bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Another Way to Go
Authors: Mccotter Suzanne M. , Bulkley Katrina E. , Bankowski Cynthia
Published: January 2019

This qualitative study examined the development of prospective leaders (PLs) from nonuniversity-based leadership preparation programs along two core dimensions identified as critical to leaders’ capacity to affect change—inclusive-facilitative and instructional leadership (Bryk, Sebring, Allensworth, Luppescu, & Easton, 2010). Within the core area of instructional leadership, participants learned to focus on supporting individual teachers, establish a vision for learning, and link individual practice to school-wide goals. In inclusive-facilitative leadership, participants highlighted bringing stakeholders together and enlarging capacity through distributed leadership. The analysis identifies important ways in which instructional and inclusive-facilitative leadership are interdependent and makes recommendations for leadership preparation programs.
Principals’ Technology Leadership
Authors: Brown Barbara , Jacobsen Michele
Published: January 2019

A multifaceted conceptual framework of principals’ technology leadership informed the design of a mixed methods case study exploring leadership practices across three school jurisdictions in Alberta, Canada. Leadership practices of K-12 school principals involved in making school-wide improvements integrating technology were examined The intent of this article is to discuss how the conceptual framework influenced the research process as an interconnection of learning theory based on the learning sciences, transformative knowledge-building pedagogies, and the complexities for school leaders as they cultivate a growth-oriented culture. Findings are related to three key areas: (1) leadership preparation is needed in instructional leadership and technological fluency; (2) online networks can support professional learning; and (3) practitioner–researcher partnerships can support innovation in schools.
Getting Personal!
Authors: Wang Yinying
Published: January 2019

The purpose of this study is to examine the Twitter communication between school districts, superintendents, and the public. Content analysis of the tweets posted by the 100 largest U.S. school districts and those district superintendents was performed to investigate how the districts and the superintendents communicated with the public on Twitter. Next, paired sample f-tests were performed to compare the differences between public sentiment toward the districts and the superintendents. The findings suggest that the districts and their superintendents primarily used Twitter for one-way information broadcasting, leaving Twitter's two-way communication functionality largely untapped. Further, the public expressed significantly less negative sentiment toward the superintendents than the districts, whereas no statistical difference existed in the public's positive or neutral sentiment toward the districts and the superintendents. The findings provide novel insights into educational institutions’ and leaders’ Twitter communication. More importantly, the findings offer research-based guidance on districts’ and superintendents’ Twitter communication. Recommendations were provided for districts and leaders to use social media effectively and thus engage the public and garner social support for education.
Teacher Leaders as Change Agents
Authors: Scornavacco Karla , Boardman Alison G. , Wang Chao
Published: January 2019

We investigated teacher leadership in 18 middle schools in one district engaged in an initiative to scale up Collaborative Strategic Reading (CSR). This mixed-methods analysis found variability in CSR teacher leadership, including the number of hours allotted for release time to support the initiative, the activities teacher leaders enacted, and the support they received. Although findings suggest that the full vision of teacher leadership was difficult to implement at scale, teacher leadership was used to leverage change at several sites. We present a case study of a school that demonstrated collective, shared ownership of both CSR and the teacher leadership model. This study highlights the complexity of defining the expectations and support for a district-funded teacher leader role and raises questions about the need and priorities for the role at every school.
The Role of District and School Leaders’ Trust and Communications in the Simultaneous Implementation of Innovative Policies
Authors: Lawson Hal A. , Durand Francesca T. , Wilcox Kristen Campbell , Gregory Karen M. , Schiller Kathryn S. , Zuckerman Sarah J.
Published: January 2019

This mixed-method multiple case study investigated nine elementary schools. Six “odds-beating schools,” which serve relatively high numbers of economically disadvantaged children, achieved higher than predicted performance on state assessments when compared with three typically performing schools. The overarching research question guiding this study was: What forces, factors, and actors account for odds-beating schools’ better outcomes? The trust–communication connection provided one answer. Relational trust in odds-beating schools is an intraorganizational phenomenon, and it is accompanied by interorganizational trust (reciprocal trust). These two kinds of trust are accompanied by intraschool and district office–school communication mechanisms. Trust and communications are mutually constitutive as innovations are implemented. This connection is also an implementation outcome. When today's innovation implementation initiatives reinforce this trust–communication connection, it becomes an organizational resource for future innovation implementation.
Leading Together
Authors: Leis Micela , Rimm-Kaufman Sara E. , Paxton Carol L. C. , Sandilos Lia E.
Published: January 2019

