Bonnie C. Fusarelli

Implementing the Common Core How Educators Interpret Curriculum Reform

The purpose of this comparative case study was to explore the ways educators at the school level experience the Common Core Standards and examine the contextual factors that impacted the way it was initially implemented. Qualitative data were gathered through teacher surveys, faculty focus groups, and interviews with each school principal and the two district Race to the Top coordinators. Analysis of the collected data uncovered common themes, including interpreting and framing the change, professional collaboration, impact of the change on teachers’ professional and personal lives, and pacing, communication, and training.

The Kentucky Principalship: Model of School Leadership Reconfigured by ISLLC Standards and Reform Policy Implementation

This article provides perspectives about influences on the principalship following a states 1998 adoption—without modification—of the Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium Standards for School Leaders. Using literature about reconceptualizing school leadership as the framework, the paper summarizes changes in state-regulated administrator certification, state-approved preservice preparation, state-mandated first-year induction of new principals, and district-designed administrator performance evaluation that have occurred since adoption of the Standards. Perspectives about policy and contextual issues that challenge and enhance opportunities for Kentucky to achieve its goal of reshaping administrative practice are shared. Recommendations for future research about the implementation of the Standards include (a) studies about the practice of contemporary school leadership, (b) longitudinal and cross-case inquiries about implementation, and (c) explorations of the influences of school leadership on student performance through backward mapping to principal preparation.

School Board and Superintendent Relations Issues of Continuity, Conflict, and Community

Superintendents and school boards mustwork together to improve schools and student academic performance. In an attempt to improve often dismal school system performance, several states passed laws over the past decade changing certification requirements for superintendents, effectively permitting anyone, however trained, to become superintendent of a school system. What happens when people outside the traditional educational establishment become leaders of schools? This case describes the actions of a nontraditional superintendent (a noneducator) hired by a district with a history of conflict between the superintendent and the school board. This case demonstrates the challenges surrounding the hiring of nontraditional superintendents, the politics of local school boards, and issues with changes in school governance structures.

How professional standards guide practice for school principals

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to provide an empirical measure of how principals enact prescribed leadership standards into practice. The aim of the study was to ascertain how current school principals perceive the practice of a specific set of leadership standards.Design/methodology/approach – A total of 61 practicing school principals in North Carolina were asked to rate (in a forced distribution) how they currently enact the North Carolina Standards for School Executives (their professional standards for certification and evaluation). Using Q‐methodology, factor analysis generated three model sorts. These factors are examined with the sorting data along with data from a post sort questionnaire.Findings – The three factors that emerged in this study highlight that there is no one way leadership practices are lived in schools. Specifically, this study provided three distinct categories of how school principals practice leadership. The three factors that accounted for 38 percent of the variance in...

Introduction: One Nation Indivisible? an Overview of the Yearbook

A NEW AND, FOR MANY, problematic America is emerging: multicultural, multifaith, with alarming inequalities and permeable borders penetrated by globalization, by immigration (often illegal), and by international terrorism. Globalization, demographic trends, and “culture” wars—both internal to the United States and external between the affluent, westernized world and Islamic and underdeveloped nations—are challenging and transforming the character of U.S. society. The hegemony of White majorities and even of the English language are no longer assured; minority majorities are emerging in some states, and demographic trends indicate that this is the wave of the future. Most of the population growth is occurring in poor, disadvantaged families and in English-as-a-second-language families. As the United States becomes more diverse, multicultural, multilingual, and at the same time, more unequal, the character, values, and legitimacy of our society and of its public school system are called into question. “Globalization,” as Kymlicka (1995) observed, “has made the myth of a culturally homogenous state even more unrealistic, and has forced the majority within each state to be more open to pluralism and diversity” (p. 9). This important effect of globalization challenges the old paradigm of public education as a “neutral” vehicle for national unity based on majority values. Tensions mount as public education’s universalistic “one-best system” tries to accommodate cultural diversity without betraying its “common school” philosophy. Can the “center hold” in public education when, as Alan Wolfe

The Politics, Problems, and Potential Promise of School-Linked Social Services: Insights and New Directions From the Work of William Lowe Boyd

The purpose of this article is to illustrate Professor William L. Boyds insights into the political ecology of schooling and his contributions and collaboration with others concerned about ensuring the well-being of students, families, and communities. Over his career, Boyd investigated the subtle and complex organizational constraints to school-linked coordinated services, including examining the reasons for the unrelenting resistance of public organizations to change, despite repeated efforts to reform them. We trace the history of the community schools movement and explore the influential, and at times prophetic, scholarly contributions of William L. Boyd to the research and discussion on the effectiveness, challenges, and future promise of this reform strategy. We hope that current and future researchers can learn from and build on his scholarship to develop new pathways to improve the lives of at-risk children.

