School improvement and accountability pressures heightened at the turn of the 21st century, with the enactment of the No Child Left Behind Act in 2002 and with the Every Student Succeeds Act in 2015. These actions spurred research to facilitate school improvement and meet state standards. Researchers identified a strong correlation between a…

The term "kindergarten readiness" refers to a child's development of skills to effectively learn in a classroom setting, a school's ability to educate students at varying ability levels, and a community's available resources for preparing children to start school. Families living in rural communities, where early childhood education…

Previous studies suggest that small rural schools experience a range of challenges relating to their size, financial difficulties and geographical isolation, as well as potential opportunities relating to their position within their communities. In Northern Ireland, these schools are situated within the comparatively rare context of a religiously…

Since the arrival of COVID-19, schools have been confronted with complex problems, and the burden on women principals in rural schools has been enormous. The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly increased the workload of women principals, affecting both their work and home life. This study sought to explore how the leadership roles of female…

An increase in the enrollment of elementary school students who do not speak English as their first language has led to initiatives to provide effective instruction for these students which require effective leadership. The problem is that leadership practices have been unsuccessful in supporting dual language elementary school teachers, and…

This paper explored the factors influencing the leadership strategies of school principals in rural primary schools regarding the integration of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in the process of teaching and learning in their schools. School principals are responsible for ensuring that there is ICTs integration in their schools'…

In this article, we reveal the complex and contested nature of principals' understandings of inclusion policy in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Drawing upon critical policy sociology, research into inclusion, and interviews with 18 principals from rural, regional and urban areas throughout the state, the research shows how principals…

This research explored principals' perceived leadership content knowledge around literacy by examining the relationship between principals' perceptions of their own literacy knowledge and the actions that they took to support teachers' literacy instruction. A sampling group included seven elementary principals and 25 elementary teachers from Title…

Judgements of the work of school principals may be formal through an appraisal process or informal from students, teachers, parents, and members of the community in which the school operates. This article focuses on New Zealand rural primary school principals' experiences of informal expectations--and judgements about whether they meet these…

This study uses an explanatory sequential mixed-methods approach to examine principals'responses to their schools' disproportionate discipline data in five schools located in the ruralsoutheastern United States. Semi-structured interviews were analyzed for principals' insight intotheir school discipline data. Results indicated that Black students…

Research was limited when it came to the perceptions of rural district and school leaders regarding the recruitment and retention of teachers of color. Beginning in 2021 2022, Tennessee's Educator Diversity Policy, 5.700 outlined requirements for local education agencies to submit goals, plans, and strategies to promote the recruitment and…

This case study focused on the perceptions of faculty and staff of mental health services at the elementary level in a rural district. Mental health services provided in elementary school settings can ultimately change the outcome of individuals' lives. Many districts in North Carolina lack the funds to hire mental health counselors, and must rely…

Rural elementary school principals and reading coaches were interviewed about their perspectives and implementation approaches of 2021's Florida Statute 1008.25, which addressed the assessment, remediation, progress monitoring, and parental notification of students with substantial reading impairments. Rural school districts were selected based on…

Purpose: Instructional leadership is a major part of the responsibility of principals who achieve promising results in school improvement. This paper aims to explore the inhibiting factors for instituting instructional leadership in elementary schools located in rural areas in Israel. Design/methodology/approach: The participants of this…

This study reports on the challenges facing multigrade principals. Principals are regarded as curriculum leaders and have critical roles to play in the success of the school. However, school principals experience a myriad of complex challenges in the execution of their roles and responsibilities. The purpose of this qualitative study was to…