Research from the past two decades positions relational trust as a key factor in school reform efforts. Trust between teachers and their principal (teacher-principal trust) and teachers and their colleagues (teacher-teacher trust) are particularly important. Leading Together (LT) is a new professional development and coaching model of the Center for Courage & Renewal designed to develop individual and collective capacity to build trust and enhance communication among adults in schools. In this article, we investigate the relation between successful implementation of LT and changes in trust in eight schools that participated in a pilot study of LT from 2012 to 2014. Results showed moderate increases in teacher-principal trust and teacher-teacher trust in schools implementing LT successfully. This article describes changes in trust and processes needed for the successful implementation of team-implemented programs, models, or approaches.
Kentucky High Schools with SROs and Without
Authors: Sullivan William J. , Hausman Charles S.
Published: January 2019

School violence has become a focal point, sparked by violent mass killings throughout the nation. One of the most substantial efforts for improving school safety and security is the utilization of specially trained police, titled school resource officers (SROs). Regardless of the importance of maintaining safe schools and an environment that is conducive to learning, relatively little research has been conducted examining the effectiveness of these programs and the variables that may influence those findings (Raymond, 2010). This research uses two studies focused on the association of SROs and reported criminal violation rates at Kentucky high schools. Findings indicate no statistically significant differences in reported criminal violation rates between high school populations without SROs and those with full-time SROs. Implications of these findings are discussed in addition to how SRO presence may affect the frequency and accuracy of reported criminal violations.
Superintendents Favor Information Passing Rather than Change in School Communications
Authors: Michel George J.
Published: January 2019

Communication within schools and school systems is becoming increasingly sensitive and complex. Research suggests that there are different purposes for communications, but that there is little agreement on a common definition or best methods to increase effectiveness. The author reports on communication methods currently used by superintendents and the implications for using the chosen methods.
The Principal and the Pear Tree
Authors: Hoyle John R.
Published: January 2019

America's school principals find that unlike my pear tree their efforts bear little fruit in a difficult environment filled with stress and weak support. With this sense of futility comes the uncertainty principals face in the shift to site-based decision making and the inconsistencies found in their university preparation. While some “hero” principals are overcoming the stress and uncertainty of new leadership demands, others are looking for greater support. Promising strides have been made in the identification of the knowledge base and related competences and skills and in the development of professional studies degree programs which can prepare principals who are able to inspire teachers and students to greater achievements and who will build a strong support base.
Restructuring Schools through Empowerment: Facilitating the Process
Authors: Short Paula Myrick , Greer John T. , Michael Robert
Published: January 2019

School restructuring through participant empowerment has gained national attention. One restructuring effort, The Empowered School District Project, is a three-year endeavor to facilitate the creation of empowered schools in nine school districts across the country. A primary objective is to study the change process in these schools in order to understand key variables significant in the facilitation of school empowerment. The results of the three-year study are reported in this article.
Reappraising Personal Experience in the Preparation of School Administrators
Authors: Bredesonp Paul V.
Published: January 2019

Based on the simple Deweyan thesis that individual learning and growth are based upon actual life experiences, the author proposes a model to guide curricular reform and the rethinking of pedagogy and program delivery in preparation programs for school administrators. A description of the model suggests that reflection, a critical mediating tool of individual experience, helps to link curriculum content/context and conceptions of learning and knowledge to a holistic guide to substantive reform in pedagogy and practice in the field of educational administration. The article ends with a discussion of how the inclusion of personal experience helps to bridge a critical gap between professors of school administration and practicing administrators.
The Peak Performance School: A Visionary Approach to School Restructuring
Authors: Moses Monte
Published: January 2019

Public schools need revitalization. It can happen through the creation of a new vision that brings inspiration and meaning to the daily life of schools. But in order to find and actualize such a vision, educators will have to break away from old habits and learn to think within a paradigm that is more optimistic about human potential than the one currently dominating the profession.

