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The intent of this research study is to explore the following three questions: (1) How do local newspapers cover school district budgeting processes? (2) Does newspaper coverage of the budgeting process relate to budgeting decisions? (3) What characteristics of a school district relate to the amount of newspaper coverage it receives? A survey questionnaire was sent to officials in all Virginia public school districts. Other data needed for this study were obtained from school financial reports and from in-depth analyses of newspaper articles concerning Virginia public school budgeting processes. Approximately 100 newspapers were examined covering 123 of the 133 school districts in Virginia.

This article examines the literature related to the marginalization of social studies through the lens of elementary social studies teacher education. This study presents the case of two different states wherein one state, Virginia, tests social studies in elementary schools and another state, North Carolina, where social studies is not tested until middle school. The data gathered from both states were originally analyzed to shed light on the question of testing's effect on teacher preparation and subsequent curriculum enactment. Data collected from the study suggest that factors such as field experiences, programs of study, and methods instruction impact teacher education in elementary social studies in more important ways than student testing.

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 purpose of this paper is to examine the relationships among academic optimism, community engagement, and student achievement in urban elementary schools across one district.

Data were collected from all 35 urban elementary schools across one district in Virginia, USA. Correlation, multiple regression, and factor analyses were used to test the hypotheses.

In schools where the faculty are optimistic that their students can succeed despite the obstacle of low socioeconomic status (SES) and where the community is engaged, students are more likely to achieve at higher levels. Findings of this study also supported that community engagement, collective efficacy, trust in clients, and academic press do act as predictors to collectively influence student achievement.

The Goddard measure for collective efficacy was replaced with one developed for more challenging settings such as urban schools.

Academic optimism and community engagement were found to work in ways that improve student achievement. Understanding the social contexts in classrooms and schools allows education leaders to work with faculty in examining current practice, in an effort to improve the educational outcomes for all students, even those who must overcome the obstacles to learning posed by their low SES.

With only one previous study of this construct in an urban elementary setting, the current study sought to test those findings in an effort to continue pushing this research agenda into urban settings.

The purpose of this paper is to present a rationale for organizational histories of schools and school districts and discuss the findings of selected examples of the genre.

The author presents a vignette of an organizational history, discusses key elements of the methodology, and offers seven ways in which organizational histories address important issues in educational research.

A case is made, using actual examples of research, that organizational histories of schools and school districts can contribute to testing existing theory, developing new theory, describing how educational change occurs, accounting for the sustainability of educational change, explaining organizational continuity over time, understanding school and district responses to persistent social issues, and balancing an over-emphasis on the impact of school and district leaders.

The paper draws on the author’s original contributions to organizational history as well as the contributions of his doctoral students and others.

The paper investigates the determinants of municipal bond ratings in Virginia using an ordered‐probit analysis. We find that economic factors are the key determinants of municipal bond ratings in the State. Our ordered‐probit model correctly predicts approximately 70% of the actual sample which is not subject to sample selection bias.

A growing body of research connecting the quality of school facilities to student performance accompanies recent efforts to improve the state of the educational infrastructure in the USA. Less is known about the mechanisms of these relationships. This paper seeks to examine the proposition that part of the explanation may be the mediating influence of school climate.

Teachers from 80 Virginia middle schools were surveyed employing measures including the School Climate Index, a seven‐item quality of school facilities scale, as well as three resource support items. Data on student SES and achievement were also gathered. Bivariate correlational analysis was used to explore the relationships between the quality of facilities, resource support, school climate, student SES, and student achievement. In addition, multiple regression was used to test school climate as a mediating variable between the quality of facilities and student achievement.

Results confirmed a link between the quality of school facilities and student achievement in English and mathematics. As well, quality facilities were significantly positively related to three school climate variables. Finally, results confirmed the hypothesis that school climate plays a mediating role in the relationship between facility quality and student achievement.

As we face fundamental issues of equity across schools and districts, leaders struggle to convince taxpayers of the need to invest in replacing and/or renovating inadequate facilities. Deeper understandings of the complicated interplay between the physical and social environments of school, and how these dynamics influence student outcomes, may help educators build a compelling case.

The purpose of this article is to explore some of the current tensions within educational administration in the USA and conclude with a few cautions for educators who engage in social justice projects.

Using a selective case, this historical essay examines the issues of social justice and equity as they have related to educational administration in the USA.

The article finds that while educational administrative practice has been characterized as maintaining the social and political status quo, there are historic examples of leaders promoting social justice. One exemplar is J. Rupert Picott, who provides an example of how one educational leader navigated through a hostile environment to achieve equity.

In a society where accountability is narrowly defined and economic concerns continue to perpetuate a managerial model for educational administrators, those who embrace a social justice perspective will do so at their own peril. However, those who wish to act for the educational welfare and life outcomes of all children will likely adopt and adapt a social justice perspective suited to their own priorities and needs. In so doing they may incur professional and personal tolls.

This article provides an example of a leader for social justice who worked and lived under the racial apartheid of the Jim Crow US South.

Librarians at Eastern Virginia Medical School established a proactive role in research support when the position of Institutional Review Board (IRB) librarian was created in 2001. Aims to confirm that the IRB librarian assists the school's boards in ensuring human subjects’ protection. Generally, this service is provided in the form of comprehensive searches of medical and other literature and news.

A program was instigated in order to provide expertise in literature searches to support board members, as they review individual protocols.

Although serving a relatively small number of users, the program has a major impact on the school's research agenda.

Describes lessons learned, problems encountered, outcomes, and professional gains and lists materials for further reading.

This research was designed to investigate the possible relationship between the attitudes, teachers have about the condition of their classrooms when the classrooms were independently assessed. Previous research reported teachers in unsatisfactory classrooms felt frustrated and neglected to such an extent that they sometimes reported they were willing to leave the teaching profession. This paper aims to address these issues.

Eleven high schools in which the principals state the buildings are in unsatisfactory condition are identified and matched with 11 schools assessed as being in satisfactory condition. The My Classroom Appraisal Protocol^© (MCAP) is used to gather impressions and attitudes of teachers. The MCAP is entered into the internet, and teachers in the selected schools are asked to voluntarily complete the instrument and submit it electronically.

The differences between the responses of teachers in satisfactory buildings are significantly different than those of teachers in unsatisfactory buildings at the p<0.05 level of confidence. Similar results are obtained on the attitudinal scale of the MCAP, again at the p<0.05 level.

The size of the population is small, which limits applicability.

These findings clearly indicate the physical environment influences attitudes of teachers, which in turn affects their productivity. Such effects could cause morale problems in the teaching staff.

The findings indicate the condition of the classroom can cause morale problems with teachers. School authorities need to recognize the importance physical conditions have upon teachers so that negative feelings and attitudes do not pervade the faculty. Such feelings eventually may influence the achievement of students.