The researcher explored empowerment, sustainability, and leadership pertaining to Texas' District of Innovation designations. House Bill 1842, passed by the Texas Legislature in 2015, allowed qualifying districts to exempt certain sections of the Texas Education Code. The aim of these exemptions was to decentralize governance in order to…

This qualitative phenomenological narrative inquiry research study used narrative inquiry to investigate rural superintendents' experiences with the application of principle-centered leadership in their districts. Ten superintendents from rural districts in east Texas were interviewed. Narratives were analyzed by organizing, describing,…

Covey (1990) suggested that to achieve success in leadership, one must identify core values and principles and ensure that managerial and organizational systems are aligned with these values and principles. These values explained by Covey in principle-centered leadership are built upon the foundation principles of trustworthiness at the personal…

Since 2000 the population in McKinney, Texas, has almost tripled. Remarkably, the school system has kept apace, opening a new school building almost every year. As the population of this Dallas-Fort Worth area bedroom community has diversified in recent decades, so has the student body of McKinney Independent School District (ISD). Despite the…

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…

In statehouses across the country, Parent Trigger legislation is being proposed as a remedy to the nation's education crisis. These laws authorize parents--through a petition drive at their child's school --to force their school district to convert that public school into a charter, replace its staff and leadership, or even close it down.…

On March 25-26, 2010, a cadre of urban education leaders gathered in Baltimore, Maryland for the "Fair Student Funding Summit," a conference that brought together districts that use weighted student funding (WSF) as an approach for allocating dollars to schools. Convened by Education Resource Strategies (ERS) and hosted by Baltimore City…

Empowering others and oneself is an essential task in any organizational framework. Although people are empowered internally, part of that empowerment forms the positive interpersonal relationships built with others. This article discusses how the author, as leader, has learned to empower those around her. Different power bases are listed, with…