Without a new vision to guide it, restructuring will take schools no further than previous attempts at reform. Educational restructuring is a fundamental change of assumptions about what schools are for, how they are organized, and how they operate. Lynn Olson (1989) writes, “At its heart, the notion of restructuring emerges from a deep-seated and growing disenchantment with the current system, encompassing both the ways in which the teaching and learning occur and the management of the enterprise.”
South Carolina School Reform: The First Wave? or Repression?
Authors: Monteith Dianne S.
Published: January 2019

Various school attributes, both positive and negative, are a result of the implementation of the Educational Improvement Act in South Carolina. This discussion addresses a possible climate effect as a result of this comprehensive educational reform. A recent study found that 78 percent of the elementary schools in the state evinced a closed climate. Implications for administrators are in-service education for teachers and themselves.
Clinical Experiences in Educational Administration: A University Collaborates with Local School Districts
Authors: Krueger Jo Ann
Published: January 2019

The preparation of educational administrators has been increasingly under indictment for its failure to prepare school leaders effectively (Achilles, 1984, 1990; National Commission on Excellence in Educational Administration, 1987; Murphy, 1990; Hallinger and Murphy, 1991). The criticism has focused on inadequate recruitment and selection procedures, ineffective classroom instruction, low standards for both admission to and completion of training programs, inconsistent content “decoupled from the realities that principals confront on the job” (Hallinger and Murphy, 1991, p. 515), and the perception that graduates are ill-prepared to assume roles in school leadership.

In 1986 The Danforth Foundation initiated a response to the mounting criticism of educational administration preparation programs by sponsoring, over a five-year period, twenty-two university principal preparation programs, or projects, that would incorporate several innovative elements. These elements included, but were not limited to, shared responsibility between universities and school districts for recruiting students, jointly developed curriculum content, full-time internships, and provisions for placing program graduates in administrative positions (Ubben, 1989). The following pages describe, in part, one university's response, as a Danforth Program for the Preparation of School Principals, in providing a program in educational administration that is more closely linked with the practitioners’ world of school leadership.
Superintendents’ and School Board Presidents’ Perceptions of the Purposes, Strengths and Weaknesses of Formal Superintendent Evaluations
Authors: Dillon Robert R. , Halliwell Joseph W.
Published: January 2019

The purpose of the present study was to determine superintendents’ and school board presidents’ perceptions of the purposes, strengths and weaknesses of formal superintendent evaluations, and the importance they attach to various superintendent functions. The superintendents and school board presidents who served as the subjects of this study were randomly selected from over one-third of the school districts of New York State. The findings indicated that, in general, the superintendents and school board presidents’ perceptions of the major purposes, the strengths and weaknesses of formal superintendent evaluation as well as the importance they attach to various superintendent functions were quite similar. However, there were a few notable exceptions. While almost two-thirds of the school board presidents indicated that improving the instructional leadership role of the superintendent was a major purpose of superintendent evaluation, only about one-eighth of the superintendents shared that view, and while only 16% of the school board presidents indicated that a major weakness of formal evaluation procedures for superintendents was that they require evaluation skills most board members do not possess, fully 43% of the superintendents saw this as a major weakness.
The Professional Studies Doctorate: Leaders for Learning
Authors: Bratlien Maynard J. , Genzefr Susan M. , Hoyle John R. , Oates Arnold D.
Published: January 2019

A new administrator preparation program is underway at Texas A&M University. The Professional Studies Doctorate is a three year program which consists of a blend of theory, research, and clinical experiences for a select cohort of 14 practicing school leaders. The program includes intensive summer seminars, extended clinical weekends, and ongoing evaluation and research projects. University faculty are assisted in teaching the cohort by leading San Antonio area superintendents serving as clinical professors. Evaluation of the new doctorate is providing insight for improvement at the end of the first year.
Integrating the Beliefs of Dewey, Lewin, and Rogers into a Rationale for Effective Group Leadership
Authors: Grove Richard W.
Published: January 2019

What would a rationale for effective group leadership look like that is grounded in selected beliefs of John Dewey, Kurt Lewin, and Carl Rogers? This article sets forth an explication of such a rationale. Herein, a rationale for effective group leadership is defined as a related set of principles intended to guide a leader's practice in group settings.
In Search of a Knowledge Base to Guide Program Development in Educational Leadership
Authors: Daresh John C.
Published: January 2019

Recently, the Executive Committee of the University Council for Educational Administration established a task force to study the issue of finding an appropriate knowledge base for educational administration (UCEA Review, 1991). This event underscores the fact that the field of educational administration is currently going through a period of great introspection. Simply stated, the goal is to improve practice, but that improvement must be based on a recognition of precisely what is the nature of the field.

