Governing multi-level education systems requires governance models that balance responsiveness to local diversity with the ability to ensure national objectives. This delicate equilibrium is difficult to achieve given the complexity of many education systems. Countries are therefore increasingly looking for examples of good practice and models of…

Self-efficacy is a perceived judgment that one has the ability to execute a course of action that brings about a desired result. Principal self-efficacy describes a set of beliefs that enable a principal to enact policies and procedures that promote the effectiveness of a school. Principal self-efficacy beliefs are also important because they…

Many researchers have investigated the appropriateness of pay for outperformance, (also called "merit-based pay" and "performance-based pay") for academics, but a review of this body of work shows that the voice of academics themselves is largely absent. This article is a contribution to addressing this gap, summarising the…

Purpose: The use of data for instructional improvement is prevalent in today's educational landscape, yet policies calling for data use may result in significant variation at the school level. The purpose of this paper is to focus on tools and routines as mechanisms of principal influence on data-use professional learning communities (PLCs).…

A gap in research exists that demonstrates how principals use their authority to make decisions and how that intersects with change management models. The purpose of the study is to examine how one elementary school principal has led change and how teachers perceive the effectiveness of the change. The study seeks to explore principal's and…

The present paper studies the role literature can play in management in general and in leadership, organizational behavior and communication in particular. Literature normally gets a skeptical reception in management studies. The paper discusses the relevance of literature for a better understanding of human behaviour and a judicious discernment…

Visionary leaders shape their actions and initiate transformation to reach a specific goal. To do so is critically important in South Africa, where the education system offers limited opportunities to manage a school in a manner that deviates from the prescribed norm. School leaders typically encounter barriers such as the inadequacy of the…

Throughout this study a number of factors regarding the experience of principals and their strategies and processes from the perspective of helping teachers adopt more effective teaching practices, will be examined. The result should be a fresh and more complete picture of the principals' processes and helping teachers adopt more effective…

The current paper primarily aims to investigate and interpret the observations, perceptions, and experiences of an effective school's principal through a qualitative approach. The study was designed as a case study. The participant of the study was a primary science education teacher with 17 years of experience in the profession who has been a…

The central phenomenon researched in this case study was higher education administrators' decisions to institutionalize a safe ride program at a small, rural college. The purpose of this single/within-site case study was to describe the changes that happened at a rural public institution of higher education and the surrounding community in the…

The purpose of this paper is to explore how accreditation processes aided a school principal in making reform happen. Using routinized action theory (Feldman, 2000), we examined how the routines in school accreditation were used to transform what had been a demoralized, low performing middle school. This theoretical lens is important as it…

This case tells the story of a failed public-private partnership. It illustrates how stakeholders, encouraged by the current political context, rushed into a partnership without establishing a basis for mutual understanding and expectations. As a result of this hasty arrangement, questions emerged over who ultimately controlled decisions related…

The purpose of this research was trifold. First, it was an attempt to gain an understanding of the experiences of fourteen unaccompanied, homeless youth between the ages of 18 and 24, living in the Twin Cities metro area, who have utilized services at two or more of the six grantee organizations. The second purpose was to understand how the shared…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to discuss the role of principals in light of public management reforms taking place in the German educational system and in reference to the empirical patterns uncovered by the papers contained in the Special Issue. Policy makers have created new expectations and new technologies that seem to suggest to…

This case study examines the leadership practices and actions of an urban high school principal who faced many challenges, but worked diligently to improve student achievement and school climate over a 3-year period. Significant improvements were made by using elements of Distributed Leadership, Professional Learning Communities, and Social…