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An appreciative inquiry (AI) collaborative study with 11 school administrators in a highly diverse suburban school district sought to understand if observing and sharing successful school practices/events in a whole group setting led to change in their perceptions, attitudes, and administrative practice. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

The study took place over a ten-week period with a group of self-selected (voluntary participation) school administrative participants.

There were two findings: the AI focus of inquiry on successful practices/events shapes school administrator perceptions, attitudes, and application of craft knowledge to practice; and the school administrators’ sharing of successful practices/events in a whole group setting generated new forms of practice during the ten-week study.

The findings suggest that reflection and integration of successful practices/events are a source of craft knowledge advancing changes in school administrative practice.

The COVID-19 pandemic prompted changes to the terms and conditions of teachers' employment (e.g. working conditions), leading school districts to renegotiate collective bargaining agreements with teachers' unions. However, limited research has examined how these negotiations occur in times of crisis. This study aims to analyze how school district and teachers' union administrators adapted workplace policies to meet staff and student needs during the COVID-19 pandemic by using a panel dataset of Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) negotiated in 187 large US school districts.

The authors used the partial independence item response method to estimate MOU restrictiveness measures that captured the extent to which MOUs limited school administrator autonomy in setting the terms and conditions of teachers' employment. Descriptive analyses and ordinary least squares regression models showed how the scope of collective bargaining negotiations expanded during the COVID-19 pandemic, and how restrictiveness varied across school districts based on district and union characteristics.

Results showed that school district and teachers' union administrators increased restrictions on school administrator autonomy in the spring of 2020, but these restrictions decreased by fall 2021. The level of restrictions agreed upon varied based on the strength of teachers' unions and political partisanship of school districts. The COVID-19 pandemic led to an expansion of collective bargaining negotiations to include previously unconsidered topics such as employee and student health and remote instruction.

This study is one of the first to examine the modifications made to collective bargaining agreements during times of crisis by school district and teachers' union administrators. The findings suggest that there were considerable changes to the terms and conditions of teachers' employment during the COVID-19 pandemic, and that the strength of teachers' unions and political partisanship were associated with negotiation outcomes.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate power and its influence on the teaching assignment process and school-based decision making.

Qualitative interpretive design and thematic analysis were used. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with teachers and administrators.

Both teachers and administrators discussed power and social capital as components of the teaching assignment process. Teachers viewed the origins of their social capital differently than administrators and felt social capital was evident in school-based decision making and the teaching assignment process.

Participants were demographically rather homogeneous. Further studies with a diverse sample could examine race and gender as factors in the teaching assignment process.

This study demonstrates a need for administrators to examine how they consider social capital when distributing teaching assignments and involving teachers in school-based decision making. Administrators’ actions may result in teacher tracking, disadvantaging marginalized and at-risk student populations.

There is a clear disconnect between administrator and teacher understanding of the purpose and practice of teaching assignment distribution. Administrators were unaware of their own power, how they wielded it, and the effect it had on teachers.

Few studies have examined teacher–administrator power relations or the teaching assignment process at the secondary level. This study connects the teaching assignment process to social capital and power.

School administrators must be forward looking and recognize shifting paradigms in contemporary society. The rapid rate of change in the new millennium influences administrators in the small rural school district as well as the large urban school district. An effective school administrator understands the significance of needed change and consequences of what it means to be a change‐driven school administrator. A starting point for an effective school administrator is to know when it is time to leave one paradigm and embrace a new paradigm shift.

The purpose of this paper is to present qualitative evidence on the processes and forces that shape school administrator career paths.

An embedded case study approach is used to understand more than 100 administrator career transitions within the Delaware education system. Semi‐structured interview data were collected from 48 principals and assistant principals. Coding and analysis occurred through an iterative process, revealing patterns in processes and forces influencing the careers of school administrators.

While some career decisions are self‐initiated, most are influenced in part or entirely by other actors in the system, described as recruiting/tapping, requesting, reassigning, passing over, and removing. In self‐initiated decisions to move or stay, a number of “pushes” and “pulls” are identified. Findings also suggest the decision to stay‐equilibrium is driven by relationships with students and by district support.

