In this article, we advance a conceptual framework for the study of Teach For America (TFA) as a political and social movement with implicit and explicit ideological and political underpinnings. We argue that the second branch of TFA's mission statement, which maintains that TFA's greatest point of influence in public education is not in…

The purpose of this article is twofold as it aims to compliment the effort of identifying the personal qualities and professional competencies generic to effective school leaders and to contribute to the comparison of effective leadership in diverse cultural contexts. Five examples of successful school principals in rural primary schools in Cyprus…

This paper outlines the initial findings of an action research project that focuses on the possible contribution of peer observation to a more collaborative environment and teachers' professional growth at The University High School. The research component played a significant part as previous attempts to change the culture at the school were…

This study investigates the managerial career development of two Arab women, pioneer principals within the Arab education system in Israel. Using in-depth interviews relating to the characteristics of the different stages leading up to and within their careers as school principals (childhood and academic studies; the struggle to achieve the…

Leader succession is often the result of a broken system, resulting in the loss of leadership gains from the exiting leader and leaving the incoming leader without proper support for success. This system needs replacing, with a system of dynamic succession planning that is carefully planned and an integral part of a school's improvement plan. To…

Restructuring large schools into smaller, more personalized learning communities focused on developing students academically, socially, and emotionally has the potential to produce better outcomes for students. Although small school reform in large urban high schools has been the focus of the research literature on school reform in the last…

The higher education sector has increasingly begun to pay more attention to academic leadership. This qualitative study explores how such an investment in a 20-week leadership development program influenced the behaviour of 10 academic staff in the role of program coordinator 6 to 12 months following participation in the program. Otherwise known…

This paper examines the processes of implementing curriculum reform in schools. Specifically, it investigates how schools learn lessons from previous experiences of reform and apply them when challenged by new reforms. The context for this study is Hong Kong's New Secondary School Curriculum (NSSC), with particular reference to the subject of…

Research Findings: This article describes research into leadership practice for school improvement in Hong Kong preschools at a time when there was a move toward increased accountability. Two schools were selected for study, both of which were rated as excellent in the quality assurance inspections of the Education Bureau. Leadership practice for…

Leadership has been under-researched in the Early Years (EY) sector of primary schools in England, especially in leading change for professional development. The aim of this paper is to theorise what the leadership culture for EY practitioners looks like, and how Initial Teacher Training providers and schools are preparing practitioners for…

Traditionally schools in the past were mostly homogenous, but with demographic shifts, schools are becoming more ethnically diverse, disadvantaged, and multilingual. In contrast, the teaching population still reflects that outdated homogenous template: "predominantly white and female," middle-class, and unilingual. This exploratory study examined…

The idea of inclusive education has featured very highly in the educational priorities of many countries. Our involvement with the literature that relates to inclusion leads to the conclusion that, if we are interested in moving towards more inclusive practices, a factor that has to be studied in more depth is leadership and its role in developing…

Much of the research into teacher appraisal and performance management has focused on the experience of the classroom teacher. In this article, I will: (1) concentrate on the perspectives of the senior managers in secondary schools; (2) consider their views of the purpose of performance management; (3) compare their methods of implementation of…

The boards of governors (BOG) are legally mandated by the ministry of education under the education act Cap 211 to manage secondary schools in Kenya. Their immediate roles have not been defined in the laws and there are no standards that have been adopted to measure their effectiveness. This study investigates effectiveness of the BOG in…

Through case studies of 10 elementary schools in Chicago, this article examines principal leadership in low-performing schools. The data include 331 interviews with teachers, administrators, external partners, and others over a 2-year period. Using transformational leadership as a lens, we found that principals in schools that moved off probation…