The problem this research study investigated was the readiness of the selected district's administrators, instructional coaches, and teachers in implementing a standards-based grading (SBG) initiative. The purpose of this mixed methods study was to determine the district's elementary administration, instructional coaches, and teachers' perceptions…

This study explores the experience of 13 candidates in a district-embedded new administrator induction program as it relates specifically to coaching. The research establishes the need to recruit and retain new administrators in the field of education, as many quit within the first three years and many others are expected to retire in the near…

The purpose of this research was to examine how one teacher's guided reading instruction evolved while engaged in a job-embedded professional development experience across the school year. The teacher taught and debriefed multiple guided reading lessons per visit with a literacy coach. The authors employed qualitative methods to analyze the…

Until recently, Elkhart Community Schools lacked formal teacher leadership district-wide. The closest implementation historically was department chairs and/or school improvement team members, whose main responsibility was to transfer information between the teaching faculty and administration. In this article, the authors, who are district…

Purpose: Limited research on root cause analysis exists in educational leadership. Accurately diagnosing and detailing root causes--the why--of organizational failure, as is relatively common in other fields, could improve principals' ability to devise situationally- and contextually-responsive solutions in their improvement plans. In this study,…

Facing the rapidly changing 21st-century education, educational organizations strive for innovative ideas to continuously motivate their teachers to enhance student performance. iLead is a district's pioneering attempt to incorporate transformational leadership's essential elements, the four I's, "Inspirational Motivation,"…

Many school districts struggle to retain early career teachers, but the challenge is particularly pronounced in small and rural districts (Frahm & Cianca, 2021). The School-University Resource Network, a university center at William & Mary School of Education in Virginia, discovered this firsthand through a community of practice they…

Purpose: This manuscript examines how university coaches can use the Classroom Check-Up (CCU; Reinke et al., 2008) to support continuous school improvement efforts around teacher practice within a PDS model and how collaboration between university faculty can increase their coaching self-efficacy. Design/methodology/approach: The paper is…

This inspirational book provides a concrete model of why university-district partnerships are essential to preparing justice-focused school leaders, and how these partnerships can thrive. Readers will find details of one such partnership, Leadership Education for Anaheim Districts (LEAD), which incorporated high-impact practices for equity,…

Coaching is a popular, yet costly, professional development structure. Therefore, understanding the learning opportunities coaching provides is essential. Following a framework by Campbell and Griffin (2017), we explore five elementary school teachers' learning opportunities during 15 meetings and 23 lessons with two instructional coaches in two…

Background/Context: School leaders are central to state and district human-capital reforms (HCRs), yet they are rarely equipped with the skills to implement new evaluation, professional development, and personnel data systems. Although districts increasingly offer principals coaching and training, there has been limited empirical work on how these…

Using unique statewide panel data from Tennessee, we describe instructional coach (IC) and teacher peer observer (TPO) distributions in terms of their teaching expertise and observable school and district characteristics. The evidence suggests ICs are more likely to work in districts with lower-performing teachers while working in schools with…

Grade-level proficiency for secondary literacy classrooms remains an area to probe for improved student achievement. Tools to measure effectiveness of classroom practices also do not exist in large quantities. Based on the findings of The Opportunity Myth (2018), equity in the literacy classroom can be identified as: (1) grade level appropriate…

Partnerships among professionals within urban school districts and teacher preparation programs are necessary to address teacher shortages through innovative and sustained professional learning from initial clinical experiences through induction (Yendol-Hoppey & Hoppey, 2018). A collaborative model of teacher preparation was envisioned and…

This qualitative, phenomenological case study was to determine the impact the state accountability system has on school improvement practices for schools that have been designated under the statewide system of support. Nine district and school level leaders were interviewed from one suburban school district designated as…