The science of reading has become a buzzword in education across the nation. In 2017, the Arkansas General Assembly passed the Right to Read Act (Right to Read Act, 2017). The law requires all elementary core (reading, mathematics, science, and social studies) teachers, kindergarten through sixth grade, and all kindergarten through twelfth-grade…

Many states and school districts are implementing reforms to reduce reliance on exclusionary discipline such as out-of-school suspension and expulsion. This article uses survey and administrative data to study the implementation of a state-level policy limiting elementary school out-of-school suspension and expulsions. While the results are…

Among all in-school factors that impact student learning, teachers carry the most weight -- but school leaders are not far behind. Decades of research have proven the positive influence principals can have on student achievement, school climate and teaching quality. New evidence suggests that their impact may be even greater than previously…

School leadership is a key component of successful school environments and academic performance strategies. Among school-related factors, school leadership is second to teaching in its impact on student learning. In addition, research shows that strong leaders contribute significantly to successful school turnaround. To ensure that school leaders…

The purpose of this study was to examine administrators' use of data, their perceptions of data, and what their expectations were in terms of teacher use of data. In conjunction with this examination will be a closer look at the new Professional Standards for Educational Leaders (PSEL) to determine the connections as well as the disconnections to…

In the spring of 2004, the Arkansas Association of School Administrators and the Arkansas Association of Middle Level Education surveyed all public school middle school principals in the State of Arkansas as to the degree of implementation of middle school programming. This document reports the results of the survey. Conclusions are drawn from…

The relationship between student health and learning is receiving increasing attention. Many communities are placing health care providers within public schools. The article describes Arkansas' experiences using school-based clinics, noting everyone's roles and responsibilities. Arkansas has demonstrated that children's health care needs can be…

Specific training materials are presented in this handbook to help principals accomplish five critical tasks: which include preparation of an annual school improvement plan; supervision of student discipline; management of student activities; supervision of course content guides; and student evaluation. A section module on each task includes an…