Leadership is currently viewed as a guarantee for educational quality and reforms, as a crucial component for schools' capacity building and as a major contributor to the transformation of practices. Although an array of leadership studies report on the need for leadership by demonstrating what leaders must do or how leadership practices should be…

We assessed the extent to which parents of children with autism spectrum disorder report that they are engaged in shared decision making. We measured the association between shared decision making and (a) satisfaction with care, (b) perceived guidance regarding controversial issues in autism spectrum disorder, and (c) perceived assistance…

In recent years, the Western discourse on distributed leadership has attracted increased attention in Chinese societies that have traditionally relied on highly centralized administrative systems in which power is located in the person of the school principal or other unit leader. This article explores the implications of applying the concept of…

Schools must be learning organizations, but learning does not happen automatically. Visiting classrooms, reviewing student work, collecting artifacts, and analyzing achievement data is essential to the health of a school and its ability to educate students. One of the key ways the school administrators of Pottsgrove Middle School in Pottstown,…

In this article, we quantified Japanese residents' potential preferences for public participation, specifically public meetings, concerning regional environmental issues in Yodo River watershed decision-making process. We conducted a choice experiments (CE) survey in the Yodo River watershed in Japan. Our findings confirmed that residents assign a…

Teacher working conditions surveys provide biennial, comprehensive data regarding school leadership. This case describes how a Title I middle school principal proactively addresses end-of-year data to address identified needs and growth areas in a collaborative manner in her middle school. The principal works in a concerted manner with an…

This article aims to illustrate a school self-evaluation project implemented in three Cyprus primary schools. The project adopted three theoretical assumptions, namely, an orientation towards school improvement, a participatory school-level approach allowing support from a critical friend and a focus on effective teaching. In line with a…

This article draws from a small-scale study of headteachers motivated to positively impact on the quality of pupil experience by involving all staff in a distributed perspective on leadership. Each headteacher perceived leadership as involving learned processes requiring support and experience, expending considerable effort in providing a fertile…

Despite the importance of a democratic school context, little is known about its underling processes. The present research examined in how far a positive social-emotional classroom climate, namely perceptions of community in class and fairness of teachers, furthers students' democratic experiences in school (i.e., open classroom climate for…

This study compared 120 Chinese immigrant parents and 127 non-Chinese parents from New Zealand preschools on their level of involvement in preschool-based activities, as well as key predictors of parental involvement. Results showed that Chinese immigrant parents had a lower level of involvement than non-Chinese parents across three forms of…

This study focused on the factors that affect motivation of faculty in Saudi Arabia. It included two surveys and open-ended queries to a focus group of five academic managers and 25 faculty members of varying nationalities, rank, and institutes in Saudi Arabia. The research showed that the faculties in Saudi Arabia's highest education industry…

The intent of this study is to determine whether there was a difference between school board members' perceptions of their own behaviors and beliefs related to student achievement in California's high-performing poverty districts as opposed to such perceptions in low-performing poverty districts. Due to the findings of this study, the author calls…

The vision and mission of Universitas Terbuka (UT) is to become a highly qualified open and distance education institution and to provide higher education access to all communities. Graduates of UT are expected to acquire adequate knowledge, hard skills and soft skills. Soft skills play important roles in the world of work. The aim of this article…

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…

The paper presents the findings of the first year of a nationally funded Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC) project on the quality management of online learning environments by and through distributed leadership. The project is being undertaken by five Australian universities with major commitments to online and distance education.…