This narrative inquiry examines the experiences of K-12 Title 1 Urban Public-School principals to understand their involvement in the process of school-level budgeting and their efforts to incorporate principles of equity into their budgetary decisions. I recorded the challenges faced by principals when making practical decisions equitable. This…

Gentrification is happening in cities all across the United States. Consequently, some Black communities that were intentionally segregated and under-resourced are experiencing capital investments and demographic changes. These gentrification-induced racial and socioeconomic shifts impact many local institutions, namely school districts. Given…

COVID-19 has presented unprecedented challenges to schools, leaving principals to lead rapid organizational change with limited guidance or support. Drawing on interviews from a larger, national study of principals at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, we analyzed the experiences of 20 principals in four large, urban school districts--Boston,…

COVID-19 has presented unprecedented challenges to schools, leaving principals to lead rapid organizational change with limited guidance or support. Drawing on interviews from a larger, national study of principals at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, we analyzed the experiences of 20 principals in four large, urban school districts--Boston,…

Purpose: Nearly all schools in the United States closed in spring 2020, at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. We analyze traditional public and charter school reopenings for the 2020-21 school year in five urban districts. We provide a rich and theoretically grounded description of how and why educational leaders made reopening decisions in each…

As the day-to-day leaders of a school district, superintendents oversee budgetary and other district operations, help give practical meaning to federal and state policy, and set local district policy for the schools under their charge. Superintendents therefore work in a unique and important leadership space that exists between federal, state,…

This study examines how school-based personnel (i.e., principals, assistant principals, and school social workers) defined and engaged in collective leadership to support undocumented students. This instrumental, comparative case study explores their roles, relational processes, and the extent to which school-based personnel's relationships…

Drawing on ethnographic research from a small urban high school serving predominantly low-income students in a large northeastern city, this case explores how a school leader seeks to improve the school's graduation rates by analyzing student data. It asks readers to consider the overall organization of the meeting, the role of the principal, the…

Small City School Districts across New York State are becoming increasingly fearful of losing newly hired, highly talented teachers. In the United States, 8% of teachers leave the profession annually and greater than 50% quit teaching before reaching retirement age (Sutcher, 2016). A study done on teacher retention decisions in New York City…

This qualitative case study used General Systems Theory and social network analysis to explore the relationships between the members of a district central office and principals of elementary schools within an urban school district in the Midwest. Findings revealed sparse relationships between members of the district central office and principals,…

This article describes the Catholic School Principal Support Program (CSPSP), a mentoring program for first and second-year Catholic school principals in a large urban diocese, and identifies key challenges, impacts and influences on decision-making. Ten school leaders describe their work and provide the lens by which they reflect on their role as…

The expectation that educators will use data in the service of school improvement and planning is a major feature of national and local reform agendas. Prior research has found that the principal plays a critical role in making policymakers' visions for data use a reality at the school and classroom levels. Most prior studies, however, have not…

This qualitative case study examined research exploring the role of a principal monitoring instruction during the implementation of a Readers Workshop model. The purpose of this study was to examine the role of an elementary school principal during the implementation of a Readers Workshop model and determine whether there was an affect on teaching…

Based on two years of extensive data collection in four urban elementary schools, this paper examines the role of principals in the implementation of the Together Initiative (TI), a school reform model for schools labeled low-performing per state accountability standards. The reform model aims to increase school autonomy from district mandates and…

A federal policy in the United States has required sweeping changes in K-12 education. With No Child Left Behind legislation, schools are challenged to create conditions that bring each student to federally-set academic proficiency levels. Many schools have become more attentive to data about student performance and how it can inform their…