This qualitative case study explores the political and leadership challenges imbedded within the implementation of a district-wide resource reallocation policy. Based on a two-year study of a medium-sized district's efforts to address changing demographics of families in the district and a widening achievement gap, we draw upon concepts from…

Raven Elementary teachers collaboratively adhered to a systematic reading program, administered frequent assessments, and their students' test scores improved over time. Our findings indicate that, though effective for improving certain outcomes, such a tightly designed and narrowly focused system created a limiting learning environment for…

There is evidence that school leaders are using test score data for decisions about everything from the curriculum to what is served for lunch. Research suggests that staffing too is data-driven, with principals using test score data to hire, assign, and develop their teachers. Semi-structured interviews with principals and other school actors in…

This article examines how Southern Arizona principals conceptualize and enact successful leadership in border schools with shifting demographics and high percentages of colonized populations. Beyond global neoliberal and neoconservative pressures for accountability and standardized curricula, Arizona principals must also navigate immigration and…

A problematic trend in the nature of work in educational settings has been the declining emphasis on a professional orientation to work and a growing emphasis on more technocratic approaches. This international trend has led to increased attention on skills and competencies and lessened attention to values, beliefs, motivations, energy, and…

This article describes parents' and educators' perceptions of home-school relationships that benefited children and their families in one school district. Family involvement literature and social network theory, especially Burt's (2001) structural holes, served as the theoretical framework. In semistructured interviews, 39 participants, including…

Over the last half century, international schools have come to represent an increasingly important sector in the changing global education context. International Baccalaureate (IB) schools in particular, and international schools more generally, can be viewed as specific types of educational contexts for leadership practice. In this article we…

This issue of "Leadership and Policy in Schools" outlines research into successful principal leadership from the perspective of four countries--New Zealand, Israel, Cyprus, and the USA (San Antonio). The research followed the methods and protocols established by the International Successful School Principalship Project (ISSPP), which was…

The purpose of this article is to demonstrate how school principals combine instructional and entrepreneurial aspects of leadership in their effort to build capacity for student learning. Four cases of successful school principals in rural primary schools in Cyprus are described as part of the International Successful School Principalship Project…

This case study follows the work of principal Laura Martinez as moving from leading Stevens Elementary for 9 years, and now opening a new P-8th grade academy in the same south Texas urban, inner-city district. The purpose of this case study was to observe successful leadership and the principal's strategies both in her previous and present school,…

The No Child Left Behind Act increases pressure on schools and districts to use standardized state test data. Seeking to learn about the process of turning accountability data into actionable information, this paper presents findings from three case studies of small to medium sized school districts. The study examines the flow of state science…

This case study uses a theory of occupational ecology to understand why test-based accountability has been successful at redirecting principals' work toward high-stakes standards and assessments. The principals and English teachers at two Chicago high schools were interviewed annually over a four-year period. The study finds that test-based…

This case study examines the successful mentoring relationship between an early-career principal and her mentor as they participated in an Entry Year Program for early-career school administrators as a component of an Administrative Leadership Academy (ALA). Using a feminist poststructuralist framework, the findings show that contrary to…

This inquiry, by means of the case study method, explored how principals' conceptions about their role as school leader contribute to a better understanding of their leadership behavior and how this is related to school climate. The results indicated that differences of how principals conceive their leadership role are related, indirectly through…

In addition to cognitive research on school leaders' problem solving, this study focuses on the situated and personal nature of problem framing by combining insights from cognitive research on problem solving and sense-making theory. The study reports the results of a case study of two school leaders solving problems in their daily context by…