Many school educators struggle to reconcile the onslaught of mandatory and competing, top-down policies. Educators must merge policies into a singular plan that reflects the local stakeholders' goals and values. Given the federal and state accountability movement, schools are forced to build capacity around the use of on-site data and research…

School district business practices are rarely examined for their impact on the school's educational mission. However, institutional purchasing brings school districts into direct contact with corporate partners whose employment practices contradict the school's mission for equity, mobility, and social equality. Too often districts fail to question…

Educational measurement and evaluation experts generally agree that increasing stakeholders' assessment literacy will yield a variety of positive benefits, especially broadening the range of assessment formats teachers use to measure students' mastery of high level, more cognitively complex learning outcomes. But in the context of education…

We reviewed and synthesized 35 peer-reviewed empirical studies published between 2014-2018 that investigated district leaders', principals', and/or teachers' interpretations of and experiences with Race to the Top teacher evaluation systems. We analyzed evidence of how educators' prior experiences, beliefs, values, organizational contexts, and…

The purpose of this study was to investigate New York State school superintendent job satisfaction and the potential contributing factors to their job satisfaction in an era of reduced resources and increased accountability. Sharp, Malone and Walter (2002) created a 49-item survey entitled the Positive Aspects and Motivation Survey and used it in…

This study examined how P-12 superintendents understand and respond to political influences on their decision-making regarding matters of student success. Participants included seven recently retired superintendents from two states. Findings revealed that the major influences on superintendents' decisions were school boards, parents, community…

The researcher seeks to address the needed changes to superintendent evaluation by suggesting an integrated formative evaluation process that balances both the need for accountability and ongoing professional growth and support (Hallinger, Heck, & Murphy, 2014; Duke, 1990). The nuances of the superintendent and school board relationship…

In this study, we investigated the factor structure underlying the TAP System for Teacher and Student Advancement used across the nation for increased teacher-level accountability purposes. We found evidence of poor fit based on the factor structure posited and found large correlations among dimensions, suggesting one-to-two factors with one…

Due to local, state, and national accountability measures, school reform efforts have become critical of many legislative agendas. Local community members are getting off the sidelines and becoming part of the game to support local schools districts to become part of the solution. Across the United States, Collective Impact models, which propose…

Teacher evaluation is a major reform initiative in public education's high accountability policy environment. Principals' effective implementation of this high-stakes reform is challenged by time management, policy coherence, communication with teachers, district support, and staff development imperatives. Effective implementation requires moving…

As part of the "American Reinvestment and Recovery Act of 2009," the U.S. Department of Education sponsored the "Race to the Top" competition to encourage education reforms anchored in improving teacher effectiveness as a driver for improving student-achievement outcomes and closing achievement gaps. The New York State…

This mixed methods study examined the relationship between school districts' principal evaluation practices and their impact on student achievement in mathematics and reading. School achievement data were collected from a sample of 41 campuses representing 27 Texas school districts. Data were also solicited from a convenience sample of campus…

The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the relationship between the length of superintendent tenure, longevity, and continuity relative to student achievement as evidenced by the 2008-2009 Grade 3 New Jersey Assessment of Skills and Knowledge (NJ ASK) in Language Arts. The researcher focused on New Jersey school districts in the…

The authors' purpose for this article is to describe a K-12 public school district's journey to internalize and actualize its mission, strategic planning and vision as one coherent engagement using Lean principles and tools. Lean jointly comprises an organizational philosophy and management toolkit prominent in private, government, and nonprofit…

The primary research question addressed in this paper is: What ISLLC 2008 Standards "functions" are considered to be the most important by a national sample of school superintendents when applied to the process of principal evaluation? A Friedman Test for related samples on the Standards "functions" determined that the five most important…