This case focuses on one parent's request to have his daughter exempted from district-mandated computer tests (called STAR Enterprise tests). These tests are administered several times per year as a formative assessment to gauge student achievement in the areas of reading and math. The parent was concerned that the district was spending too…

Special education policies can create structures of segregation and inequality. School leaders are often tasked with dismantling these structures while meeting expectations related to accountability policies. This case study involves a new principal at an urban school in a district with a long history of segregation reassigned to work at one of…

In 2010, Principal Kirk introduced Small Group Meeting (SGM) at Hillcrest Elementary. SGMs are multiage student groupings who meet with school faculty once a month to work on community building, service-learning projects, and advising. Many teachers liked the SGMs, some felt they needed more time to prepare, and others felt it was a waste of time.…

This case, which addresses supplementing or supplanting special education in a school, is applicable to aspiring and practicing principals who require more experience in special education law and practice. We cover the use of special education personnel to provide intervention activities for students who have not been classified as students with…

This case study is intended for use in an educational leadership class to facilitate conversation on providing effective instructional practices to students on the autism spectrum. In particular, this case study demonstrates how a school district incorporated a research-based model into their system to provide support to teachers of students with…

This case is based on real-life experiences of community school members within Horner School--an inner-city public school. Specifically, the case explores challenges faced by Cathleen, a 1st-year, White, female principal, who was hired by central office to "revamp a charter school" to promote a quality education for all children. The case raises…

This case study discusses some of the issues that "Adelante," a 6-year university-school-community partnership, continues to encounter in addressing college access and parent and community leadership in a community of color. It provides the sociopolitical context as well as a description of the university and community partners that make…

This case involves a struggle for control among differently situated leaders--district- and building-level administrators, teachers, parents and community members, and university partners--seeking to influence the reform agenda of a high-poverty urban elementary school serving Latina/Latino students. The various stakeholders encounter a variety of…

This case study explores how multiple leaders of an elementary school, which unexpectedly received 25 Hmong refugee students, addressed the needs of the students and families by cooperating with a community organization. FAST (Families and Schools Together), an after-school program created to increase parent involvement to help their children…

This case begins with a contextual overview of the educational plight of Latino students in U.S. public schools. This pervasive plight has economic and social implications in the lives of these students. Using a Borderlands Cultural Wealth framework, the case focuses on the educational challenges of Mexican American and immigrant students in one…

This case, which was developed for courses in special education leadership, concerns the overidentification of students and minorities in special education at an elementary school. The case describes the challenges that teachers, administrators, diagnostic staff, and families face when mandated changes occur in rapid response to policy-driven…

The case of Allen Elementary School presents tangled narratives and wicked problems describing the multidimensionality of school community work. Using multiple converging and diverging vignettes, the case points to the distinctiveness of individual experience in schools; the ways institutionalized organizational narratives become cultural…

Maple Leaf School is a large English elementary school in Ontario, Canada. Wanda Miller, the principal, has been at the school for 2 years. Upon arrival, she engaged the teachers in a collaborative exercise to determine their school goal (as required by the province). Character education was selected. The district insisted that the school adopt an…

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 describes the educational experiences of a foster care student named Chad. His foster parents and teacher notice educational deficits and express concern about gaps in the student's cumulative educational record. The principal and special education director must guide all constituents to adhere to special education mandates and at the…