This report concerns actions taken by the administration of Collin College to terminate the services of Professors Lora Burnett, Suzanne Jones, and Michael Phillips. The investigating committee found that the administration's actions involved "egregious violations" of all three faculty members' academic freedom to speak as citizens and…

The purpose of this research study was to explore the process, implementation, and impact of a BI strategic system at Lone Star College-Tomball Campus (LSC-T), Texas, to determine the effectiveness of BI on community college decision-making. This research study (a) explored the process of implementing a new BI strategic system model at LSC-T, (b)…

Increasingly, states and districts are combining student growth measures with rigorous, rubric-aligned teacher observations in constructing teacher evaluation measures. Although the student growth or value-added components of these measures have received much research and policy attention, the results of this study suggest that the data generated…

As a requirement for a federal neighborhood revitalization grant, the authors trained resident interviewers and coordinated the conduct of more than 1000 door-to-door interviews of a stratified random sample. The targeted area was a multiethnic, lower income neighborhood that continues to experience the effects of past segregation. Monitoring and…

Limited research exists on the slut labeling process, a key means of enforcing rules around appropriate female sexuality. This study explores that process through qualitative interviews with 44 adolescent girls in Travis County, Texas. Labeling girls as sluts or hos was pervasive and was based on a number of factors beyond sexual behavior,…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine how Robbins ES has sustained high academic performance over almost 20 years despite several changes in principals. Design/methodology/approach: The paper analyzed longitudinal data based on: state-level academic and demographic data; two earlier studies of the school; and recent interviews with…

Educational leadership coaching is a job-embedded, school-based form of professional development and an approach to transformational conversations that has the potential to change school cultures and improve student achievement (Stevenson, 2009). In this type of professional development, conversations and reflective questions guide educational…

Hiring alternative certified teachers has been a plausible solution to meeting the growing needs for highly qualified teachers in the classroom. Not only is there a need for teachers, there is also a need for strong leadership in education. Newly hired teachers must not only be prepared to tackle the everyday issues and responsibilities of the…

Today's principals work in a setting that has become increasingly complex and characterized by a great deal of uncertainty and variety. Reflective practice is a process that principals can utilize to develop expertise in effectively operating under these conditions (Short & Reinhart, 1993). The purpose of the study was to explore the extent…

As the Professional Learning Community (PLC) process becomes embedded within schools, the level of district support has a direct impact on whether schools have the ability to re-culture and sustain highly effective collaborative practices. The purpose of this article is to share a professional learning community conceptual framework from the US,…

This qualitative phenomenological study employed narrative inquiry to describe the decision-making processes that Texas school districts followed in enacting firearms policies that allow school employees to carry concealed weapons on district property. Exploration of the lived experiences of eight Texas superintendents in such schools contributed…

This qualitative, action-research study used themes from appreciative interviews of Texas elementary teachers to recommend a framework for a school-wide assessment model for a Texas elementary school. The specific problem was that the Texas accountability system used a yearly measurement that failed to track progress over time and failed to…

Historically universities have been academically focused institutions; however, in recent years they have begun to resemble a corporate business. The purpose of this dissertation was to determine the faculty senate's perceptions of the budget decision-making process at a public institution of higher education in Texas. The institution under study…

Most states require that schools engage in school improvement programs to meet accountability mandates which necessitates that teachers develop the skills necessary to accomplish school improvement efforts. The problem is that classroom practitioners lack the skills necessary to achieve effective school improvement. Limited research exists with…

This case study describes tensions that became apparent between community members and school administrators after a proposal to close a historically African American public high school in a large urban Southwestern city. When members of the city's longstanding African American community responded with outrage, the school district's senior…