In this article, the search for a relevant knowledge base for the field of educational leadership is described. A number of potential sources for a knowledge base are identified. Finally, a newly-developed program in educational leadership at one university is presented to illustrate the way in which elements of the knowledge base have been incorporated into a new approach to the preparation of future school leaders.
Collaboration: Getting All Hands on Deck Facilitates School Change
Authors: Peel Henry A. , Walker Bradford L.
Published: January 2019

Collaboration, a powerful tool for school reform, facilitates school improvement efforts and minimizes the overwhelming dimensions of change. A collaborative change process underway in North Carolina emphasizes using input from teachers, as well as supporting the notion of school leaders working collaboratively with many others who are interested in improving schools: higher education, the state agency for public education, colleagues from other schools, and consultants. Principals are encouraged to take an “all hands on deck” approach to problem-solving and change efforts. This article discusses the successes and frustrations of school leaders involved in this collaborative reform project.
Preparing Administrators for the World of Practice: A Proactive View of Principalship Preparation
Authors: Smith James M.
Published: January 2019

This paper reviews current elements of administrative thought and practice with the expressed intent of providing a comprehensive outline for new programmatic ventures in the field of principalship preparation. In conjunction with this review, a general description of an existing nontraditional leadership preparation program is included. As this research is united with actual practice, it is hoped that university administrators and educational administration faculty will be offered a new paradigm for the preparation of principals for the 21st century.
Effective Schools–Effective Superintendents: The Emerging Instructional Leadership Role
Authors: Bjork Lars G.
Published: January 2019

The national commission reports, which launched the most intensive and sustained effort to improve schools in America's history, confirmed the importance of instructional leadership. Although the role of the principal was initially emphasized, research studies on instructionally effective schools indicate that superintendents use their “bureaucratic” positions in the formal organization to improve instruction. They enact their instructional leadership roles through a broad array of activities including staff selection, principal supervision, establishing clear instructional goals, monitoring instruction, and financial planning for instruction to improve instruction. The concept of instructional leadership has moved beyond a simple description of the principal's role to understanding it as a multi-level, multidimensional, and highly interactive activity that may require a more consultative leadership style.
The Medical Model and the Preparation of Education Professionals
Authors: Grady Marilyn L.
Published: January 2019

By reviewing the training of medical professionals, one can identify simi-arities as well as interesting possibilities for the preparation of education professionals. On a very basic level, the fields of medicine and education hold the following in common:

• Both fields are practice-oriented.

• Both fields require individuals with problem-solving and decision-making skills.

• Interpersonal relationship skills are a requisite for success in either field.

• Information in both fields multiplies daily.

• Lectures alone cannot convey the skills required for success in these fields.
African-Americans in the 21st Century: The Agony and Promise of Higher Education
Authors: Nixon Harold L.
Published: January 2019

A college education holds many promises for those who partake of it. As the 21st century approaches and as America's political and economic position in the world marketplace becomes more threatened, the intrinsic value of the college degree will become more prominent. This article discusses the future prospects of increasing the participation rate of African-American students in higher education. Institutional executive and faculty leadership dedicated to providing an environment where all students can achieve their maximum potential will be committed to finding common ground between First Amendment Rights and campus civility.
Cohort Groups in Educational Administration: Promises and Challenges
Authors: Barnett Bruce G. , Muse Ivan D.
Published: January 2019

To create a more supportive and collegial learning environment, many educational administration preparation programs are using cohort groups of students. This article traces the development of cohort groups by describing the organizational features and instructional delivery mechanisms used to foster collegial learning and then links these practices to principles of adult learning and development. The effects of cohort groups are explored, including the benefits realized by students and university faculty as well as the challenges this learning structure presents to the teaching faculty. Potential solutions for addressing these challenges are provided.
Programs for Single-Parent Children: Principals and Single Parents Disagree
Authors: Wanat Carolyn L.
Published: January 2019

This article summarizes a study of special school needs of single-parent children in the seventh and eighth grades and the effectiveness of school policies, programs, and practices in responding to those needs. Principals and single parents were interviewed and surveyed in one midwestern state to determine areas of needed program development. Principals felt that schools were more effective than parents in responding to the needs of these children for stability, social acceptance, parental involvement, and adult attention. While principals felt specific approaches were effective, parents wanted a comprehensive response to their children's complex needs.
A Comparative Study of New and Experienced Principals within an Urban School System
Authors: Bogotch Ira E. , Riedlinger Brian
Published: January 2019

Urban school districts across the country face a twofold challenge in recruiting talented individuals for the principalship and in supporting them on the job. In this exploratory study, we identified administrative stress and socialization variables that impact on the attitudes and performance of new and experienced principals. In spite of specific group differences, the two most significant findings are (1) that the attitudes of new and experienced principals are remarkably similar, and (2) that experienced principals perceive greater role conflict than do new principals. Implications for restructuring central office-principal relationships are presented to reduce role conflict and distrust in experienced principals.
Testing Policy as Part of Kindergarten Entrance Procedures
Authors: Tanner C. Kenneth , James Julia Carol , White Charles Stephen
Published: January 2019

