Schools experience a plethora of crises from pandemics, school shootings, weather-related traumas, and mass migrations that require school leaders to create solutions to support students and their families. Researchers have explored school leaders' responses to crises but have yet to explore how principals generally and Black women specifically…

The author tells how he employed leadership skills to help turn around a failing school loaded with at-risk students. Dayton's Bluff Elementary School was one of the worst in St. Paul when Von Sheppard took over as principal in 2001. Changing the staff and attitudes at the largely low-income, minority majority school in a tough neighborhood helped…

This article reports on a national study examining the characteristics of effective school principals which reveals that high student achievement is directly linked to "collective leadership"--the shared influence of educators, parents, stakeholders, and community members. The five-year study, commissioned by the Wallace Foundation and…

To stem the tide of students dropping out, many schools and districts are turning to early warning systems (EWS) that signal whether a student is at risk of not graduating from high school. While some research exists about establishing these systems, there is little information about the actual implementation strategies that are being used across…

A literacy coach describes the various components of her work and how they combine to help teachers provide more effective literacy instruction. Walk-throughs, literacy team meetings, formal coaching, professional learning communities, and regular meetings with the principal enable her to understand what teachers need and then assist teachers in…

This publication comes in answer to many requests for a brief study of forums which engage the interests of young people. It presents a summary of much material which has flowed into the Office of Education as a result of its sponsorship of community wide public forums. It is presented to educators and laymen in the hope that it will give valuable…

Collaborative research effort between the University of Minnesota and the Minnesota Office of Educational Leadership provided ethnographic data on the perceptions of principals at 22 schools participating in an educational transformation/shared-governance process. Findings show that awareness of obstacles to change is a necessary first step toward…

As a result of the National Commission on Excellence in Education report and other recent studies, an increasing number of governors and state legislators have sought to establish new requirements and minimum standards statewide. Addressing the potential threat that these requirements represent to local school boards in their efforts to maintain…