This article provides a tabular analysis of court rulings where public school principals challenged the adverse employment actions of involuntary transfer, suspension, demotion, nonrenewal, constructive termination, and termination during the period 1998-2012. The primary findings were that (a) the judicial outcomes were markedly in favor of the…

The recent policy focus on the turnaround of persistently low-achieving schools has generated considerable debate about the reforms needed to dramatically and quickly increase school performance. The purpose of this article is not to focus on specific turnaround interventions, but rather on the identification of schools slated to receive these…

United States schools are not providing students with the mathematical background necessary to compete on an international level and become successful adults. Recently, educators and researchers have focused on learning what factors might attribute to this lack of mathematical knowledge. However, few studies have searched for answers from the…

This article addresses important legal issues surrounding voluntary school integration plans and explores policy and practice implications of the "Seattle" and "Louisville" cases. School policy guidance for how school districts should create or change their voluntary integration policies is discussed. Further discussion reveals what some school…

School change efforts to develop schools as learning communities result in schools that are constantly learning and thus changing. This collective case study of four schools involved in a 4-year reform effort begins to examine the ongoing sustainability of a learning community. The study draws insights about the sustainability of learning…

This article is based on a qualitative study that explored whether race affects the nature of adult relationships in schools and, if so, how this affects professional development efforts focused on closing the achievement gap. Findings demonstrate that race does affect the adult relationships in schools, although this impact is different for…

Online polling was examined as a procedure for decision makers to find out how students perceive conditions of learning at their school. Students in Grades 7-12 from eight schools completed online polls about learning on the Internet, time management, and tutoring. Principals favorably evaluated polling as a method for gathering information and…

The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) is structured to encourage partnerships between K-12 schools and a wide variety of community tutoring and educational service organizations. Tutoring is a form of education with a long history and can be an important component in improving student achievement. There is a considerable body of literature on…

Research literature highlights the principal as central to teacher evaluation. However, principal reports do not provide adequate information to document teacher quality. Good teacher evaluation adds multiple data sources such as client surveys, peer reviews of materials, and pupil achievement data, which vary by teacher and setting. Principals…

Surveys 86 teachers from five Florida counties to determine their perceptions of their principals' effectiveness as evaluators. Finds four areas teachers consider essential for effective teacher evaluation: Principal initiated interaction with teachers, consistent evaluation process, principal commitment to effective evaluations, and principal…

Argues that because there is no overall teacher shortage, but rather specific subject area shortages and adverse selection and allocation problems, the No Child Left Behind Act's requirements that all teachers be "highly qualified" is important and attainable. To improve teacher quality, teacher certification should be modernized and principals…

A field study conducted by 8 students and a faculty supervisor of a principal preparation program determined that individual and team reflection resulted in shared learning from team training and ongoing team activities. An industrial concept known as value-chain teams has implications for monitoring student progress from kindergarten through…

Investigates the possibility that the organizational characteristics and conditions of schools are driving teacher turnover. Analysis of data from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) indicates that the amount of turnover accounted for by retirement is relatively minor when compared with that associated with other factors such as…

Reports on a collaborative project on school violence and safety conducted for a partnership that serves 13 school districts in two New York counties. Focus groups collected information on the schools from school stakeholders. Recommendations for more effective channels of communication with the entire educational community are included. Provides…

Differences among states' average SAT scores are almost entirely attributable to differences in percentage of test takers, parent education and income of test takers, and the high school rank and GPA of the test takers rather than to the quality of the states' education systems. Recommends changes in interpreting and reporting SAT scores.…