performance of schools and school systems. Comparisons made between countries through PISA and PERLs have led to a preoccupation, and in some cases, an obsession, with securing a high position in the international league tables. The minds of policy-makers and politicians alike are…

Leadership is currently viewed as a guarantee for educational quality and reforms, as a crucial component for schools' capacity building and as a major contributor to the transformation of practices. Although an array of leadership studies report on the need for leadership by demonstrating what leaders must do or how leadership practices should be…

Through the literature review, the study aims to explore the relationship between the emotional intelligence (EI) of principals and the turnarounds of low-performing schools and generate some hypotheses regarding this issue. Rigorous, empirical studies published in the last 15 years are selected and reviewed around three relevant topics: the…

Many studies show that school leadership is a key factor in supporting change within schools, but few have specifically considered the impact leadership has on gains in students' reading outcomes. This article focuses on factors that typify leadership in schools where such gains have been identified and explores the nature and quality of…

Leadership capacity-building is a key factor in sustainable school improvement, and the leadership contribution of students is an integral part of an authentic distributed conception of school leadership. Thus it is important to understand the factors which influence high school students' motivations to engage in formal and informal leadership in…

This case study examines the narrative form of communication as used by educational leaders and their constituencies for quality school improvement. The school portfolio was used as an alternative accreditation process in one public school of over 800 students. This narrative approach used observation, interviews, and document analysis to validate…

This paper describes and theorizes principals' support for teacher professional development ("PD") during a time of strong provincial pressure for an increased focus upon literacy, numeracy, and improvements in standardized test scores in elementary schools in Ontario, Canada. The paper draws upon semi-structured interviews with 12 principals in…

As a policy-making elite, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), according to this author, is susceptible to one of the fatal weaknesses of all elites: an inclination to be inwardly self-referential in their views of the world and to seek confirmation of the positions to which they are already predisposed or committed.…

Two university researchers who have considerable practitioner and research experience in urban schools conducted an interventionist action research project in collaboration with the professional staff of a diverse urban elementary school. The goal was to collaborate with the administration, faculty and staff in an average urban elementary school…

This article presents the findings of research into quality management in Dutch elementary schools using theories of school accountability and school improvement as fundamentals. The study is based on data gathered from almost 1000 school leaders. It attempts to determine whether different types of quality management exist in primary schools.…