The literature on the principalship is extensive, revealing ways in which principals can foster or impede school success. At the same time, another formal secondary school-level position, the department chair, has garnered little scholarly attention. Thus far, the literature offers a limited account of the roles that chairs should or do perform in…

With strong connection to schoolwide policy and vision and to the realities of the daily life of teachers and students, the department chair is uniquely positioned to play an important role in advancing instructional effectiveness (Printy, 2008; Weller, 2001). This article provides an in-depth look at the efforts of three urban comprehensive high…

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…

The coprincipalship has been suggested as an organizational structure that addresses the increasing workload and time demands of the principal as well as the shortage of qualified applicants for the position. This article presents the findings of a qualitative study of coprincipals in public and private schools in California, Illinois,…

Presents findings of a survey examining superintendents' work in curriculum development and instructional leadership. Respondents described their curriculum-development role as primarily grounded in facilitation, support, and delegation of work to others. Superintendents performed four major instructional leadership roles as visionaries,…