An experienced principal transfers schools to rebuild trust in the school culture and community after a recent scandal and declining student achievement scores. A district level supervisor opens a way for Mr. Davie, the incoming principal, to offer middle students advanced classes. The principal believes this is an initiative that will boost…

As every good secondary administrator knows, rigorous curricula matter. Challenging curricula is the factor in lifting each student to reach their potential: "the academic intensity of the student's high school curriculum still counts more than anything else...in providing momentum toward completing a bachelor's degree" (Adelman, 2006,…

In this article we discuss how school leaders address challenges when implementing innovative international education curricula, namely International Baccalaureate (IB) programs. Specifically, we frame challenges in curriculum implementation of and transition between IB programs from a "disconnection" perspective. We have often noticed…

The purpose of the report is to give a review of public education and depict how the West Virginia Department of Education (WVDE) and West Virginia Board of Education (WVBE) are addressing the needs of students as they prepare to enter college or the workforce. The report highlights successes achieved during the 2017-2018 school year through the…

The demographic profile of Conard High School in West Hartford, CT, reflects the national trends in "first-ring suburbs." Neither fully urban nor fully suburban, first-ring suburbs went from being generally less diverse than the nation in 1980 to more diverse by 2000 (Puentes, 2006). Conard students speak 53 different languages at home,…

The Texas Education Agency's (TEA's) 2017 Annual Report is intended to shine light on the agency's commitment to ensuring that every one of the more than five million public school students in Texas is prepared for success in college, a career or the military. In Texas public schools: (1) Graduation rates are at an all-time high and put Texas in…

The nation's goal of achieving educational equity has been both elusive and complex. U.S. schools are becoming more, not less, segregated, and the racial isolation of Black and Latino students from White students is a national trend. For two decades, the Rockville Centre School District in New York has engaged in reforms that were designed to…

Mr. Hartman is an honors-level and Advanced Placement science teacher in a diverse, urban high school where he has been teaching for the last 20 years. In recent years, Mr. Hartman has become increasingly more concerned with the lack of ethnic/cultural diversity in his advanced science classes. On the other hand, Mrs. Rodriguez is a principal in a…

In this article, a principal is inspired to change the conversations with students and staff members from discipline and deficit to hope and planning for future achievement. He wants conversations to be more about academic goals and decision making and less about discipline and random acceptance of postsecondary plans. He has asked all staff…