Education systems in the United States (US) increasingly experience disagreement over how to address cultural and societal injustices. At the heart of these debates includes the role of the rural sociocultural experience -- which in the US is based on racial and spatial isolation, the idea of whiteness as the norm, and more recently economic…

Organizational properties of schools can explain why some schools are successful and others are not. We explored the role of enabling school structures and academic optimism, comprised of teacher trust in clients, collective efficacy, and academic emphasis, in the development of professional learning communities (PLCs). Both of our hypotheses were…

Grow Your Own Programs (GYO) have gained increasing popularity with the impact of shortages of quality teaching candidates in many school districts, particularly in urban areas. To address the lack of quality teaching candidates, school districts and states have responded creatively to recruit the best teachers for their schools. To explore some…

School leaders are to be instructional leaders within a digital environment, just as they are expected to do in the non-digital environment. The purpose of this study was to analyze the factors which high school administrators perceive to influence their knowledge and confidence to lead in a digital school environment. Findings suggest that…

With the changing face of educational leadership, and the changes in programing for preparation programs, the question of the importance of developing specific leadership practices based on the size of districts served by the program arises. By looking at the relationship between leadership practices and the demographics of current leaders in…

In order to better serve our nation's youth, educational leadership preparation programs must be willing to transform current preparation practices. This paper emphasizes the need to develop high quality school leaders to successfully create and sustain necessary changes in schools. The dynamic transformation of a principal preparation program,…

This qualitative study, situated within a larger interdisciplinary effort by a graduate school of education and human development at a large private university on the east coast, documents the perspectives of administrative interns on the significance of their experiences engaged in clinical practice. Semi-structured interview data from 20…

The purposes of this paper were to undertake a comparative analysis of policy shifts in England and the United States of America relating to school type diversification and corporatization, and the implications for educational leader preparation programs. Whilst the school delivery landscape seems to be one of turbulence, over the last four…

In this critical reflective manuscript, the authors share how a University-Based Educational Leadership Program created a professional learning alliance that seeks to create a network across educational leadership preparation and practice. A five-year old initiative, the Educational Leadership Professional Learning Alliance provides a platform for…

The purpose of this study was to examine whether there exists a relationship between selection practices of school districts (i.e., whether the principal was hired from within the district as an internal hire or hired from outside the district as an external hire) and changes in minimal proficiency in school math and reading achievement. More…

This study describes a strategic planning process used for developing an educational leadership program that prepares principals for leading 21st century schools. The plan is based on recommendations received from the External reviewers representing Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, the Texas Education Agency, survey responses received…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of one school's teacher-driven professional development effort to address culturally responsive teaching practices in a large district in a Midwestern state. During the 2011-2012 school year, a team of teachers and principals began a three-year long effort to provide job-embedded professional…

Our qualitative study explores the lived experiences of district stakeholders in university-district leadership preparation programs. Collaborative partnerships between school districts and universities focused on developing quality school leader are a part of recent efforts to provide the field of public education with exemplary leadership. The…

Objective of the Case--There is a large volume of theoretical and "how to" literature on professional learning communities (PLCs), but little documenting the challenges of implementation and even less on the challenges of system-wide implementation of PLCs. This case is about the role of the central office in initiating and supporting…

Instructional Rounds is a continuous improvement strategy that focuses on the technical core of educational systems as well as educators collaborating side-by-side. Concentrating on collective learning, this process only makes sense within an overall strategy of improvement. This case study examined the Instructional Rounds process in a northern…