Within the realm of K-12 education, instability is an inherent feature that school leaders must successfully manage. "Turbulence," in the form of micro-level issues (day-to-day, in-house happenings) and macro-level concerns (externally imposed organizational disturbances/changes), develops indiscriminately and may escalate quickly…

The purpose of the study was to explore, discover, and understand organizational leadership processes in successful inner city schools. In order to understand the phenomenon taking place in inner city schools that were able to overcome the many challenges present in urban school settings and increase the likelihood of success in ethnic student…

This paper utilizes the theoretical framework of complexity theory to compare and contrast leadership and educational change in two urban schools. Drawing on the notion of a complex adaptive system--an interdependent network of interacting elements that learns and evolves in adapting to an ever-shifting context--our case studies seek to reveal the…

In this study, we consider three school leaders in Haiti who provide examples of innovative and exemplary leadership practices in the midst of challenging circumstances. Using a framework of innovative (Moolenaar, Daly, & Sleeger, 2010; Rogers, 2003) and exemplary leadership practices (Kouzes & Posner, 2006), we examine three themes that…

This case study examines the leadership practices and actions of an urban high school principal who faced many challenges, but worked diligently to improve student achievement and school climate over a 3-year period. Significant improvements were made by using elements of Distributed Leadership, Professional Learning Communities, and Social…

The purpose of this research was to understand ways exemplary award winning secondary school leaders have transformed their schools for twenty-first-century education and student achievement. This article presents three diverse case studies and identifies ways that each school's leader and leadership team reconfigured its culture and expectations,…

Principal leadership is crucial to improving school effectiveness and positively affecting organizational culture in the midst of expectations from education reform mandates. Principals who provide direction and exercise influence can inspire commitment from organizational members to attain shared goals. Rural school principals face unique…

The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine how district leaders of two school systems in the USA describe an effective principal. Membership categorisation analysis revealed that district leaders believed an effective principal had four major categories of characteristics: (1) documented characteristics (having a track record and being a…

This study investigated selected elementary school teachers' perceptions of principals' leadership. Ten South Carolina schools were selected based on the criterion of 50% or higher poverty index. Five schools included the feature of recognition by the state for academic success for one year or more over the 2003-2006 timeframe. One hundred three…

This study examined a relatively new but growing set of leadership challenges that the leader of the modern organization faces more frequently due to the dynamics of the workplace. The new challenges involve leading a workforce virtually, in that more frequently workers are physically dispersed away from the leader and fellow workers. The second…

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…

Interest in the concept of distributed leadership has increased as evidenced in the recent literature. While there has been much discussion, there has been scant empirical evidence of distributed leadership in practice. This research study examines one middle school where educators practiced distributed leadership daily. Approached from an…

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to document the leadership journey of one female superintendent who transformed the interface of a school district to create organizational change. The case study focused specifically on the leadership of Dr. Phyllis Wilson and the alignment of her leadership to the Educational Leadership Constituent…

Current literature on public school superintendents of color emphasize how these leaders leverage personal characteristics of resiliency, networking, and a commitment to equity to overcome obstacles to entry and retention in the superintendency. However, this literature fails to address with detail the nature of the resistance these administrators…

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…