How stressed are school superintendents? What are the reasons for their stress? To find out, authors surveyed 150 superintendents in American School District Panel member districts. In spring 2023, 79 percent of superintendents reported that their jobs were "often" or "always" stressful. Superintendents most commonly cited the…

Although an emerging field in the leadership literature, destructive leadership is an under-researched area in the context of education. Destructive leadership in schools is the focus of the article. To understand the phenomenon we first undertake a transdisciplinary review of the literature from across philosophy, psychology and sociology. We…

The lived experiences of eight Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) university presidents and chancellors in North America revealed the racism and discrimination these Asian academic executives faced and provided counternarratives to dismantle a White normative perspective. While these executive stories were meant to be understood as a…

We experience some rapid and unexpected changes especially within the incoherent and asunder school policies and implementations that are unsuitable for the demands and expectations of school stakeholders. Furthermore, the internal and other external obstacles and non-ideal situations such as lack of resources, negative school climate, less…

This article reviews some leadership and management literature dealing with emotional demands in professional contexts. An image of the "real self", requiring emotional privacy, is highly valued by individuals subjected to intense emotional demands. It is argued that the "real self" and emotional privacy ought to be defended…

Purpose: The objective of this study is to investigate and characterize principals' backgrounds, individual and school level factors associated with leadership stability, and principal career paths and exit behaviors in Missouri. Method: In this study, the authors construct two data sets of practicing school principals in the state of Missouri:…

The Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS) is a system of related questionnaires that provide descriptive data on the context of elementary and secondary education and policymakers a variety of statistics on the condition of education in the United States. The SASS system covers a wide range of topics from teacher demand, teacher and principal…

In the fast paced, fluid contemporary world, and in a headlong rush to invent the future, there is a tendency to jettison aspects of the past as flotsam and jetsam, unworthy of a place in steerage into the future. This paper argues that is some respects the ordinary heroes and heroines who enact school leaderships, and from their practice…

A lot is expected of Slovenian principals, yet very little is known about aspiring principals' own expectations of principalship. Currently there is no Slovenian study of aspiring principals, although they represent the majority of those enrolled on the "certification programme" of the National School for Leadership in Education. The…

Bad bosses use their positions as a personal playing field for games of their own making. Good bosses delegate authority, support their subordinates, enjoy their jobs, and have a healthy sense of humor. Varieties of bad bosses include disagreeable taskmasters, overly ambitious coverup artists, and outright "wackos." Educators can thrive…

Three conditions distinguish school administrators' work from that of nonschool colleagues: schools' uniquely moral character; a highly educated, autonomous, and permanent workforce; and regular, predictable threats to organizational stability. This environment demands that school administrators rely more excessively on leadership than routine…

This study uses multivariate analysis of a large panel dataset to examine the determinants of principal retention (and, thus, the determinants of attracting a principal away from her current position). The empirical model incorporates measures of a principal's traits and of the organizational structure, culture, and situational context within a…

This article examines the effectiveness of observable and quantifiable traits in and approaches of school principals in enhancing student achievement. Data were gathered on 2,048 fourth-grade students in 96 public primary schools in Leon, Mexico; Belo Horizonte, Brazil; Buenos Aires, Argentina; and Santiago, Chile. The UNESCO/ORELAC (United…

The purpose of this exploratory qualitative study was to determine what successful managers do to create healthy work environments in a healthcare organization. Managers using exemplary behaviors were selected and interviewed based on employee satisfaction surveys, and focus groups were conducted with employees who worked for them. Effective…

This book presents the largest and most comprehensive look at the men and women leading the nation's public schools. This profile of the school superintendency offers a close examination of: (1) superintendents' personal characteristics, professional experience, and professional preparation and training; (2) superintendent/school board relations;…