This case study is designed for use in graduate courses in student affairs and higher education administration. This case presents some of the challenges that higher education professionals face concerning policies and laws as they relate to student mental illness and emotional support animals. Requests for emotional support animals are becoming…

The President of prestigious Beacon University is dealing with a nationwide scandal involving its admissions and athletics operations. For years, a network of corrupt admissions consultants, standardized test proctors, and college coaches operated a lucrative underground pipeline into top universities, and it has recently infiltrated Beacon. Under…

Trauma-informed school practices require enactment of trauma-informed principles including prioritizing students' physical and psychological safety, connection, cultural responsiveness, and student empowerment. These principles frequently challenge teachers' preexisting beliefs about rules, consequences, and the intention behind student behaviors.…

With one in 59 children diagnosed with autism, higher education institutions are experiencing increasing enrollments of autistic students. Furthermore, autistic students are disproportionately more likely to identify as gay and lesbian in their sexual orientation and as transgender or genderqueer in their gender identity compared with nondisabled…

School systems collect and maintain increasingly significant amounts of data and information on students, faculty, and staff and have a duty of care to ensure that sensitive information remains secure. Therefore, sitting and/or aspiring school leaders need to develop at least a basic understanding of data privacy and information security…

Culturally responsive (CR) leadership permeates all leadership practices and consists of several domains including: developing critical consciousness, supporting cultural knowledge development, and advocating for social justice within and outside of the school walls. This case focuses on the need to ground CR leadership in critical self-reflection…

This case examines one district's attempts to enhance and rework its approach to dual language bilingual education (DLBE). Upon her hire at "Triton Public Schools," the new coordinator for language services noticed that Spanish-speaking students designated as English Learners (ELs) had inequitable access to the district's only DLBE…

This case study illustrates the perspectives of leaders and teachers regarding professional development and learning transfer as they relate to school improvement. The case study is set in a Midwestern middle school that is representative of many other American schools. It encourages future administrators to participate in meaningful conversations…

Principals play a critical role in creating safe, inclusive, and equitable schools. Unfortunately, many schools maintain a legacy of exclusionary discipline and racial bias. In such contexts, principals can work collaboratively with school personnel and community members to interrogate existing policies, practices, and outcomes to inform…

This case was written for school leaders, specifically for administrators interested in addressing and improving school culture. Often efforts to address toxic culture and organizational change result in resistance, requiring leadership that is capable of influencing and inspiring cultural transformation. However, leaders who embark on these types…

This case positions the reader as the superintendent of Jefferson City Public Schools (pseudonym). Like many urban school districts in the United States, Jefferson City faces a complex milieu of fiscal challenges attributed to inadequate state funding and declining student enrollment. Within this case, the superintendent must address the failing…

This case outlines a dilemma encountered by faculty in a K-12 educational administration graduate program on the east coast. The case offers a detailed illustration of tensions arising when faculty discuss their graduate admissions process, their role as gatekeepers, understandings of merit, and the need for student diversity. Disrupting…

In 2015, the superintendent of the Jackson County School District revised the existing nepotism policy, and, subsequently, his wife was hired to a newly created position of director of innovation at a salary nearly twice the average paid to teachers in the district. Because of community reaction, the Jackson County School Board met in special…

After being involuntarily transferred from a suburban middle school near his home to an urban school facing many challenges, this case describes a series of events that led to a veteran teacher's termination. Upon claiming he was wrongfully terminated, the case narrative ends just prior to the teacher's hearing before the board of education, where…

Nathaniel Stone, the principal of Lakeshore Community High School, was summoned to a meeting in the city. The gathering included more than a dozen influential leaders. The conversation that unfolded was, literally, unreal. Mr. Smith, a government official of sorts, called for the destruction of a social movement that was having a positive effect…