The Politics of Education and Equity in Turbulent Times: An Introduction

Considered by economists as the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, the Great Recession has led to severe declines in tax revenues for state and local governments. The precipitous decline in tax revenues along with increases in the demand for publicly funded services have resulted in significant gaps in state budgets. In response to these budget shortfalls, many states have enacted massive budget cuts. Given that elementary and secondary education constitutes the majority of state and local budgets—21.1% of total spending in FY2009 and 20.8% of FY2010 (National Governors Association and National Association of State Budget Officers [NGA & NASBO], 2010a, 2010b)—it comes as no surprise that public education is bearing a significant brunt of government cutbacks. In fact, 26 states and the District of Columbia reported cuts in K-12 education in FY 2009 and 35 in FY 2010 (NGA & NASBO, 2010a, 2010b). These cuts have led to teacher layoffs, furloughs, salary freezes, benefit reductions, facility closings, and the reduction or elimination of a wide range of academic and extracurricular programs. Arizona, for example, eliminated preschool for 4,328 children, and in Hawaii the 2009–2010 school year was shortened by 17 days and teachers were furloughed for those days (Johnson, Oliff, & Williams, 2010). As a result of a

Transgender Day of Remembrance and a Prospective Student Open House How One Student Inspired a School to Do Both

200 million deficit, the Detroit public school system intends to close 45 schools and layoff teachers (Sulany, 2010). While states and local school districts confront their budget woes, they are also subject to accountability measures required by No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and their respective states. Meeting these mandates requires a key resource not available during these lean times, money (Center for Public Education, 2009). As budget pressures remain unabated and states and local districts initiate cuts to grapple with fiscal shortfalls, some reforms that thrived in the accountability era are receiving a boost (e.g., charter schools and privatization; see Bulkley & Burch, this issue, for a discussion of privatization) and other programs are being dramatically curtailed or terminated (e.g., after-school programs). Many of the initiatives being reduced or eliminated target disadvantaged youth. As such, children with the greatest needs and fewest alternatives, at-risk children, may be the most adversely impacted during this fiscal climate. “Teacher layoffs are a case in point. With fewer teachers, classes are larger, which can have a negative effect on student achievement in later grades—especially for disadvantaged students” (Center for Public Education, 2009, para. 40). The loss of 7.2% of funding for the Mississippi Adequate

Planning for the Future: Leadership Development and Succession Planning in Education:

This case study explores the challenges a school leader faced when her commitment to diversity was tested by a scheduling conflict. The school principal approved a Transgender Day of Remembrance but then realized that it was scheduled for the same night as the school’s Open House to recruit prospective students. The case study provides an opportunity for both practicing and aspiring school leaders to explore a number of dilemmas related to social justice and equity.

Will Decentralization Affect Educational Inequity? The Every Student Succeeds Act:

Superintendents leading school districts, particularly in hard-to-staff areas, face immense challenges in recruiting and retaining high-quality, well-trained teachers, principals, and district leaders. Many large urban areas as well as their rural counterparts have high concentrations of intergenerational poverty and unemployment. Rural areas are further disadvantaged by the lack of social and cultural attractions as well as fewer health care resources. In North Carolina, many of the lowest performing schools in the state are disproportionately clustered in rural areas. Superintendents leading districts in such areas face serious problems of high teacher and school leader turnover. As a result, superintendents are constantly engaged in an ongoing cycle of hiring new teachers, assistant principals, and district-level leaders. The graying of the school leadership profession further compounds the problem. For example, over the next 4 years in rural, high-poverty schools in North Carolina, an estimated 50% of principals will be eligible for retirement—making succession planning for quality school leadership a critical issue. In this article, we review the research and best practices on succession planning in education as well as in other sectors. Utilizing the theoretical framework of human capital theory, we illustrate how forward-thinking superintendents can partner with universities and other organizations to address the leadership challenges they face by creating strategic, long-term, leadership growth plans that build leadership capacity and potentially yield significant returns in improved student outcomes.