This qualitative case study explored instructional decisions exemplary primary teachers (kindergarten-third grade) made in order to engage students in mathematics. The phenomenon of teachers altering, supplementing, or utilizing district-given materials to support student engagement and understanding was studied. Specifically, this involved…

The study sought to qualitatively capture and examine the leadership experiences of six superintendents who led their school districts during the COVID-19 pandemic through the lens of the Boin et al., (2017) Five Critical Tasks of Strategic Crisis Leadership framework centered on sensemaking, decision-making and coordinating, meaning making,…

The need for a comprehensive education data governance -- the regulation of who collects what data, how it is used and why -- continues to grow. Technologically, data can be collected by third parties, rendering schools unable to control their use. Legal frameworks partially achieve data governance as businesses continue to exploit existing…

The purpose of this qualitative, multiple case study was to explore the utilization of music to teach phonics in kindergarten at four elementary schools in northwest Ohio. The theory guiding this study was the schema theory as it explains how individuals are able to recognize patterns previously learned, organize those patterns, and then use those…

The purpose of this study was to examine whether district funding influences the leadership work of school principals. This study explored the role of the elementary principal in four school districts. Two districts were located in communities with an affluent population and the schools had an abundance of fiscal resources; the other two districts…

Purpose: For culturally responsive practices (CRPs) in schools to be successful, educational leaders must look outside of the school and consider school, district, and system-level policies and practices that influence the sustainability of culturally responsive classrooms. The purpose of our study was to conduct a comparative case study and…

Critical Race Theory is the theoretical framework used to structure the discussion of data and results. The purpose of this descriptive multi-embedded case study was to investigate the perspective of effective elementary school principals in a large, diverse suburban school district in the Metro area who narrowed the race-based academic…

This qualitative multiple case study is a follow-up to a study completed in 2007 that examined characteristics of rural school districts experiencing a high rate of superintendent turnover. The original study design incorporated extensive interviews with participants across four rural school districts; triangulating interview results with…

In this longitudinal, qualitative case study, critical pedagogical and sociocultural perspectives were employed to analyze the language and literacy strengths, challenges, inequities, and gentrification issues that characterized the first three years of a two-way, 50-50 Spanish-English dual-language (DL) program's implementation, and how the DL…

Kindergarten education is becoming a priority throughout the USA as research shows its importance on later in life outcomes. The State of Washington instated full-day kindergarten for all public-school students beginning in 2016-2017. It "…is part of the state's constitutionally protected definition of 'Basic Education'" (Reykdal, n.d.,…

Purpose: This paper is one of seven in this volume that aims to elaborate different approaches to quality improvement in education. It delineates a methodology called Lean for Education. Design/methodology/approach: The paper presents the origins, theoretical foundations, core concepts and a case study demonstrating an application in US education,…

Effective school leaders focus on identifying the changes needed to improve student learning. However, school improvement is often reduced to a checklist of compliance activities, and, consequently, achievement gaps continue to stay the status quo, or even widen. This paper reports on a qualitative case study analyzing how professional learning…

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…

Bogotch (2002) proposed that educational leadership cannot be separated from social justice, and this is a sentiment that is taken to heart at an urban Title-1 school district in Houston, Texas. To intentionally address the need for such alignment between mission and practice, the district implemented a recruitment and talent development…

This descriptive qualitative case study examined how rural superintendents implement the eight turnaround principles to foster and sustain improvement in the school district organization. The eight turnaround principles are as follows: school leadership, school climate and culture, effective instruction, curriculum, assessment and intervention…