Education systems, including South Africa's, were forced to embrace remote schooling and online learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In the context of this dramatic change, the principal's role as an instructional leader has also changed. The hard lockdowns in South Africa forced schools to be creative in ensuring education continuity through…

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,…

The heart and soul of any successful organization is outstanding leadership. In education, school divisions are always striving to increase school achievement and as such hold school leaders accountable for this growth. Leaders require explicit leadership skills. This article shares a proposal in which school leaders participate in direct literacy…

Susan Moore Johnson, a professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and leading scholar on school staffing, highlights research from the Project on the Next Generation of Teachers showing the importance of inclusive leadership and team-based structures in improving teacher recruitment and retention. School context is key in determining…

Gifted education coordinators play critical roles in administration and supervision of gifted education and accelerated learning programs in their districts. However, these roles are ill-defined in the literature. During the COVID-19 pandemic, leaders have been called upon to support educators and administrators in a variety of ways. This…

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,…

The purpose of this embedded descriptive case study was to describe job satisfaction and job dissatisfaction factors that influence urban teacher retention, along with looking at the influence and role of principal leadership through looking at the State of Texas Attrition Report, interviewing an elementary principal, and surveying the teachers at…

Given the academic achievement of students with disabilities, as well as school accountability measures, school leaders are tasked with improving learning outcomes of students served in special education programs. However, there are principals and assistant principals who may be unable to effectively fulfill their role as instructional leader for…

A change in leadership has a ripple effect on everyone in the school community, and whether it results in good or bad appointments, it can have a lasting impact on individuals and communities alike. New principals must understand and adapt to their new context if they are to be successful school leaders and must come to terms with and negotiate…

Researchers have found that despite the top-down pressures to assume an instructional leadership role, school principals demonstrate limited direct involvement in such leadership. The current qualitative study aimed to expand inquiry into inhibitors of instructional leadership in Israeli principals. Data analysis uncovered that Israeli principals'…

The problem of a rural school district's declining reading scores for students in Grades 3 through 8 was a significant concern because effective reading skills are of paramount importance to student success in school and life. Evidence suggests that principal instructional leadership practices influence student achievement; therefore, the purpose…

This research describes the perceptions of school principals in the context of their role in leading the professional development of the teaching staff. Their perceptions were examined in reference to three educational ideologies: socialization, acculturation and individuation. Data analysis of semi structured interviews conducted with 20 school…

Almost every state in the United States has revamped its principal evaluation policies since 2009, yet we know little about how they are implemented. Based on interviews and document analysis in 21 small- and medium-sized school districts, we found that superintendents' sensemaking shaped their implementation of policy. Drawing on their beliefs…

In a time of increasing accountability, school leaders are besieged with many challenges to meet the needs of increasingly diverse student populations. Leadership for the development of good character can often be overlooked in lieu of competing priorities (Starratt, 1991). Analyzing data from a 4-year study, this article considers one principal's…

Dual Enrollment (DE) or Dual Credit (DC) programs have become increasingly prevalent at both the high school and college settings. These programs enable students to earn both high school and college credit and get a head start on their college education. Additionally, students in these programs must take university core curriculum courses to…