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The purpose of this article is to present the results obtained from the investigations that have been carried out within the International Successful School Principalship Project (ISSPP) project in the Spanish for social justice.

Twelve case studies have been carried out within the three lines of research proposed by ISSPP: successful principals, underperforming principals and principal leadership identity. All but one school were in challenging contexts. The methodological approach followed is based on multiple perspective case studies using a mixture of qualitative methods (interviews, focus groups and observations).

Results show that successful principals not only believe in social justice through simple empathy with the concept of social justice, but also use strategies that combine transformational and instructional leadership processes and manage to reverse the bad situation of their disadvantaged schools, seeking excellence from equity. The leadership identity of successful principals is characterized to look to the future with hope, adopting a realistic utopian attitude to interpret their surrounding reality.

From the case studies carried out, valuable information is obtained, which helps to understand the possibilities of implementing the ISSPP successful school leadership model in heterogeneous and disadvantaged context for equity and social justice.

The purpose of the article is to examine knowledge about successful principalship and discuss the methodology that has emerged throughout the history of the International Successful School Principals Project (ISSPP) and their implications for future progress.

Historical analysis is used as a strategy for establishing the background, the expansion and the progress of ISSPP as a long-standing international research network and to discuss the development of three research strands and methodological variations over time. The analysis provides a basis for pointing at some areas that need more attention in the future.

The findings suggest multiple images of the meaning of key concepts in the project and multiple theoretical and methodological orientations. There is a need to pay more attention to methodologies to make the successful cases more comparable and also to clarify the underlying assumptions of the different approaches.

Successful school principalship is a complex phenomenon. Therefore, future studies of successful schools and leadership would benefit from the use of knowledge that draws on sociology, cultural studies and politics.

The aim of this paper is to identify the role of the principal in establishing a whole school approach for health and wellbeing. Two questions are asked: (1) What do successful Swedish principals do when they take on a whole school approach? (2) How do these results relate to previous research on successful school leadership?

This paper focuses on the complexity of organisational processes and considers the role of successful leadership in managing a whole school approach to health promotion. It presents findings from two different but interlinked projects, and draws on document studies and interviews with principals, student health team members and teachers in Sweden.

This paper argues that successful school leaders are crucial in establishing a whole school approach, because of the work they do to synchronise the health-promoting activities in schools. The study identifies four aspects of coordination that need to be enacted simultaneously when leading health-promoting processes. The fifth aspect identified is that a whole school approach is not limited to the school, but the whole local school context, i.e. a synchronisation between different system levels.

Although limited in scale, this paper reports key findings that could have practical implications for school leaders. The study suggests that successful school leadership research needs to use a health-promoting lens in order to make leadership practices health-promoting practices. It also proposes extended comparative research from different fields and contexts.

The main purpose of this study is to identify the successful leadership practices of head teachers for school improvement at secondary level in Pakistan.

The study was descriptive (survey type) in nature. It was conducted on a sample of 351 secondary school head teachers, 702 elementary and secondary school teachers working in the government secondary schools of Punjab province. Data were collected using a mixed‐methods research design that included: review of related literature, documents indicating school achievements and student attainment, questionnaires and in‐depth semi‐structured interviews with different stakeholders including the head teachers, teachers, parents and students. The validity and reliability of the instruments was ensured through experts' opinions and pilot testing in mid‐2007; the overall reliability was established at 0.923 alpha level.

The findings of the study revealed that the majority of the head teachers of successful schools developed a common and shared school vision and promoted a culture of collaboration, support and trust. They empowered others to lead and distributed leadership responsibilities throughout the school; involved different stakeholders in the process of decision making; developed and maintained good relationships among different personnel of school community. They emphasised the professional development of teachers as well as themselves, and involved parents and community in the process of school improvement.

The findings of this article may be useful for other countries of almost similar socio‐economic status, to improve quality of teaching and learning at secondary level.

The paper shows that policy makers, administrators, managers and head teachers at secondary school level may improve school performance by adopting effective strategies for school improvement in Pakistan.

This paper seeks to explore principals' leadership in successful Indonesian secondary schools from the perspectives of multiple sources of data.

Inspired by the ISSPP, three schools which met the set criteria of successful schools were selected to be the cases for this study. Within each, individual or group interviews were conducted with the principal, vice‐principal, three teachers, one support staff member, two groups of students, one group of parents, and the school committee president. The collected data were transcribed, coded and categorized following the emerging themes, and interpreted using inductive and deductive methods.

Whilst confirming several common practices of successful school leadership from earlier research, the principals from the three successful schools in Yogyakarta also demonstrated significant differences, particularly in terms of beliefs and values that underpinned their leadership. These values include Islamic and cultural beliefs and values which were strong and enduring, and which were articulated in the school leadership and strategies. The principals demonstrated ability in developing the school vision, setting strategies, building capacity, and establishing a broader network to achieve the benefits of school improvement.

The paper provides an insight into school leadership practices in the Asian context, particularly in Indonesian Muslim schools, which have suffered from a lack of attention from international researchers. The paper will also contribute to a worldview of successful school leadership characteristics and practices, the research into which has been piloted in the International Successful School Principalship Project (ISSPP).

Through description and consideration of 12 models developed as part of the International Successful School Principalship Project (ISSPP), a new model of successful school leadership is developed.

The paper is necessarily descriptive in nature. For the first time, 12 ISSPP models are described together, and these descriptions are then used inductively to create a new successful school leadership model.

