When developing school improvement plans and implementing transformational change, why not ask students? Involving students and listening to their voice can provide a better understanding of what is needed and how the school improvement process can be enhanced to promote growth. Principals play a significant role in the leadership of school…

Public schools have experienced an endless cycle of reform aiming to improve student achievement. Despite the time, funding, and resources that have been expended, most school reforms have not been successful at manifesting and sustaining meaningful change. New Jersey's latest attempt at school reform involved Regional Achievement Centers (RACs)…

Assistant principals are essential to the campus leadership team as instructional leaders. However, many assistant principals spend most of their day participating in noninstructional leadership duties and responsibilities. This can drastically reduce the assistant principal's ability to fulfill instructional leadership duties, thus negatively…

Though bullying is a near universal experience for middle school students at some point, LGBTQ + students experience additional stress and poorer academic outcomes than their peers do. This qualitative study interviewed six middle school principals from rural, suburban and urban schools. Data collection for this study included two semi-structured…

This teaching case study aims at encouraging meaningful conversations about discipline. The case illustrates the increasing need for school leaders to adopt discipline approaches that foster support, equity, inclusion, and advocacy for cultural differences rather than punishment and the exclusion of marginalized students. This scenario takes place…

This article communicates the results of a Danish survey study conducted in 2018 that aimed to examine initiatives relating to computational thinking in primary and lower-secondary schools, as well as the professional development of teachers and the perceptions of school principals in this area. The context is an increasing interest in this field,…

The purpose of this study was to investigate middle school principals' knowledge of the state's new middle level teacher certification, their hiring preferences for newly certified teachers, and their perceptions of middle certified teacher' competencies in teaching various subject areas to middle school students. Survey data indicated that the…

Traditionally, student leadership has been seen as the prerogative of senior students. Very little research has been conducted on how schools nurture and develop leadership skills in students in the middle years of schooling. This article provides an overview of student leadership in six secondary schools with a particular focus on student…

Secondary school administrators are prone to experience stressors that stem from role conflict, accountability standards, student and parental relationships, staff development, and managerial issues. Through the research foundations of McGrath (Stress Cycle), Gmelch (Administrator Stress Cycle), Allison (Coping Preference Scale) and Maslach's…

Assessment of principal effectiveness is a complex process due to the multidimensional nature of their job. Historically, a disproportionate significance has been placed on standardized assessment scores when evaluating school leaders, therefore states are beginning to emphasize other factors such as school climate in order to increase employee…

Schools and districts have long grappled with race- and disability-based exclusionary discipline inequities. Research on the topic has uncovered a variety of systems that maintain such disparities, including school policies and practices that exacerbate the problem. Researchers and practitioners have increasingly considered school context and…

AIR researchers conducted a descriptive study of station rotation. The study described what station rotation looks like in classrooms, examined perspectives about station rotation, and explored student learning associated with station rotation. AIR researchers found that teachers and principals had positive perceptions of station rotation.…

The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine middle and high school principal roles prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic to gain a better understanding about how leadership responsibilities adapted or changed. Data collection strategies included one-on-one interviews with nine middle and high school principals in East Tennessee. To…

This study explored principals' perceptions of their own loneliness and their styles of coping with it. The study posed two questions: (1) How do school principals experience the personal and organizational factors that influence their loneliness in various work contexts? (2) What strategies do school principals use to cope with their sense of…

Purpose: This paper explores education group school principal's influence on professional learning community (PLC) development in China. Design/methodology/approach: Qualitative comparative case studies were conducted. Findings: The findings show that principals indicated principal-level factors were their major concerns regarding PLC cultural…