At issue in this study was educational policy supporting the testing of kindergarten students. The ABC Inventory and the Developing Skills Checklist (DSC) are brought into question as appropriate instruments for identifying or labeling kindergartners for special instructional assistance. Data were collected on 92 subjects that included participants in a special instructional assistance program and a comparison group. The findings indicated that using the ABC and DSC for identifying students for special instructional assistance is inappropriate. Therefore administrative policy allowing the labeling of young children as a result of testing should be challenged.
Performance Skill Development of the Aspiring Principal Integrated into Principal Preparation
Authors: Van Berkum Dennis W.
Published: January 2019

The preparation of school administrators, particularly school principals, has become a topic of discussion by many groups. Common to all discussions is the question “What knowledge and skills should aspiring administrators have and how should they be prepared?” Bennis (1989) indicated “how we translate this knowledge into action—is both complex and deep, as well as chronically elusive” (p. 30).

The purpose of this article is to describe how an educational administration program model blends a knowledge base of educational administration and the performance skills needed for effective practice. The discussion focuses on the performance skill development of the aspiring administrator using the conceptual framework of the program model. It also offers performance-based illustrations and initial program evaluation.
Home v. School: Issues for School Leaders in Reporting Child Abuse
Authors: Wanat Carolyn L. , Helms Lelia B. , Rosien Jane E.
Published: January 2019

Reporting of child abuse occurring in the home and reporting of abuse occurring in school settings are two separate and distinct issues requiring different responses by school administrators. However, the laws mandating reporting by educators do not differentiate between these two sources of abuse. The different sources of abuse result in different incentive structures for reporting by educators and in many of the present obstacles to compliance with the law. Development of more appropriate strategies to enhance reporting of child abuse depends upon an understanding by school leaders of this distinction and its impact upon practice.
Teacher Commitment and Job Satisfaction: A Causal Analysis
Authors: Reyes Pedro , Shin Hyun-Seok
Published: January 2019

This study examined the causal relationship between teacher commitment to the school organization and job satisfaction using longitudinal career ladder data. Two focal measures (commitment and satisfaction) and other demographic predictors from 854 school teachers were analyzed for this study. Cross-lagged correlation/regression analyses were used to determine the causual ordering of teacher commitment and satisfaction in time-lagged situations. Results indicate that satisfaction was causally prioritized to teacher commitment in this study. Theoretical and methodological issues regarding this type of study are discussed. Implications for future research are suggested.
Cognitive Perspectives on School Leadership
Authors: Leithwood Kenneth
Published: January 2019

Cognitive perspectives have the potential to make three central contributions to the study and practice of school leadership: to redefine the meaning of effective leadership; to change our understanding of the knowledge base required to exercise effective leadership; and to reform the means for developing effective school leadership. This paper describes the nature of each of these contributions and the present status of efforts to progress with each.
Connected Knowing: A Leadership Seminar for Women
Authors: Lyman Linda L.
Published: January 2019

The paper describes an innovative graduate seminar on Women and Leadership. The course was designed primarily to encourage the development of voice. The paper presents the theoretical assumptions on which the course was based, includes an overview of seminar activities and illustrates four meanings of developing voice: understanding voice as a leadership concept, becoming more assertively articulate, valuing personal knowledge and expressing personal truth in speech and actions. The paper incorporates the voices of the seminar students through the use of quotations from their writings. Students reported that the development of voice enhanced their leadership effectiveness and raised their educational and professional aspirations.
Experiencing Shared Leadership: Teachers’ Reflections
Authors: Brown Dave F.
Published: January 2019

This eighteen month qualitative study documents an elementary school's implementation of a shared leadership environment. Data were collected from leadership team meetings, faculty meetings, informal interviews, and formal interviews with the leadership team. Findings indicate positive perceptions concerning collaboration and the development of an atmosphere of open communication. Respondents expressed disappointment with the level of decision-making opportunities, the development of non-student oriented goals, a lack of trust between administrators and teachers, and were confused about teacher roles and responsibilities. Shared leadership environments may be enhanced by providing clearer expectations for teachers and more opportunities for teacher training.
The Jobs of British Primary Headteachers and Texas Elementary Principals
Authors: Erlandson David A. , Lyons Geoffrey
Published: January 2019

