The role of the principal in leading schools is vital to the success of the school. Mentors play a critical role in supporting educational leadership candidates during the clinical experience at the graduate level. This qualitative embedded single case design study explores the perceptions of mentors related to support from IHEs, collaboration,…

This study of 77 aspiring leaders of a university-based principal preparation program uses results from a questionnaire to examine the perceived benefits of two types of support, mentoring and coaching, provided throughout the program. Interaction with both mentors and coaches received high ratings of value toward meeting students' needs as future…

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…

Educational leadership faculty from Florida state-accredited educational leadership programs formed the Florida Association of Professors of Educational Leadership (FAPEL) in 1995 to provide a means through which they could effectively communicate and work together on issues of mutual interest, and for twenty-five years members have collaborated…

Mentoring programs for education doctoral (EdD) students are unique due to the scholar-practitioner nature of the degree program. This paper utilizes mentor perceptions of a mentoring program in its second year of implementation to inform the design of the mentoring program in the future. Mentors were interviewed to discuss their experiences. Four…

This pilot study investigated the relationship between principal preparation program (PPP) field experience structure and principal instructional leadership preparedness as measured by state certification exams and state-wide student assessment results. The researchers sought to determine if a statistically significant difference existed in…

The purpose of this paper is to share a model of a principal preparation program that is socially responsible. The program is collaborative with two departments at the Texas A&M University College of Education and Human Development: Educational Administration and Human Resource Development and Educational Psychology (Bilingual Education). The…

Through a thorough review of research related to effective dispositional behaviors of educational leaders and with extensive input from subject matter experts, this research highlights twenty actionable behaviors associated with successful leadership in K-12 educational settings. The leadership dispositional behaviors identified in this study are…

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…

The phase of entering the role of assistant principals and the coping strategies assistant principals use upon entering their role have barely been studied. Most studies that dealt with assistant principals focused mainly on the role of the assistant principals and their readiness to advance to the position of school principal, while the study…

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…

Simulations have long been used for military and medical training. More recently educational simulations have evolved for training teachers and for gaming used as a tool to engage students in learning. Only recently have educational simulations been available to train school leaders who have increased demands on them to lead schools and to improve…

Educational leadership professors prepare aspiring leaders by providing uplifting opportunities to connect theory and practice. This paper proposes a research-based model called leadership-focused coaching, an approach to support graduate students in developing and honing instructional leadership skills and responsibilities (Gray, 2016). This…

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…