Collective responsibility means that teachers work in cooperation and collaboration, act, and solve problems together. When teachers act together, they can be more productive. Urban schools' principals prefer activity and project-based approaches in order to better integrate students into urban life, and for this, they work to ensure that teachers…

This study examined the impact school leaders had on the self-efficacy of African American Male (AAM) teachers who matriculated through an alternative certification program. Purposeful sampling was used in this study with four inclusion criteria. The study occurred at a large urban Title 1 school district in the Southeast. The district was…

School leadership research offers prescriptions for strong instructional and culturally relevant leadership for diverse and urban adolescent populations, yet little evidence describes how school principals impact adolescents' in-school reading experiences. This qualitative inquiry sought to understand how one urban secondary principal perceived…

This qualitative study focuses on school administrators' understandings and actions as leaders of the Common Core reform. In interviews with eight school and district leaders from five diverse districts in Pennsylvania, several aspects of Common Core, or PA Core, implementation were consistent across regardless of student population demographics…

School violence and bullying are considered a serious concern worldwide. Evidence shows that applying the Health Promoting Schools (HPS) framework could be effective in reducing school bullying. While there have been significant efforts to evaluate school-based anti-bullying interventions in the world, the implementation process and the…

This case study focuses on a 2008 incident where Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) vans appeared near a K-5 elementary school. It was the first time school personnel experienced the impact of federal immigration agents policing illegality in their school community, and the event set off a chain of decision-making choices as to how…

Principals are positioned at the center of school improvement. In the United States, current turnaround reforms target the principalship as a key lever for change. This article uses institutional theory to explore the logics of turnaround leadership that steer principals and their work. Specifically, we draw on qualitative interview data from a…

Teacher attrition, especially among new teachers, has been an issue of major concern for policy makers and administrators for many years. Prior research has provided valuable information regarding the teacher and organizational factors associated with attrition from the profession and teacher mobility across schools. Less attention, however, has…

Scholars argue or imply that schools should build transformative school visions that promote equity, diversity, and social justice. However, little empirical research has investigated the principal's role in this endeavor or analyzed the practical dimensions of transformative vision statements. This study re-examined relevant data from two…

As the U.S. population grows more varied, public schools are faced with the challenge of meeting the needs of an increasing population of culturally and linguistically diverse students. Schools in the United States are often the first point of contact for new immigrant students as they work to facilitate their integration and socialization into…

This study investigated how school leaders recognize and validate cultural and social capital of hyperghettoized at-risk students. Two primary research questions drove this research: (1) Did traditional school leaders recognize the social and cultural capital of at-risk, African American students? (2) How did an effective school leader validate…

Using an organizational theory to study how people can actually change routines, this study examined alterations made to two aspects of a high school's attendance procedures over 5 years. The authors drew primarily from interviews and school documents to describe and analyze changes made by administrators, faculty, and staff. Organizing questions…

Public schools represent the pluralism of American society. Unfortunately, many children experience their public school environment as unwelcoming or even violent. Prejudicial attitudes contribute to problematic intergroup relations in public school settings. Furthermore, teachers are often unprepared to work with the diversity of class,…

Presents field study research focused on (1) the socialization processes that the assistant principal undergoes as an aspiring administrator and (2) the processes that make an assistant principal effective and mobile within the organizational structure. Reports that roles and tasks are often poorly defined and that assessments of job performance…

Offers a typology of a spectrum of school leadership styles across four matched pairs of schools within the same high-stakes testing environment, examining the role leadership played over a decade in framing how schools would respond to the testing environment. Principals' philosophies about their staff and roles as leaders reflected teachers'…