A study of the jobs of 255 headteachers in England and Wales was replicated with twenty elementary school principals in Texas. These studies examined the most important and most time-consuming tasks of the headteachers’ and principals’ jobs, the context factors of the jobs, and the work-related personality characteristics of the job incumbents. The results of the study have been used as a tool for the professional development of the twenty principals; they also suggest direction for further exploration of comparisons and contrasts between jobs of headteachers and principals.
Using Cohorts as a Means for Developing Transformational Leaders
Authors: Basom Margaret , Yerkes Diane , Norris Cynthia , Barnett Bruce
Published: January 2019

The practice of using cohorts in educational leadership programs is examined from conceptual and practical viewpoints. Suggestions for developing cohorts are followed by discussion of the effects of cohorts on students, faculty, educational programs, and systems. Lastly, this paper takes a look at the potential of using the cohort concept as a vehicle for the development of transformational leaders.
New Relationships, New Realities: Bringing Preservice Teachers and a Preservice Principal Together in a Professional Preparation Program
Authors: Marlow Stacey E.
Published: January 2019

This paper describes an innovative professional preparation program in which preservice teachers and an intern principal came together during their field placements to share their experiences, notions of professionalism, and perspectives about education and schooling. The program had three objectives. The first was to help the participants explore and better understand the process of professional socialization and its relationship to organizational socialization. The second objective was to encourage the participants, through the use of reflection, to examine their own and each other's thinking about the educational profession and their developing roles within the profession. The third objective was to create an environment of “shared professionalism” in which the participants could work together as colearners and rethink the traditional hierarchical relationship between teachers and administrators. The research reported here focuses on the experiences and perspectives of the preservice principal as he completed his one year internships in a public elementary school.
Interdisciplinary Teams: Concerns, Benefits, and Costs
Authors: Quinn Gary , Restine L. Nan
Published: January 2019

This article presents a description and analysis of four middle school interdisciplinary teams, their focus of concern, and teachers’ perceptions of the benefits and costs of teaming for themselves and for students. Findings reveal that successful progression toward interdisciplinary teaming tasks is influenced by the interrelationships of group composition, operating variables, and structural variables in particular environments over time.
Theories of Liability for the Sexual Misconduct of Teachers
Authors: Michaelis Karen L.
Published: January 2019

This article reviews two theories of liability adopted by courts to resolve complaints by school children for the sexual misconduct of teachers. Student complaints of sexual abuse by teachers has increased dramatically in the past six years. In each case, students have sought to hold school districts and school officials responsible for the injuries students have suffered while at school due to the sexual misconduct of their teachers. Courts have been reluctant to hold school districts and school officials financially responsible for the acts of individual teachers or other school employees. This result is accomplished through the application of two legal theories—the Constitutional Duty Rule and the policy, custom or practice theory. This article illustrates the way courts misapply these two theories of liability and offers an alternative approach to the issue of the sexual abuse of students by their teachers that promises more meaningful protection of students. The alternative approach encourages school districts and school officials to develop a plan of action that encourages school officials to address the problem of the sexual misconduct of teachers toward students in ways that ultimately offers students better protection from sexual abuse.
Implementing a School-Wide Conflict Management Program: Staff Development is the Key
Authors: Johnson Patsy E.
Published: January 2019

This paper presents a staff-development model to implement a school-wide conflict management plan. Results of an ongoing conflict management plan following its third year from an urban middle school are included to illustrate a conflict prevention and management strategy that was motivated and shaped by the school's culture and climate realities. The strategy is based on the premise that the effectiveness of the conflict management program improves when the philosophical orientation for conflict management is articulated, understood, and implemented by the administration, faculty, students, and parents.
Reculturing: Assumptions, Beliefs, and Values Underlying the Processes of Restructuring
Authors: Wonycott-Kytle Angél M. , Bogotch Ira E.
Published: January 2019

This qualitative study identified four predominant dimensions of reculturing processes in two school districts in Southeastern United States. Interview data and document analyses were analyzed vertically and horizontally to present a systemic district perspective of restructuring efforts. According to practitioners’ statements, the dimensions of reculturing were always presented in the context of action as more than one thing as follows: (1) reflecting on and questioning past and present practice, (2) comprehensive, continuous, and purposeful development activities, (3) reconfiguring roles toward collaboration, and (4) seeing rewards and incentives.
Principal Selection Decisions Made by Teachers: The Influence of Work Values, Principal Job Attributes, and School Level
Authors: Winter Paul A. , McCabe Donna H. , Newton Rose Mary
Published: January 2019