Data are limited to Delaware and represent the voices of principals and assistant principals only. Patterns evident in the data suggest a need to further investigate administrator career behavior qualitatively, as well as directions for future research.

There is a need to better understand and improve local human resource processes in terms of recruitment and assignment of administrators. Additional research is needed to better identify processes and forces related to career decisions in order to improve leadership recruitment and retention.

This research represents the first large‐scale qualitative study of administrator career behavior and is an important companion to recent quantitative analyses in this area.

The purpose of this exploratory study is to explore parent and school administrator perspectives on the value and nature of parent involvement in the city of Abu Dhabi through their perceptions of roles and responsibilities.

The study is conducted in a random purposive sample of Public–Private Partnership schools during Abu Dhabi Education Council’s school reform.

Findings show that while both administrators and parents agree on the value of parental involvement, the perceptions of their own and each others’ roles and responsibilities means that parent involvement is characterized by unfulfilled expectations.

Recommendations are made to arrive at realistic roles and responsibilities for parent involvement and recommendations for a model of mutually responsive practice to evolve within a policy framework, with the support of ADEC, and informed by international and locally based research.

The paper sheds light on a new educational dimension beyond curricula and instruction.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the significant challenges school administrators encountered leading a one-to-one laptop school and what vision school administrators have for one-to-one laptop use in the classroom.

The methodology for this study was a case study approach. In total, 15 school administrators were interviewed from the Western region of the USA.

Results from the study indicated that significant challenges for school administrators were budgeting and sustaining the initiative, and negotiating and setting expectations for instructional use with teachers. School administrators also envisioned one-to-one laptop use as a mean to enhance student-centered learning and inquiry.

Further research is needed which examines how school administrators make financial decisions in regards to sustaining one-on-one laptop initiatives and how they manage conflict with teachers in respect to one-to-one laptop instruction.

Minimal literature exists which examines the challenges and vision of school technology leaders. Policy-makers and school administrators can use the findings to recreate teacher evaluation forms, develop conflict management strategies and teaching standards that are aligned and conducive to one-to-one laptop schools.

Recognizing the need for a pool of diverse future administrators, the Los Angeles Unified School District entered into a partnership with the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at California State University, Northridge to prepare the next generation of leaders. The process to develop the program and produce the cadre of candidates is a study in the facilitation of the transition of educators from teachers to administrators. This chapter examines the issues encountered and the processes established to create a rigorous, accessible master's degree/Administrative Credential Program that met the needs of the students and the school district.

Recent teacher evaluation reforms around the globe substantially increased the number of teacher observations, consequently raising observers' (typically school administrators') observational loads. The purpose of this study is to examine associations between observational loads and school administrator turnover, reported time use and strain.

The study uses education administrative data from the state of Tennessee to examine the link between observational loads and school administrator outcomes of interest. The results present credible regression estimates that isolate variation in observational loads within schools over time and within observers over time.

The evidence suggests individual school administrators allocate a set amount of time to observations that is insensitive to observational load and seemingly assign observations to colleagues strategically. School administrator reports do not suggest observational loads are associated with negative unintended consequences on administrator strain or observer turnover.

The study contributes to the literature on teacher evaluation by shedding light on how the constraints posed by an evaluation system may affect the work of school administrators. It also extends the job demands-resources theory that describes worker responses to new job demands.

The chapter examines school administrator responsibilities to special education students and their families from case scenarios based on conflicts between parents and districts regarding services provided by schools to special education students. From these case studies based on real case law, readers are exposed to situations intended to pose questions as to whether administrators met their responsibility to ensure the rights of the special education students. Principals, superintendents, and special education administrators committed to work together to make their school environment and optimal place for children to learn. An equally important role for school administrators is to create and maintain cultures where faculty understand their advocacy role for all children, but in particular, those children most in need of support. Effective administrators hold themselves and other professionals in their district to high standards related to knowledge of school law, particularly special education school law; communication with parents and other professionals; and collaborations based on the value of what is best for the student. This chapter concludes with a section on ethical leadership or the values underlying administrative actions affecting individualized education program students, their families, and all students who are different whether due to socioeconomic status, cultural differences, or race.