With the proliferation of information on how to use data to inform instruction for more than two decades, district leaders, principals, and other stakeholders assume teachers know how to use the cycle of inquiry process to improve student achievement. This case study is an examination of the practice of data use in seven schools in one urban…

The purpose of this study was to evaluate a state-wide teen pregnancy dropout prevention program using cost-benefit analysis. Data analyzed from five high schools covering a decade compared three student populations: teens from the general population, teens who were enrolled in the fully online program, and teens who selected out of the full…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the possibility of a relationship between second-order change leadership behaviors of high school administrators and changes in student achievement on the Florida Standards Assessment English Language Arts/Reading component and the Algebra 1 End of Course examination in two large urban school districts.…

Instructional leadership teams (ILTs) advance school improvement by building the capacity of school-based leaders to lead improvement work. The role of central office administrators, and particularly of principal supervisors, supporting the learning and development of ILTs, however, is relatively unknown. This mixed methods study explored the…

After being identified as a school in need of improvement, one struggling inner city high school implemented an evening school alternative program to reduce their suspension, failure, and dropout rates. In its first year, the program graduated 100% of the student participants, all of whom were in danger of dropping out, or being kicked out of high…

This study examines principals' understanding and implementation of social justice (SJ) in the Arab education system in Israel. Qualitative research employed observations and fourteen semi-structured interviews with school principals to clarify their perceptions of SJ at school, activities to promote SJ, and leadership characteristics advancing…

The challenges and opportunities faced by rural principals often fundamentally differ from those of urban and suburban principals due to geographic and social isolation, low enrollment, and small staff. Recent research, such as the special issue of Peabody Journal of Education (2014) on rural school leadership have explored the unique challenges…

The professional literature views school principals as major socializing agents for assistant principals (AP) due to their ability to determine the AP's responsibilities, assess performance, and influence the AP's willingness to advance to higher management roles. The effect of the relationship between the two on the AP's functioning is even…

Federal legislation requires all low-performing schools to create yearly school improvement plans (SIPs), and in many cases, school principals are responsible for conceptualizing and drafting the SIP. However, this year-long approach may not create the necessary focus and sense of urgency low-performing schools need to learn, adapt, and turn…

Using qualitative survey data and focus groups, this statewide study explored the experiences of the North Dakota rural principal. The intent of this study was to develop an understanding of the rural principalship in a state with a predominantly rural population and informed by personal experiences of principals. Using qualitative thematic…

The study traced the assimilation of new administrative software in an Arab school, assisted by collaboration between the school and an Arab academic teacher-training college in Israel. The research used a mixed-method paradigm. A questionnaire consisting of 81 items was administered to 55 of the school's teachers in two stages to elicit their…

Traditional approaches to leadership development frequently draw on Eurocentric, patriarchal discourses located in frameworks aligned to adult learning that may not be culturally or contextually relevant, or fail to pay attention to the needs of young women leading within and beyond their school communities. This research engaged an alternative…

This study evaluated the hypothesis that schools in Connecticut's Alliance Districts (lowest-performing districts) with higher-quality school improvement plans (SIPs) would have higher levels of student achievement. An exploratory research question evaluated whether SIPs predicted achievement of particular subgroups. SIPs were obtained and scored…

This work highlights a heuristic model for professional learning while examining the implementation of a reform initiative. The researchers used longitudinal data collected from surveys to develop and fit a model of professional learning where patterns of interaction among teachers changed the discussion about English learner instruction. Data…

In England, despite making up 60% of the secondary school teaching workforce, women continue to be underrepresented in secondary school headship. In this paper, we focus on the experiences of women working in the Senior Leadership Team (SLT) as a site for headship preparation. This paper draws on survey findings from a study of women's and men's…