The study was applied in the context of scholarly literature guided by the framework of social cognitive theory (SCT) to examine the role of urban elementary school administrators in school programming to support students with exceptionalities. The purpose of this study was to examine the role of an administrator in a teacher's ability to support…

School district central offices regularly engage with external partners in improvement efforts, but these partnerships are not always productive. Indeed, little is known about under what conditions partnerships are likely to lead to organizational learning outcomes. We conducted a longitudinal comparative case study of two departments in one urban…

School principals' education and professional experience shape their approach to school leadership and how successful their students will be. However, it is not clear from existing research which aspects of principal education and professional experience are related to student outcomes and principal retention. This dissertation explores aspects of…

New Leaders is a nonprofit organization with a mission to ensure high academic achievement for all students by developing outstanding school leaders to serve in urban schools. Its premise is that a combination of preparation and improved working conditions for principals, especially greater autonomy, would lead to improved student outcomes. Its…

New Leaders is dedicated to promoting student achievement by developing outstanding school leaders to serve in urban schools. RAND Corporation researchers conducted a formative and summative external evaluation of the New Leaders program, its theory of action, and its implementation from 2006 through 2013. This document presents technical…

In 2006, New Leaders contracted with RAND to conduct an independent evaluation of its principal-preparation program. The analysis included all principals who have been prepared by New Leaders since the inception of the program, comparing outcomes of their students and outcomes of similar students in other, comparable schools in the same districts.…

This investigation assesses the effects of leadership coaching on the knowledge, skills, and dispositions of urban public school administrators in P-12 underperforming schools. The study specifically examines leadership, management, and student achievement growth during the time of coaching. Utilizing a mixed-methods approach, three domains were…

As the largest and fastest growing racial/ethnic group in the country, Latinos' educational success is a national priority. In the Los Angeles Unified School district, the country's largest, high school graduating rates for Latinos hover at near 40%. Examining this institutional and societal tragedy through the school-to-prison pipeline has…

The purpose of the study was to identify superintendent practices and protocols that contribute to the ability of the urban superintendent to establish and sustain a school board focus on student achievement as the highest organizational priority of a school district. The study was conducted utilizing mixed qualitative and quantitative methods. A…

This dissertation responds to the question: How is sexuality organized in elementary schools? I argue that despite the absence of overt discussions on sexuality in elementary schools, sexuality is "organized" through social processes that are recursively linked to ideology. Due to the widely held belief that "children" and…

Recently, the federal government has pressured states to add student growth data as a part of the evaluation system. State legislatures in New York and Colorado have passed legislation to revamp teacher and principal evaluation to include student growth data. Numerous researchers acknowledged the critical impact of school principals on student…

Urban middle schools have demonstrated low academic performance for many consecutive years. These schools "feed" students directly into urban high schools with high numbers academically under-performing. This contributes to the high drop-out rates within many city school systems throughout the state of California. Within five major urban…

This article problematizes conventional school-family partnerships, as geared toward narrow school agendas or mandates for collaboration, and documents efforts to lead more authentic partnerships as part of socially just urban schools. Just as meaningful parent involvement needs to go "beyond the bake sale," so, too, must leadership for…

The purpose of this study was to redress the paucity of research regarding superintendents and their role in implementing parent and community involvement policies. Another aim was to examine which types of parent and community involvement practices, if any, may be related to student achievement. A mixed methods inquiry was applied. The Measure of…

This article presents six potential roles played by principals after school, exploring why each is important and how each can be challenging. Can what is known about effective principal leadership be applied to afterschool program management, leadership, and implementation? Since the role of the principal in school sites is central, while…