The purpose of this study was to investigate principal selection decisions made by teachers ( N = 169) serving on school councils. Analysis involved a between-within split-plot factorial design. The dependent variable was teacher rating of a principal candidate. The between-groups factors were teacher-dominant work value and school level. The within-groups factors were principal-dominant work value and principal job attributes. Teachers preferred candidates with whom they shared a dominant work value. Elementary and middle school teachers preferred candidates oriented toward instructional leadership. High school teachers preferred candidates oriented toward management. Findings suggest teachers participating in principal selection decisions may need training in personnel selection practices.
Teacher Efficacy and Teacher Professional Learning: Implications for School Leaders
Authors: Scribner Jay Paredes
Published: January 2019

This study examines teachers’ professional development experiences through the lenses of personal teaching efficacy and professional learning. This qualitative study examined the professional development experiences of teachers with either high or low senses of personal teaching efficacy. The study found that the level of personal teaching efficacy influences how and in what ways individual teachers experience professional development. The findings provide support for approaches to professional development that address individual needs. Also discussed are implications for school leaders and others charged with establishing professional learning environments that enhance teachers’ efficacy beliefs.

Theories of professional learning underscore the importance of understanding how various individual characteristics such as career stage, level of expertise, and professional field influence professional learning. While empirical studies in these areas exist in fields such as medicine, law and business, relatively few studies focus on teacher perspectives on professional development (Cervero, 1988). As Cervero (1988) discusses, the type and quality of professional learning that occurs in practice depends, in part, on individual characteristics, including efficacy.

Understanding how teachers experience professional learning is vital to create valuable (and valued) professional learning experiences. Few studies have examined this phenomenon in depth. Those that have, typically group teachers by career stage or content area. This study began to map teacher learning experiences according personal teaching efficacy and provided insight for future and practicing school leaders into the nature of teacher professional learning—a phenomenon that encompasses formal and informal learning, and is experienced differently by individual teachers. By understanding the role of characteristics such as personal teaching efficacy on professional learning, school leaders have more reason to promote professional learning opportunities that address teachers’ diverse needs.
Lessons from a virtual slime: marginal mechanisms, minimal cognition and radical enactivism
Authors: Walmsley Lachlan Douglas
Published: January 2019

Radical enactivism (REC) and similar embodied and enactive approaches to the mind deny that cognition is fundamentally representational, skull-bound and mechanistic in its organisation. In this article, I argue that modellers may still adopt a mechanistic strategy to produce explanations that are compatible with REC. This argument is scaffolded by a multi-agent model of the true slime mould Physarum polycephalum.
Association of Presence of a School Nurse With Increased Sixth-Grade Immunization Rates in Low-Income Arizona Schools in 2014–2015
Authors: McCullough J. Mac , Sunenshine Rebecca , Rusinak Ramona , Mead Patty , England Bob
Published: January 2019

School nurses often play large roles in implementation of school vaccination requirements aimed at controlling the spread of communicable disease. We analyzed the association between the presence of a school nurse and school-level vaccination rates in Arizona. Using school-level data from Arizona sixth-grade schools ( n = 749), we regressed average sixth-grade school-level immunization rates on presence of a school nurse (registered nurse [RN] or licensed practical nurse [LPN]) and school-level socioeconomic status (SES), controlling for other school- and district-level characteristics. Schools with a nurse had higher overall vaccination rates than those without a nurse (96.1% vs. 95.0%, p < .01). For schools in the lowest SES quartile, the presence of a school nurse was associated with approximately 2 percentage point higher immunization rates. These findings add to the growing literature that defines the impact of school nurses on student health status and outcomes, emphasizing the value of school nurses, especially in lower SES schools.
A State-Level Examination of School Nurses’ Perceptions of Condom Availability Accompanied by Sex Education
Authors: Smith Sharla , Platt Joey M. , Clifford Daniel , Preston Michael , Satterwhite Catherine , Kelly Patricia J. , Ramaswamy Megha
Published: January 2019

School nurses are often sources of health-care support for teens with sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and unintended pregnancies. However, providing prevention (e.g., condoms) and teaching technical skills (e.g., condom use) needed to reduce high-risk sexual behavior may require a change in perceptions and policies. This study used a cross-sectional study design to assess nurses’ perceptions of condom availability accompanied by sex education programs among high school nurses ( n = 87) in Kansas. Results showed that school nurses in this study supported condom availability, were comfortable providing condoms, and felt condom availability was within the scope of their job but were less likely to provide condoms because of external barriers. Common barriers include administration, parents, cost, community support, and policies. School nurses, by virtue of their access to the majority of Kansas’ adolescents, have the potential to provide sex education and tools such as condoms, so young people can prevent STIs and unintended pregnancies.
1 Corinthians: Interpreted by Early Christian Commentators. Translated and edited by Judith Kovacs
Authors: Greene-McCreight Kathryn
Published: January 2019

