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…

When Nebraska's 310 superintendents were asked to discuss critical incidents experienced with a school board or board member, they noted 151 incidents involving family and friends, board member's roles, who's elected to the board, failure to support the superintendent, the board itself, athletic coaches, individual board members, employee…

Examines several organizational impediments to school counselors' effectiveness, including inadequate staff communication, resulting in role conflict and ambiguity. Discusses major organizational and individual aspects of the counselor's role, identifies five revitalizing trends, and describes a set of procedures to determine the most important…

This study of 2,300 secondary school administrators in the U.S. Office of Education (District VI) suggests that assistant principals are more powerless and have a higher level of alienation than do principals. Moreover, promotion to principal is no longer ensured, as assistant principals are routinely assigned to student discipline and other…

Public schools are unique environments where the rights and responsibilities of one individual or group can easily, if unintentionally, infringe on the rights and responsibilities of other individuals or groups. This can leave public school employees wondering about the nature and scope of their rights. While it is well established that public…

A former primary headteacher examines problems inherent in the doubly loaded teaching head's role in small (British) primary schools. The demands posed by recent changes have been exacerbated by the headteacher's lack of real freedom to determine an appropriate balance between teaching and managerial responsibilities. Headteachers' special…

The coordinator role is being increasingly used to provide curricular leadership in both primary and secondary schools. This article analyzes difficulties and unintended consequences that can emerge when a low-key management approach is adopted. "Low-key" sometimes translates to low visibility, recognition, and status, which can…

An informal survey of state superintendent associations and lawyers representing superintendents reveals little change in top executives' contracts over the past decade. Mandatory evaluations and renewable (non-"evergreen") contracts are becoming common; pay-for-performance measures are emerging, yet limited. Contractual and job-leaving…

The role of the department chair as the interface between faculty and administration is considered, along with the selection, orientation, socialization, and evaluation of the chair. Attention is directed to constraints under which chairs work that are beyond their control and the way that the resulting conflict, overload, and ambiguity impede…

Recent legislation in Oklahoma stipulates that upon graduation a teacher is issued a license instead of a certificate which only may be obtained after successful completion of the first year of teaching. An Entry-year Assistance Committee is assigned to each new teacher. This Committee, composed of a representative of higher education, the…