Research and theory suggests that children and families are best served by a preschool to third grade approach (PreK-3) to early childhood education that is aligned, integrated, and based on developmentally appropriate practice. Because of the recent expansion of publicly funded preschool programs, principals are becoming increasingly responsible…

Effective K-12 leaders remain a central concern for schools and communities of all types. The purpose of this research is to examine critically the literature on issues facing leaders in rural and urban settings and present a synthesis of cross-cutting themes. The authors reviewed the theoretical and empirical literature on K-12 leadership issues…

In response to the needs for kindergarten principals to foster teachers' capacities and commitment, this study examined the relationships between professional learning communities, principal leadership practices, and teacher commitment to kindergartens among 2106 teachers from 153 Hong Kong kindergartens, analyzing by using multilevel structural…

The purpose of this qualitative content analysis was to explore the impact of the instructional coaching model that was conducted over three years during a job-embedded principal preparation residency program. This study revealed how instructional coaching relationships used culturally responsive leadership to improve teaching practices and…

School closures can occur not only during a pandemic, but also during disasters, which can impact students' social and emotional well-being and lead to detrimental behavioral outcomes and trauma-related symptomatology. Such negative impacts can potentially be alleviated by inclusion of effective virtual or blended SEL programming that supports…

This study examined the relationships between leadership practices, professional learning communities, teachers' efficacy beliefs and perceptions of whole-child development in the context of kindergarten education. A sample of 2120 teachers from 153 Hong Kong kindergartens participated in a questionnaire survey. The results showed that principals'…

School leadership plays a critical role in providing appropriate and sustainable curriculum practices. However, there remain significant knowledge gaps in understanding early childhood curriculum leadership in Chinese contexts. In order to examine early childhood curriculum leadership in such contexts, this study analyses and interprets data from…

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine how context shapes leaders' caring approach in ways that influence organizational learning and the cultivation of professional capital. Design/methodology/approach: This exploratory study draws on case study data from two schools. Within each school, the authors draw primarily on semi-structured…

This research was conducted to understand how 30 American school leaders coped with the COVID-19 pandemic. A case study approach was used in the study. The researchers used convenience and snowball sampling to conduct Zoom interviews in May 2020. The research findings revealed that leaders faced numerous difficulties related to having to lead…

In this qualitative case study, we adopted theories of street-level bureaucracy and policy entrepreneurship to examine formation processes of environmental and sustainability education (ESE) policy at school and local government level. We focused on teachers' and urban government ESE officials' motives for initiating ESE programs, the support…

Roaring Falls Unified School District (a pseudonym), an urban New Jersey district near NYC, was challenged by K-8 Multilingual Language Learners (MLLs) who lagged significantly behind general education students in English Language Arts (ELA). The District had roughly 12,000 students, of whom 93.0% were Hispanic, 26.2% were MLLs, and 32.0% were…

This paper presents an account of a cross-sectorial study investigating whether shared understandings of practices might enhance continuity during transitions to school. Applying an ontological lens to cross-sectorial leading practices, the paper sheds light on the contextualised realities of transitions to school as a site specific lived…

This qualitative phenomenological interview study examined the experiences of principals who completed Stanford University d.school's School Retool fellowship program for school leaders, which focused on using the design thinking process for school improvement toward deeper learning. This research project explored the leadership practices and…

Digital Promise's Marketplace Initiative, which has collaborated with district leaders across the country to develop tools and resources that support their edtech evaluation efforts, wanted to understand how tools can support education decision makers use evidence to inform procurement and adoption decisions. In 2018, Digital Promise administered…

Research suggests effective professional learning communities (PLCs) enhance teacher collaboration and student achievement. Within-school variation in PLC processes, however, is underexplored. This study highlights differences in teacher behavior and teams' perceptions of principal leadership in well-functioning teams versus less well-functioning…