"The AGB 2017 Trustee Index" is the first in a series of three annual surveys, conducted by Gallup under the direction of AGB, to assess trustee perspectives on the state of higher education. This year's report reveals a number of interesting findings: the centrality of the liberal arts, the lack of trustee involvement in influencing…

Ninth Grade Academies (NGAs)--also called Freshman Academies--have attracted national attention as a particularly intensive and promising approach for supporting a successful transition for high school freshmen. An NGA is a self-contained learning community for ninth-graders that operates as a school within a school. NGAs have four core structural…

This study explored the types of stressors prevalent in the self-reports of university research administrators (URAs) and examined whether or not the degree or type of role stress was influenced by: a) the affiliation of their office unit within their institution, or b) their type. Randomly selected members of NCURA were invited via e-mail to…

During the fall of 2012, the Donnell-Kay Foundation surveyed the state's superintendents and charter network leaders to better understand the principalship in Colorado today. Some key findings of the survey are presented in this report. The findings include perceptions that there is a shortage of quality leaders to run Colorado's schools, that the…

Because research has shown that principals' practices can significantly impact teaching and learning in their schools through multiple avenues, it is critical to understand the validity of tools that measure principal practice. While the field has relied heavily on self-report surveys, little is known about their validity. This study compares…

This article documents a study in which principals were asked to examine the concepts related to the development of teacher leadership in their districts by responding to an original survey sent electronically via SurveyMonkey. Half the respondents were chosen from districts that were involved with a program identified as preparing teacher…

This report presents selected findings from the Public School Principal and Private School Principal Data Files of the 2011-12 Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS). SASS is a nationally representative sample survey of public and private K-12 schools, principals, and teachers in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. School districts associated…

The Local Government Association (LGA) initially commissioned the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) to explore: (1) whether Lead Members for Children's Services (LMCS) have sufficient information and support to carry out their role effectively, especially in relation to their corporate parenting role; (2) LMCSs' personal…

There is a paucity of research concerning the opinions and roles of Department Chairs pertaining to computer use, yet these individuals are in a key position to influence the curricula. The purpose of this survey was to improve understandings about Department Chairs' opinions and reported practices concerning computer applications in their…

The concept of developing teacher collaboration teams continues to be a prevalent problem for teachers and schools. The results of a Saskatchewan study of beginning teachers (Hellsten et al., 2007) was the finding that first and second year teachers perceived "planning and collaboration with other teachers", as well as "professional…

School principals have complex jobs. To better understand the work lives of principals, this study uses observational time-use data for all high school principals in Miami-Dade County Public Schools. This paper examines the relationship between the time principals spent on different types of activities and school outcomes including student…

This report is a follow-up to "Gaining Ground in the Middle Grades" (Williams, Kirst, Haertel, et al., 2010). That study specified a comprehensive set of actionable practices that differentiated higher academic achievement among 303 middle grades schools in California. In doing so, the study provided a compelling and coherent account of…

The evaluation of the Texas Rural Technology (R-Tech) Pilot sought to understand how districts implemented R-Tech grants, the effects of implementation on student and teacher outcomes, as well as the cost effectiveness and sustainability of R-Tech. The Texas legislature (80th Texas Legislature, Regular Session, 2007) authorized the creation of…

This article reports on a survey conducted among hospital-based nurse administrators and researchers to determine the research-related issues existing among professional nursing staffs in their respective health care settings. Based on the data, implications and conclusions for nursing administrators are presented. (Author/CT)

Based on data from three successive surveys, this article examines whether principals of small secondary schools perceive their roles differently differ from those administering larger schools. Although results are inconclusive, a significant decrease was reported in the number of principals reporting major scheduling problems, reliance on fund…