How do educators sustain K-12 district initiatives? Teaching and learning initiatives, despite being well-intentioned, often struggle to gain traction due to limited teacher acceptance or inconsistent program fidelity, so much so that many are familiar with the concept of "initiative decay." Even the most promising initiatives can…

After 12 years as a building administrator, the author became Executive Director of School Leadership in Littleton Elementary School District #65, Avondale, Arizona. The district created this position to focus on the professional and personal growth of building leaders while ensuring district initiatives were implemented with fidelity. The…

Instructional coaching is an increasingly recognized form of professional development for maintaining teachers' skills. However, little attention has been paid to whether use of a coach is related to teacher self-efficacy, as theorized by Bandura and Tschannen-Moran and McMaster. This study sought to determine if there was a relationship between…

Recent teacher evaluation reforms instituted across the country have sought to yield richer information about educators' strengths and limitations and guide decisions about targeted opportunities for professional growth. This study describes how results from new multiple-measure teacher evaluations were being used in 2014/15 in five school…

Today's accountability policies and changing demographics have created conditions in which leaders must rapidly build school capacity and improve outcomes in culturally diverse schools. This article presents findings from a mixed-methods evaluation of an Arizona Turnaround Leadership Development Project. The project drew on studies of turnaround…

This article features the Dysart Unified School District in Surprise, Arizona and discusses how the district developed a long-term professional development plan. The authors present an example that highlights what is becoming common practice in the district: supporting teachers through differentiated, job-embedded professional learning, using…