Educational leadership preparation programs are expected to train graduates who change their practice and produce outcomes for teachers and students. However, programs are challenged to produce evidence of their impact while also evaluating for formative purposes. This paper describes collaboration between an educational leadership program…

This article makes the case for a different approach to the professional development of teachers and school leaders called personal, professional coaching (PPC). Personal, professional coaching is grounded in reflective practices that cultivate self-awareness, emotion management, social awareness, and relationship management. Findings from two…

This study leads the reader on a learning journey with the heroic metaphors derived from heroic myths of today's pop culture to the views shared by aspiring administrators. Viewing the students' leadership vision of self as hero provided insight to guiding students in their personal leadership journey. By naming and describing self as hero, future…

Nation states around the world, including Singapore, are endeavouring to reform their education systems in order to successfully compete in the global economy (Carnoy, 1999). With human capital as Singapore's primary resource, it is unsurprising that the state has placed great emphasis on strengthening the economic-education nexus. This tight…

In response to the complexity and mounting adaptive challenges of teaching, learning and leadership today, this article presents an overview of a new "learning-oriented model of school leadership," which is composed of four pillar practices--teaming, mentoring, collegial inquiry, and providing leadership roles--that support internal…

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…

Within this essay and the author's reflections on the articles in this special issue, the question considered is: where have all the disruptions gone? On a fundamental level, educational leadership should have something to contribute, since it holds in trust the very educational systems that go a long way to producing the human condition, and…

This article examines the rapidly shifting relationship between teachers and the state and efforts to re-model teacher identities within the wider context of public sector modernization and the New Public Management. The construction and development of officially authorized and normative discursive practices relating to leadership and the…

While educational policy-makers bemoan the ways in which educational reforms falter, they both valorize and punish leaders for their key role in change. In this paper, using a national study funded by the English Creative Partnerships programme, we suggest that it may be helpful to understand the limits to change by seeing change leadership as…

This paper presents a case for the importance of an application of Jean-Francois Lyotard's ideas to the analysis of educational leadership. Through exploring Lyotard's concepts of "language games", the "differend" and "performativity", this paper argues that the approach taken through the development of…

This article follows the lead of several researchers who claim there is an urgent need to utilize insights from the arts, aesthetics and the humanities to expand our understanding of leadership. It endeavours to do this by exploring the metaphor of dance. It begins by critiquing current policy metaphors used in the leadership literature that…

The past two decades have been a period of active education reform throughout much of the world, and East Asia is no exception. This paper synthesizes findings from a series of empirical studies of educational reform in Thailand where an ambitious educational reform law was adopted in 1999. The purpose is to identify lessons learned about…

"Moving Your Numbers", a technical assistance and dissemination initiative begun in 2010 by the National Center on Educational Outcomes, described the work of 10 school districts that were using assessment and accountability to increase performance for students with disabilities as part of their overall district reform and improvement…

In this brave new world of education that has so much technology in it, there are many questions educational leaders must consider: (1) How can educational leaders keep up with the changes in technologies with educational applications? (2) How can technologies be used to level the playing field for students with disabilities, English language…

In this article, I provide findings from a multisite case study of three urban high schools. In each of the schools, principals endeavoured to foster the capabilities of their department chairs to enhance school-wide instructional capacity and increase student achievement. Data were gathered from interviews, participant observations and document…