In Vladimir Soloviev's story of the Antichrist, the Redeemer's eschatological opponent recommends himself to believers not least by alluding to the fact that he has been awarded a doctorate in theology at Tübingen and that he has written an exegetical work recognized by experts as groundbreaking. The Antichrist as a famous exegete—it is with this paradox that Soloviev, almost a hundred years ago, drew attention to the ambivalence of modern methods of interpreting the Bible. Today, to speak of the crisis of the historical-critical method has become almost a truism. And yet it had set out with enormous optimism. 1
Geometrical nonlinear thermal response of sandwich panels with temperature dependent mechanical properties—Extended high-order approach
Authors: Frostig Yeoshua , Kardomateas George
Published: January 2019

The thermal and the thermo-mechanical responses of a sandwich panel with a compliant core are investigated within the framework of the extended high-order approach where the core properties are temperature dependent or independent. Loads schemes include thermal field within temperature working range simultaneous with in-plane compressive loads applied to the core only and to the face sheets and core in the form of the uniform end—shortening of edge of panel. The mathematical formulations use the extended high-order sandwich panel theory approach that takes into account the in-plane rigidity of the core and uses the deformation patterns of the high-order sandwich panel theory. The linear and nonlinear field equations along with the appropriate boundary conditions are presented. A numerical study is conducted, and it investigates the thermal response with temperature independent and temperature dependent mechanical properties of the core as well as the thermo-mechanical response due to in-plane compressive loads. The results include displacements, stress resultants, and stress at critical locations along the panel as well as equilibria curves. They reveal that, in general, the panel with temperature independent properties response remains almost linear while with temperature dependent ones it takes a general nonlinear response. The addition of an external mechanical load changes the response from a linear/nonlinear one that may be allowable stress controlled to a case where loss of stability occurs.
Vibration control of the rotating sandwich cylindrical shell considering functionally graded core and functionally graded magneto-electro-elastic layers by using differential quadrature method
Authors: Rostami R , Irani Rahaghi M , Mohammadimehr M
Published: January 2019

In this paper, the vibration control of the rotating sandwich cylindrical shell considering functionally graded core and functionally graded magneto-electro-elastic (FGMEE) layers is studied. The Hamilton principle, first-order shear deformation theory of shells, constitutive equation considering coupling effect between mechanical, electric, magnetic are considered to derive the equations of motion and distribution of electrical potential, magnetic potential of FGMEE sandwich cylindrical shell. This formulation considers the Coriolis and centrifugal forces and the initial hoop tension resulting from rotation. The differential quadrature method is used for solving the differential equation of motion and also for studying all the boundary conditions. The effects of various parameters such as power low index of core, inner and outer layers, electrical and magnetic control coefficients, different boundary conditions, angular velocity and geometrical coefficient considering the vibration control of sandwich cylindrical shell are also investigated.
High-order crack propagation in compressed sandwich panels
Authors: Odessa Itay , Rabinovitch Oded , Frostig Yeoshua
Published: January 2019

The response and the debonding mechanisms in axially compressed sandwich panels with an interfacial delamination are investigated using a nonlinear model. The mathematical model combines the extended high-order sandwich panel theory with a cohesive interface modeling. It includes the first-order shear deformation kinematic assumptions for the face sheets and high-order small deformations kinematic assumptions that account for out-of-plane compressibility for the core. The interfaces bond the face sheets and the core by means of traction–displacement gap laws. These interfacial laws can describe a diversity of physical conditions. In particular, interfacial debonding nucleation and propagation are described using cohesive laws that introduce the interfacial nonlinearity into the model. Geometrical nonlinearity of the face sheets is introduced in order to capture the instability associated with the buckling of the delaminated face sheet. The cohesive interfaces and others parameters are calibrated to match experimental results taken from the literature for a sandwich specimen subjected to an end-shortening compression. The instabilities due to the in-plane compression, together with the existence of delaminated regions and their tendency to grow, prompt buckling of the delaminated face sheet as well as nucleation and propagation of the interfacial debonding. The theoretical quantification of this complex mechanism compares well with the experimental results in terms of the physical response, the nucleation and propagation of the interfacial crack, and the evolution of local/global geometrical instabilities. In addition, the analysis explores debonding mechanisms that are beyond the capabilities of the experimental technique. Finally, the sensitivity of the response and the associated geometrical and interfacial instabilities to the boundary conditions are investigated.