The open systems approach adopted depicts schools as a continuous cycle of input-transformation-output with feedback loops that inform each stage of the cycle. The inputs are the variables that lead to transformation. The transformation stage is the actions or processes that individuals, groups and organisations engage in because of the inputs, and these lead to a range of student and school outcomes. Feedback loops connect the stages, and the whole model is open to the influence of five contextual forces: economic, political, socio-cultural, technological and system, institutional and educational.

Models are an important way to make sense of complex phenomena. A new model of successful school leadership, with an open systems approach, provides a different frame to consider the findings of the ISSPP and potentially allows the ISSPP research to inform practice and connect with other school leadership views in new ways.

Through discussion of research about the leadership of two schools, this paper explores the complexity of school leadership and how various contextual elements interact with the work of principals in schools that are attempting to create inclusive, rich, worthwhile and unique schools. A systems thinking leadership and context model is developed to frame the exploration of the two cases, which, in turn, helps inform the veracity and development of the model.

The research reported is broadly based on multiple-perspective case studies that have included individual and/or group interviews with school leaders, teachers, students, parents and/or school council members, observation and document analysis. The focus for this paper is on evidence from the cases that elucidate the model.

A leadership and context view of schools helps to understand how school leaders work with, within and influence various contextual factors to develop schools that are both successful and unique. The cases demonstrated how individual leadership factors including career histories, personalities and values coalesced with school and broader community factors in reciprocal ways that resulted in school-specific improvements.

The research is limited by the nature of bounded, small number, qualitative case research. Nevertheless, the authors suggest that the school leadership and context systems model the authors presented captures much of the complexity of the successful leadership of these schools. The authors further suggest that this model provides a conceptual contribution to the study of successful school leadership that moves beyond more linear leadership views. Implications of this research and the conceptual contributions that the authors advance are that leadership and context should be considered in reciprocal and nuanced ways across a complex variety of contextual levels.

These cases explore the growth and development of new school communities and capture the dynamic interactions between leadership and context within the complex arrangements of policy, system, history and community. The cases demonstrated how individual leadership factors, including career histories, personalities and values, coalesced with school and broader community factors in reciprocal ways that resulted in school-specific improvements. These findings and the system thinking leadership model help school leaders to consider their own work in developing successful and unique schools.

School leadership is important for school success, and schools that meet student and community needs are important for society. The authors’ system thinking leadership model helps school leaders improve their practice in creating more interesting and successful schools that meet student and community needs.

At a time when international sharing of information and international testing of schools is pushing towards a uniformity of thinking about what good schools should be, the reality of leading schools is far different. This paper contributes to the knowledge about how school leaders navigate contextual complexities to create successful and unique schools that meet local needs.

This study is one in a series which aims to examine the theories of actions developed and internalized by school principals that help them serve as successful leaders in the tumultuous accountability climate. The dearth of recent empirical research focusing on best practices of successful school principals in a post‐NCLB nation sets the tone for and drives the study.

An inductive exploratory study was designed to provide insight into how successful elementary school principals facilitate high levels of student achievement. The research was grounded by allowing principals to talk about what their actual practices as leaders.

The principals provided a wealth of information that helped to identify common themes of practice across all 12 participants. The following categories represent the central themes: leadership with data; honesty and relationships; fostering ownership and collaboration; recognizing and developing leadership; and instructional awareness and involvement.

This study identified vital practices of successful elementary leaders that enabled them to facilitate high levels of student achievement and to dispel any notions that success is not possible in a high stakes environment. Interviews with the principals identified common themes of practice that, when collectively utilized, have led to high student achievement.

This study is very relevant and contributes to the growing body of research that seeks to define the qualities of effective leaders during times of increased accountability.

The burden for school improvement in a time of accountability falls squarely on the shoulders of principals as new requirements demand that they act as instructional leaders. The purpose of this study is to discover the common themes of school leadership and instructional practices of high school principals at successful schools in Virginia.

An inductive exploratory study was designed to provide insight into how successful high school principals facilitate high levels of student achievement. The research was grounded by allowing principals to talk about their actual practices as leaders.

The principals provided valuable insights into their daily practices that foster an environment which is supportive of high‐student achievement. These practices are categorized in the following themes: developing personnel and facilitating leadership, responsible delegation and empowering the team, recognizing ultimate accountability, communicating and rapport, facilitating instruction, and managing change.

Findings have direct implications for current principals, aspiring leaders, and leadership preparation programs. The themes that emerged serve as a powerful framework to help current and aspiring principals develop a leadership philosophy that promotes and fosters a successful learning environment.

The need to promote high‐achievement permeates the daily practices of principals. Although, reform efforts are not new, No Child Left Behind has created new demands on leaders. Studies on effective leadership practices, though, do not reflect empirical research based on contemporary schools. Instead, most are meta‐analyses of twentieth century research creating a need for research on effective leadership practices in today's schools.

The aim of this paper is to utilize successful leadership practices drawn from seven nations to improve leadership preparation.

This study used a case study approach to gain a contextualized understanding of successful leadership across seven nations. Data sources primarily featured interviews with principals, teachers, staff members, parents, and students. Cases were analyzed within and then across nations with regards to organizational learning (OL), instructional leadership (IL), and culturally responsive practices (CRP).

The cross‐national analysis of successful leaders indicated emerging policy trends, demographic changes, similarities and differences among leaders, and recommendations for leadership preparation.

This paper draws from successful practices in OL, IL and CRP in seven nations to make recommendations for improving leadership preparation.