The role of leadership in the educational process has come to the forefront of international research through the establishment of new organizations and the number of studies that have been conducted. New concepts and types of leadership enter the educational arena in order to meet the contemporary needs of principals and students. Styles of…

Mentors and school heads play cardinal roles in teacher education programmes in most countries, including Zimbabwe. The side-effects of such symbiosis have not yet been investigated fully. This article used a qualitative methodological approach to investigate the perceptions of some Zimbabwean student teachers regarding their teaching practice…

It is well reported in the literature that professional development activities have great potential to increase teachers' competencies in different areas, resulting in greater learning opportunities for students. In Turkey, however, teachers' participation in professional development activities is significantly lower compared to almost all…

The purpose of the current study is to reveal the relationship between the specific leadership behaviors of principals and teacher collaboration in Turkish primary schools, controlling for several school characteristics, such as school size and average class size, and the demographic characteristics of teachers, such as level of education and…

The following vignette relates Becky Overholt's experience during a formal observation by her principal. At the time, Becky had a master's degree in curriculum, was a sixth-grade language arts teacher, and had 20 years of teaching experience. (Contains 1 table and 1 figure.)

The present phenomenological study was designed to explore the perceived influence of mentorship relationships on the career aspirations of Hispanic students attending a community college in Central Texas. Semistructured one-on-one interviews focused on gaining an insight into the influence that 10 Hispanic students perceived mentoring had on…

Current school reform efforts aim to improve teaching and learning with emphasis on accountability for student achievement. The success of school reform depends on the motivation and capacities of school leaders. It is important to know what effective leadership practices look like to understand the direct impact to student achievement,…

The purpose of this study was to gain an understanding of superintendents' beliefs about technology leadership barriers and about how superintendents actually engage in technology leadership practices. There is currently limited research available on the topic from a district superintendent's perspective. Qualitative data from focus group…

This qualitative multiple case study examines how principals contribute to the success of exemplar elementary PBIS schools in North Carolina and how their thoughts about PBIS informed their actions. Guided by the literature on principals and change efforts and sensemaking, this study used individual interviews, focus group interviews, field notes,…

This study identified the core internal metaphors of 8 community college presidents, 4 females and 4 males. The participants of this study resided in both rural and metropolitan communities. Core internal metaphors were adopted due to a strong association to a primary conceptual metaphor, which the participants had internalized as a result of…

This edited book highlights the importance and complexity of the assistant principalship. As noted in all the chapters, the assistant principal is a critical partner in creating a professional learning community that serves all students well. Often neglected or ignored in the literature, assistant principals are more than disciplinarians and…

Scholars have identified a potential community college leadership crisis as a large percentage of community college presidents prepare to retire (Shults, 2001; Weisman & Vaughan, 2007). The most common pathway to the community college presidency has been through the chief academic officer (CAO) position (Vaughan, 1990). Selection of future…

This dissertation is a qualitative study on the decision-making of administrators within California's Beginning Teacher Support and Assessment (BTSA) teacher induction program. The study focuses on examining how declining resources act as a pressure, how well-established research on cutback management predict the behaviors of the BTSA…

With reform movements besieging American schools, building administrators are increasingly called to lead the change process. The purpose of this study was to determine how the role of building administrators in literacy reform was viewed by teachers and how these perceptions influenced teacher practice and school improvement efforts. The study…

The role of the district superintendent as an instructional leader in systemic change is paramount to the degree and sustainability of change. Through the use of an electronic survey incorporating closed- and open-ended questions, the study examined the characteristics, habits of mind or dispositions, and leadership skills or styles used by an…