The responsibilities of school principals in the United States have shifted to include instructional leadership in addition to the management of facilities and people. Principals at all levels can find it challenging to balance their administrative and instructional leadership roles. The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to understand…

Discussing school leadership in the absence of race is like building a house absent a foundation. While that house may stay upright for some time, it will be ill-prepared to withstand the strong winds of change. This is why Mark Gooden fervently recommends that every school principal, no matter their color or background, writes a racial…

The purpose of this study was to identify the factors serving as barriers to effective building-level administrator participation in special education individualized education program (IEP) meetings. For the purposes of this study, research was conducted in the multidisciplinary areas of social cognitive theory and self-efficacy, along with an…

At the height of pandemic-era procedures amidst great changes and uncertainty, school principals across the world were challenged to navigate and restructure ways to lead their schools. While leveraging crisis management leadership, principals needed to be attentive and adaptive to the emotional wellbeing and health of their employees. Today…

Childhood trauma is an all-too common factor in the lives of students and their families. Schools and communities across America are more likely to serve families that have experienced trauma (Anderson, 2016). Although trauma or toxic episodes can impact families across the economic spectrum, children living in poverty, in socially isolated areas,…

The instructional leadership approach expects school leaders to give top priority to ongoing improvement of teaching quality and academic outcomes. 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…

Without the development and implementation of appropriate reforms directed by school district leaders, struggling schools may continue to achieve low scores on state-wide evaluations. Addressing this issue requires cooperation between administrators to identify areas of need, develop a plan of action for change, and implement and monitor a shared…

This study examines what aspiring principal candidates in one university-based preparation program learned as a result of developing and implementing a school improvement plan. A case study approach was used to examine 53 aspiring principals' reports of what they learned from implementing school improvement plans. Findings revealed three…

In "Justice for Black Students: Black Principals Matter," Kofi Lomotey begins with a two-pronged premise: (1) Black students do not receive a quality education in US public (or private) schools, and (2) Black principals, like Black teachers, can make a positive impact on the academic and overall success of Black students. Through the…

Using a piloted convergent mixed-methods design, I investigated role understanding and collaboration between school counselors and principals. Specifically, this intervention situated aspiring school counselors and principals in a curriculum implementation on the role of their counterpart and then brought the two professions together in a…

The past two years of the pandemic have increased student and teacher anxiety and depression as the focus on public schools have added to the national angst, on topics such as race and equity, curriculum and material taught, and teacher training. This places more emphasis on school leaders to play an active role in improving school climate and…

The past two years of the pandemic have increased student and teacher anxiety and depression as the focus on public schools has added to the national angst, on topics such as race and equity, curriculum and material taught, and teacher training. This places more emphasis on school leaders to play an active role in improving school climate and…

The past two years of the pandemic have increased student and teacher anxiety and depression as the focus on public schools has added to the national angst, on topics such as race and equity, curriculum and material taught, and teacher training. This places more emphasis on school leaders to play an active role in improving school climate and…

This report derives its findings from Summer/Fall 2023 phone interviews with 22 facilitators and eight administrators following their participation in Math for All during the 2022-23 school year. The findings, summarized below, provide insight into the implementation experience, including challenges, areas of success, and plans for sustaining and…

A recent synthesis of research from the last two decades confirms that principals can have a significant impact on student learning outcomes, accelerating annual student learning by more than two months. Effective principals focus on high-leverage instructional activities, build a productive culture and climate, facilitate collaboration and…