Our fourth book in the International Research on School Leadership series focuses on school leadership in an era of high stakes accountability. Fueled by sweeping federal education accountability reforms, such as the United States’ No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and Race to the Top (R2T) and Australia’s Performance Measurement and Reporting Taskforce, school systems around the world are being forced to increase academic standards, participate in high-stakes testing, and raise evaluation standards for teachers and principals. These results-driven reforms are intended to hold educators “accountable for student learning and accountable to the public” (Anderson, 2005, p. 2, emphasis in original). While policymakers and the public debate the merits of student achievement accountability measures, P-12 educational leaders do not have the luxury to wait for clear guidance and resources to improve their schools and operating systems. Instead, successful leaders must balance the need to create learning communities, manage the organizational climate, and encourage community involvement with the consequences testing has on teacher morale and public scrutiny. The chapters in this volume clearly indicate that as school leaders attend to these potentially competing forces, this affects their problem-solving strategies, ability to facilitate change, and encourage community involvement. We were delighted with the responses from colleagues around the world who were eager to share their research dealing with how leaders are functioning effectively within a high-accountability environment. The nine chapters in this volume provide empirical evidence of the strategies school leaders use to cope with problems and negotiate external demands while improving student performance. In particular, the voices and actions of principals, superintendents, and school board members are captured in a blend of quantitative and qualitative studies. The breadth of studies is impressive, ranging from case studies of individual principals to cross-district comparisons to national data from the National Center for Education Statistics. To highlight important findings, we have organized the book into five sections. The first section (Chapters 2, 3, and 4) highlights the problem-solving strategies used by principals and superintendents when pressured to turn around low-performing schools. In the second section (Chapters 5 and 6), attention is devoted to ways in which school leaders act as “buffers” by reducing the impact of external demands within their local school contexts. Next, Chapters 7 and 8 explore creative ways in which financial analyses can be used to assess the cost effectiveness of programs and services. Chapters 9 and 10 examine how principals enact their instructional leadership roles in managing curriculum reforms and evaluating teachers. Finally, in the last section (Chapter 11), Kenneth Leithwood synthesizes the major themes and ideas emerging across these chapters, paying particular attention to practical issues influencing school leaders in this era of school reform and accountability as well as promising areas for future research.

Supervision: New Perspectives for Theory and Practice co-edited by two prominent scholars in the field (Jeffrey Glanz and Sally Zepeda),draws attention to supervision as a function that is often misunderstood, under-appreciated, and frequently controversial. Much has changed in the last two decades in the education world. These changes have inevitably influenced the theory and practice of supervision. This text includes some of the top scholars in the field in the USA to offer their insights to important topics and issues in supervision. To strike a balance, the editors also included award-winning practitioners who share their insights about supervision. We hope that this volume raises awareness to several critical issues that affect teachers, administrators, and policy makers. With the range of topics associated with supervision, we believe that the authors offer an informed and lively discussion of supervision in the present and future contexts of schools. Through our efforts, we believe that the multiple contexts in which supervision unfolds are examined alongside trends including high-stakes testing, the uses of data, the work superintendents do to supervise principals, and the type of supervision that builds a just and caring school culture that is culturally relevant and respectful for teachers and leaders.

This Handbook provides a comprehensive overview of the modern economics of education literature, bringing together a series of original contributions by globally renowned experts in their fields. Covering a wide variety of topics, each chapter assesses the most recent research with an emphasis on skills, evaluation and data analytics.

The monitoring of data within educational institutions is essential to ensure the success of its students and faculty. By continually analyzing data, educational leaders can increase quality and productivity in their institutions. Data Leadership for K-12 Schools in a Time of Accountability explores techniques and processes of educational data analysis and its application in developing solutions and systems for instructional concerns and next-generation learning. Providing extensive research covering areas such as data-driven culture, student accountability, and data dissemination, this unique reference is essential for principals, administrators, practitioners, academicians, students, and educational consultants looking to maximize their institution’s performance.

