Leading change to create an integrated PreK-3rd education and connect early learning programs with the K-12 system is not easy. Superintendents require courage to take the first step, persistence and political skills to encourage organizational and community engagement, and a relentless focus on results to measure progress and build momentum. As a…

Six years ago, to gauge the challenges facing new school system leaders, "The School Administrator" tracked the challenges of six superintendents who had assumed their first superintendency in summer 2001. The story of their experiences, "Superintendent Rookies," appeared in the magazine's October 2002 issue. The six…

Although practitioners have been asked to make fundamental shifts in their beliefs about reaching all students, the structures of high schools to support that work have not changed appreciably. Teachers teach in isolation, departmental silos lack curricular and instructional coherence across core subject areas, and few teachers share students in…

No Child Left Behind has increased the demand for evidence of student achievement in America's public schools. As a result, the importance of the role of superintendent as instructional leader has increased. Some superintendents have responded to this demand by mandating that principals increase their presence in classrooms; yet, research on…

This article highlights the boundary crossing and brokering work of two instructional coaches in one Washington State urban district. A distributed leadership frame helps foreground how the coaches, based in the central office, exercised instructional leadership across the district. This inquiry contributes to emerging pictures of the kinds of…

Financial misdeeds, athletics scandals, and votes of "no confidence." How does a president escape all of these and hold office for the long haul? And "why" does one serve for an extensive term? In this article, the author explores these questions as he looks back on his long tenure at The George Washington University. He…

A research project team studied schools in Washington, Ohio, Illinois, and Wisconsin to investigate the scope of a leader's responsibilities and identified seven common functions of leadership. The study revealed that understanding and delivering what the school needed was the principal's core job.

There was a time in U.S. education when good management might have sufficed. If administrators balanced the budgets, hired adequate staff, and purchased the established instructional curricula, they did enough. However, the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) changed that dramatically. Today, districts are accountable for the academic proficiency of…

This guide explains the role of educators in dealing with cases of child sexual abuse. It provides general information on the causes and consequences of the problem, suggests ways of assisting children more effectively, and explains educator's legal requirements under Washington State law for reporting child abuse. Child sexual abuse is a general…

Erin Rogers is on a mission to change teachers' minds. As a literacy coach at Skyview High School in Vancouver, Washington, she advises other teachers on how to infuse literacy into lessons across the curriculum. It's not an easy job: many secondary school instructors see themselves as content experts and believe that teaching reading is best left…

A description of the functioning, problems, and coordinator roles for Washington State's Community Involvement Program--a systematic effort to place students off-campus in practical learning situations that will augment their formal classroom training--now operating in Washington's 27 community colleges. (DC)

Fifty-three members of an adult education association in Washington State ranked job activities important for appraising the competence of adult education administrators in communications, curriculum, personnel, finance, and community relations. Differences in how administrators and teachers ranked these activities related to role and status…

Survey of 91 Washington school districts found 153 teachers were placed on probation during 1984-87; of these, 40% were first-year teachers, 69% dismissed, retired, or resigned. Evaluated behaviors that proved hardest for teachers to remedy were handling of student discipline, classroom management. Deficiency in one of eight areas could lead to…

Findings of a study that examined the relationship of administrative role conflict and ambiguity with stress and burnout are presented in this paper. A survey sent to 1,000 Washington State administrators (250 each from the following groups--elementary, junior, and senior high school principals; and superintendents) elicited 741 returns, a 74…

Public school superintendents consider situational and organizational variables when determining whether to involve others in decision-making processes. A sample of 240 superintendents from Washington, Oregon, and Idaho were sent the Situational Administrative Decision-Making Inventory. The sample was evenly divided geographically and by district…