Purpose: In order to fill the gap in theoretical and empirical knowledge about the characteristics of principal workload, the purpose of this paper is to explore the components of principal workload as well as its determinants and the coping strategies commonly used by principals to face this personal state. Design/methodology/approach:…

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…

Recent trends indicate a move away from self-contained classrooms and toward content-focused departmentalization in elementary schools. This study takes a snapshot of the existing organizational structures used in elementary schools in one district and explores administrators' beliefs and practices regarding this phenomenon. Our findings suggest…

To adapt to the advances of the era, the economic, technological, social and cultural competition continues growing rapidly between the world countries. The main way to adapt this competition is to improve the quality of human edification, in the other words to change education system. As one of the developing Asian countries in the world, Turkey…

Worldwide, countries strive for effective ways to educate migrant children, and the United States is no exception. In this context, this qualitative study examines how a group of ESL teachers in U.S. elementary schools acted agentively and redesigned their work through "job crafting" (Wrzesniewskum & Dutton, 2001) so as to provide…

School reform on a large scale has largely been unsuccessful. Approaches designed to document and understand the variety of organizational conditions that comprise our school systems are needed so that reforms can be tailored and results scaled. Therefore, this article develops a configurational framework that allows a systematic analysis of many…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between school organizational style and student outcomes. The research questions that guided this study were, "Is there a difference in mathematical performance of fourth graders who receive departmentalized instruction as compared to fourth grade students who receive…

Many school districts have turned attention to school grade configuration as a way to ease student transitions and improve academic performance, however the research base supporting such reforms is limited. Little attention has been given to how and to what degree school attachment influences the relationship between schools' middle level grade…

In the following study, the researcher, an experienced leadership coach and former principal, observed the leadership practices of a first-year principal over the course of one year as student achievement at his school increased dramatically. Employing participant observation, document analysis, interviewing, and administration of a teacher…

Teaching, the core technology of schooling, is an essential consideration in investigations of education systems and school organizations. Taking teaching seriously as an explanatory variable in research on education systems and organizations necessitates moving beyond treating it as a unitary practice, so as to take account of the school subjects…

Few studies identify those factors that might account for the development of social capital. Understanding those factors associated with the existence of a social tie among actors in schools is important because absent social ties, individuals do not have access to social resources. We investigate social tie formation in schools focusing on advice…

Education policies for greater accountability of schools assume that schools are capable of building their capacity for continuous improvement. While policy-makers, scholars, and practitioners acknowledge the importance of building school-wide capacity for continuous improvement, empirical evidence to this effect remains thin. In this study, we…

Even though school administrators and their leadership practices are rarely explored within science education research, our recent efforts to understand organizational influences on achievement disparities induced an elevated regard for elementary school principals. In this paper, we report on policy buffering by principals at schools whose…

Where to locate the 7th and 8th grade is a perennial question. While there are many variations, three approaches are most often used---include them in a 7-12 secondary campus, maintain a separate middle grades campus, or include them as part of a K-8 program. Research says that grade configuration is inconclusive at best and there is no research…

Although rearranging school organizational features is a popular school reform, little research exists to inform policymakers about how grade spans affect achievement. This article examines how grade spans and the school transitions that students make between fourth and eighth grade shape student performance in eighth grade. The authors estimate…