Despite the rising interest in school districts, there are relatively few comprehensive resources available for graduate students in educational leadership programs. The Challenges of School District Leadership takes the position that the best way to prepare the next generation of school district leaders is to make certain that they are prepared to address the unending challenges that characterize public education today. Drawing on the latest research as well as actual examples, the book spotlights ten of the perennial challenges facing superintendents and school boards. Among the challenges discussed in detail are balancing equity and excellence, accommodating demographic change, coping with the increasing politicization of district leadership, deciding how to organize (or reorganize) a school system, and meeting the demands of educational accountability. This text is appropriate for graduate students in educational leadership, education policy, and the politics of education as well as school district leaders.

“Although standards-based reform emerged in the United States and the United Kingdom, the idea has spread across the world, as an approach to systemic reform. It might appear that there is a world-wide “tsunami” of standards-based reform that will standardize and homogenize the educational system across the globe. This volume makes it very clear, however, that there is no one approach to standards-based reform and countries change – there is a danger in paying attention to its evolution and impact in only one context. That’s what makes this volume so valuable. Louis Volante has drawn together descriptions from a wide range of countries, all involved in large-scale reform and using standards and assessments as part of their process. What becomes very obvious is that the language may be the same but the words reflect different contexts and can represent very different ideals, values, and processes. I’m sure you will find this book as interesting and challenging as I have – a gem that pushes your thinking and does not allow readers to remain neutral.” (Lorna Earl)

The Journal of School Leadership is broadening the conversation about schools and leadership and is currently accepting manuscripts. We welcome manuscripts based on cutting-edge research from a wide variety of theoretical perspectives and methodological orientations. The editorial team is particularly interested in working with international authors, authors from traditionally marginalized populations, and in work that is relevant to practitioners around the world. Growing numbers of educators and professors look to the six bimonthly issues to: deal with problems directly related to contemporary school leadership practice teach courses on school leadership and policy use as a quality reference in writing articles about school leadership and improvement.

This Handbook explores the discourse within the field of educational leadership and management. It provides a clear analysis of the current field as well as older foundational ideas and newer concepts which are beginning to permeate the discussion. The field of educational leadership and management has long acknowledged that educational contexts include a variety of leaders beyond school principals and other school officials such as informal and middle level leaders. By looking at the knowledge dynamic rather than a static knowledge base , this Handbook allows research to be presented in its multidimensional, evolving reality.

An Age of Accountability highlights the role of test-based accountability as a policy framework in American education from 1970 to 2020. For more than half a century, the quest to hold schools and educators accountable for academic achievement has relied almost exclusively on standardized assessment. The theory of change embedded in almost all test-based accountability programs held that assessment with stipulated consequences could lead to major improvements in schools. This was accomplished politically by proclaiming lofty goals of attaining universal proficiency and closing achievement gaps, which repeatedly failed to materialize. But even after very clear disappointments, no other policy framework has emerged to challenge its hegemony. The American public today has little confidence in institutions to improve the quality of goods and services they provide, especially in the public sector. As a consequence, many Americans continue to believe that accountability remains a vital necessity, even if educators and policy scholars disagree.

Tools and techniques from the trailblazers in data-based education reform Over a period of several years, Amanda Datnow and Vicki Park visited public schools with a reputation for being ahead of the pack in data-driven decision making. The results of this pioneering study reveal how education leaders can make data work for students and teachers, rather than against them. This book is an essential guide to meeting the challenges of high-stakes accountability, building performance-based schools, and improving student outcomes. By following the advice in this book, you’ll be able to transform data overload into a data-positive school culture. You’ll learn the difference between “data-driven leadership” and “data-informed leadership,” and how to use distributed leadership to inspire collaboration and guided analysis. Incorporating narrative reflections drawn from real educators and administrators, the authors refine their observations and interviews into practical conclusions that leaders can put to use immediately. This book empowers leaders to support inquiry, build trust in data-based initiatives, establish goals for evidence use, and provide educators with the skills they need to mobilize data for the good of all stakeholders. “Datnow and Park’s ideas are easily accessible and grounded in clear examples, and their seven ‘calls’ about what needs to be done nail the problem and the solutions. Use this book as your action guide and you’ll be rewarded with better results in student learning.” —Michael Fullan, professor emeritus, University of Toronto “Datnow and Park uncover, at last, what it means to use data to inform leadership. Documenting the four P’s (people, policies, practices, and patterns) in schools, we learn about the organization and dynamics of reform informed by data. A must read!” —Ann Lieberman, senior scholar, Stanford University