Survey data from a sample of 226 school administrators and 137,601 students from districts in four Southern California counties reveal unique facets of leadership beliefs and practices. This survey study identified and analyzed the characteristics, perceptions, and practices of school administrators to determine their impact on administrator…

As ethical dilemmas arise in community colleges, administrators make decisions that require sensitivity to the organizational, political, and environmental factors surrounding their particular institutional climates and locales. The moral reasoning and ethical decision-making of community college administrators were examined in this study. In…

School districts are increasingly focused on instructional practice in classrooms. Many urban school districts have shifted decision-making responsibility to school principals in order to improve instruction. This reform strategy has been referred to as decentralization or school-based management. Decentralization has a significant influence on…

Public school principals must meet many challenges and make decisions concerning financial obligations while providing the best learning environment for students. A major challenge to principals is implementing technological components successfully while providing teachers the 21st century instructional skills needed to enhance students'…

Recent anti-evolution legislation, in the form of Academic Freedom bills, has been introduced in many state legislatures over the last three years. The language in the proposed Academic Freedom bills may allow different interpretations of what can be taught in the science classrooms, and possibly spur parents to take advantage of their perceived…

African American women are underrepresented in computer technology disciplines in institutions of higher education throughout the United States. Although equitable gender representation is progressing in most fields, much less information is available on why institutions are still lagging in workforce diversity, a problem which can be lessened by…

The school principal's role is demanding. Responsible for complex systems impacting student learning, the principal must possess knowledge in varied areas of the educational system. Rising from the roots of the teaching principal, the leadership paradigm of modern school principals has evolved over time. With the integration of digital…

The present study examined teacher attitudes, teacher preparation/training, teacher experience, and school support and their relationship to reported family involvement behaviors, using the Epstein framework as a six part definition for family involvement. Participants included 283 teachers in 20 different special education preschool programs…

Since the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, standardized test scores have revealed that the U.S. public education system has been unable to adequately address improvement of academic achievement. For 20 years, educators have been promoting professional learning communities (PLCs) as a solution to improving K-12 academic achievement.…

The purpose of this study was to discover, document, and describe the salient actions, events, beliefs, attitudes, social structures and processes related to professional learning conversations from the perspective of nine assistant principals (APs). The participants were elementary, middle and high school APs, three at each level. Using a…

The purpose of this study was to describe my experiences as a campus principal in facilitating the use of participatory formative assessment (PFA) in an environment of accountability and high-stakes testing. The methodology I employed was autoethnography (Chang, 2008; Ellis, 2004; Reed-Danahay, 1997; Stinson, 2009). I kept journals over a period…

The six chapters in this research involve the history and development of middle schools from the early conceptions of junior high school to the ground breaking research by the Carnegie Foundation on changes in how young adolescent students develop, are taught and transitioned from elementary levels to high school. Professional literature reporting…

Of the more than 100,000 new teachers who enter classrooms across the nation every fall, it is estimated that nearly half (50,000) will leave the classroom within the first five years of teaching (Ingersoll, 2003). The combination of principal support and induction programs has been identified as critical in reducing attrition and retaining…

Research in education, criminology, and sociology has long suggested that there is a strong, reciprocal connection between students' behaviors in school and their academic achievement. Student misbehavior in schools has also been described as a serious problem by the public as well as school practitioners. Traditionally, assistant principals are…

Teacher professional communities are central in the current discussion of teacher learning and professional development. Instructional reform initiatives aimed at improving student achievement through changes in instruction depend on effective professional development structures. Increasingly, teacher professional communities are being identified…