Purpose: The role of leadership through senior management teams (SMT) has received increasing attention over the past several decades. Such leadership requires principals to play a key role in promoting SMT effectiveness. Therefore, according to the input-mediator-outcome model (Ilgen et al., 2005), this study's purpose is to investigate the…

Using an information-processing approach, the current innovative study examines a model for the prediction of organizational learning mechanisms (OLMs), linking school principals' cognitive complexity and OLMs through the mediating effect of an innovative climate. The model was examined for three levels of principals' cognitive complexity (high,…

COVID-19 requires educational leaders to collectively make sense of their inclusive practices. This qualitative study explores how COVID-19 crisis shaped Israeli superintendents' and principals' role in fostering school sense-making processes during a reform based on Amendment No. 11 to the Special Education Law. Data were collected with 22 Jewish…

Teams of teachers and administrators have become more and more common as a framework for improving responsiveness to the ever more dynamic educational environment. Although teamwork is often expected to broaden the team's collective knowledge base, consequently improving team effectiveness, research shows that this potential effectiveness is not…

This qualitative study explores school principals' perceptions and enactments of shared sense-making processes during a generally-outlined pedagogical reform, i.e. "a broad-policy reform allowing educators to exercise their discretion in meeting its pedagogical goals," aiming to inquire what makes such processes critical to schools'…

Purpose: It has been suggested that coherency between primary stakeholders involved in an educational reform is a key determinant of its success. The "Meaningful Learning Reform" is defined as an open reform, serving as a bottom-up solution to promote school autonomy. This reform allows school leaders to exercise considerable discretion…

This qualitative study explores how 60 Israeli high school principals vary in their perceptions and enactments of shared sense-making processes while engaging in strategic activities to gain teachers' support during a national reform implementation. Data analysis has yielded three major themes: (a) a common language; (b) a collaborative learning…

Learning communities regarding teaching/learning issues are a core organizational feature in special education schoolwork. This study explored the principal's role in developing and sustaining a professional learning community (PLC) in a public special education secondary school for pupils with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in central Israel. The…

In light of the growing complexity of schoolwork, researchers and practitioners have highlighted the critical importance of transforming schools into learning organizations (Mulford & Silins, 2011). In such organizations, teachers continuously deliberate with one another as to how to solve problems that relate to teaching and learning (Fullan,…

The role of school leaders is particularly complex in today's "era of accountability," which involves high standards for student achievement alongside frequently changing educational systems. Research in the business field has found leader's cognitive complexity to be a predictor of leader and organizational effectiveness whereas the…

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…

School principals may be seen as mediating agents, standing at the school doorstep, between the extra-school and intra-school worlds. The principals' mediating role becomes more crucial during a time of education reform, which involves external demands on the one hand, and teachers' resistance to these demands on the other. This study explores how…

During reforms, principals often experience ambiguity, contradicting demands, and lack of information. As critical change agents and system players, principals interpret reform demands and translate them into school practices through a process of sense-making. The current qualitative research explored 59 elementary school principals' sense-making…

The transition from teaching to assistant principalship is a turning point in a teacher's professional career. This transition not only reflects a change in one's hierarchical standing at the school but also constitutes a stage that affects one's administrative identity and aspirations to further advance in the management arena. Despite the…

Research results have provided evidence of the potential contribution that professional learning communities (PLCs) can make to enhance school outcomes. While numerous organizational and cultural aspects of schools have been recognized as key requirements for PLC success, researchers have noted that a teacher's ability to share knowledge in the…