As a principal, Sarah E. Fiarman learned that developing teacher leadership requires more than merely soliciting teacher input. "School leaders," she writes, "need to create a culture in which each professional feels an urgent responsibility to influence the achievement of all students." To promote such a schoolwide leadership…

Principals are tasked with being the instructional leaders in their schools--developing teacher's abilities through formal and informal classroom observations and feedback. But how can school districts ensure that principals have the skills they need to fulfill this crucial role? In Clarke County School District in Georgia, central-office leaders…

Teachers in high-poverty schools often feel stressed and fatigued. We might expect that if we ask these teachers to take on even more work by meeting regularly in collaborative improvement teams, they will respond with skepticism, even resentment. But in a study of 83 teachers in six outstanding high-poverty schools, these researchers found the…

At a Monday evening monthly meeting of school administrators, discussion ensued about how to improve the administrators' schools. Ideas such as increasing student achievement, energizing teachers, and engaging parents were offered. One principal suggested focus should be turned to the students' restrooms, "because lots of problems emerge…

If students from all backgrounds and advantages were given equal opportunity to succeed, how would this change our schools? Anindya Kundu examines two New York City schools--Medgar Evers College Prep and The James Baldwin School--and how their energized school culture contributes to the success of all students. By leading with consistency,…

All around us are examples of people and organizations with good information making bad decisions. Consider the case of Blockbuster. Less than a decade ago, Blockbuster had 8,000 stores in 17 countries and millions of customers. It was awash in data, including customer surveys that said people disliked going to video stores and hated late fees.…

Principals can easily observe when a class is engaged in learning. Engaged students are learning because the content or activity feels "relevant" and "interesting," and they're achieving "success" in whatever they're doing. These three factors of engagement don't happen by chance. It happens when talented teachers…

Co-­teaching is the newest initiative to be implemented in school districts. Students with special needs can no longer be simply physically "included" in general education classes. These students need and deserve authentic opportunities to access and participate in the curriculum. To accomplish this goal, co-­teaching has been embraced.…

"We can think of morale as an organizational mood," the authors write, "and we can view a school with low morale as a school that's in a bad mood." School leaders can improve mood and raise morale by implementing three strategies that promote the kind of good mood that fosters student learning and success. School leaners…

If classrooms teachers play the lead role in establishing relationships that help students do their personal best, principals are leaders in creating good school environments for adults. Westerberg, former principal of award-winning Littleton High School in Colorado, shares six principles that help create positive schoolwide relationships. Drawing…

"What do you do--and what do you need--to stay sane?" This is what an educator asked a group of teachers and administrators in the Rochester City School District, one of the poor-performing school districts that the governor of that state had referred to as needing a "death penalty." The educators repeatedly noted five items…

With U.S. immigration policies tightening, many teachers find students from immigrant backgrounds are worried about families or friends facing harsh consequences--or are suffering from losing a family member to deportation. Some students and families are disengaging from school, and kids are even being bullied about their backgrounds. Kugler shows…

Being a principal is a complex job, requiring quick, on-the-job learning. But many principals already have deep experience in a role at the very essence of the principalship. They know how to teach. In interviews with principals, Fahey and his colleagues learned that thinking like a teacher was key to their work. Part of thinking the way a teacher…

Improved teacher morale and improved learning for all students go hand in hand. But what, exactly, do we mean by student learning? And what is the aim of this learning? According to Nel Noddings, the success of our efforts to boost teacher morale through greater collegiality, creativity, and continuity will depend on how we answer these questions.…

Do teacher leaders in your school mainly fill the traditional roles of department chair or grade-level representative? Or do they lead their peers in collaborative teams whose primary focus is improving student learning? Terry Wilhelm, director of the School Leadership Center for Riverside County Office of Education in California, says that…