Early Childhood Education and Public School Principals: Constructing a Relationship

This article discusses the results of a statewide study of elementary school principals' perceptions of barriers to the establishment of preschool programs in the public school setting. The study was conducted in response to current federal an: state mandates requiring school districts to provide comprehensive services for developmentally delayed and at-risk preschoolers, as well as other preschool populations. A representative sample of principals responded to a comprehensive questionnaire that included principals' knowledge of child development and their attitudes about establishing programs for preschool children in the public school sector. Results indicate that, across the board, elementary principals foresee major barriers to the effective implementation of such federal mandates as Public Law 99–457. Specific barriers are identified and discussed. Implications for practice and policy are presented.     

Education for Syrian Refugees: The New Global Issue Facing Teachers and Principals in Turkey

This study addresses the educational status and needs of Syrian school-age children at Turkish public schools and the perspectives of teachers and school principals who work with Syrian refugee students. Data was collected from an ongoing qualitative interpretive case study research project using semistructured interviews with teachers and principals who worked with Syrian refugees in 2 inner-city elementary schools in Istanbul, Turkey. The findings of this study indicate that state schools provide many Syrian children with access to education that addresses the needs and challenges associated with the refugee school-age children. For example, Syrian children are thought to have rights identical to Turkish children regarding access to a free education in the Turkish public school setting, and the government has allowed Syrian students to enroll in universities without examinations or without having to show proof that they had attended universities in Syria. However, language barriers with respect to speaking and understanding Turkish must be mitigated to integrate Syrian refugees into Turkish culture. The results of the study also indicate that Syrian students are in a constant state of depression and trauma due to war and migration. Because of language-related issues and limited access to everyday necessities, Syrian children are often in need of comprehensive psychological support. Thus, this study recommends that teachers and principals participate in professional training and development programs to be able to provide psychological support to students.     

News and Communications

ABSTRACT

The author examined how local charter school educators respond to the accountability measures being imposed on them. Encouraged by early indications of increased test scores, state and federal policymakers continue to support accountability as an effective means to improve schools. Surprisingly, there has been little research on local educators’ experiences with and responses to such reforms. This lack of research is striking because teachers, principals, and superintendents are directly responsible for the implementation of accountability mandates, including administering tests, teaching to the state standards, and implementing state-approved curriculum packages. In an effort to understand teachers’ and administrators’ experiences with public school accountability, the author explores how educators in 4 charter schools in Michigan understand recent accountability mandates with respect to school reform.     

Future School Administrators' Perceptions of the School Counselor's Role

The authors examined the perceptions of future school administrators regarding the role of the school counselor. The study was designed to assist counselor educators and school counselors in identifying potential barriers that could interfere with establishing comprehensive developmental counseling programs that are supervised by principals and superintendents. Future administrators rated crisis intervention, assisting with transitions, and personal counseling as the most important duties of school counselors; however, some respondents identified administrative and disciplinary duties as significant ones for the counselor.     

Principals’ Perceptions of Barriers to Teacher Dismissal

Although scholars and popular press writers are critical of school district failures to remove inadequately performing teachers, little has been said about the thinking of principals on this issue. Because principals are the front-line implementers of evaluation policy, their beliefs about barriers (real or perceived) are likely to influence their actions. This study asked elementary and middle school principals in the state of Oregon to identify barriers to deal effectively with inadequately performing teachers. Results demonstrated that principals believe teacher unions to be the most significant barrier, and blame the union representatives more often than the language of the negotiated contract. In addition, principals identify the amount of time required to engage in the process as a barrier. Continued study of principal beliefs about these factors may suggest (1) areas of needed reform in the implementation of evaluation and (2) administrative training needs.     

“The Equitable Powers of the Judge”: The Conflict Between No Child Left Behind and Court-Ordered Desegregation in Richmond County,Georgia

This article consists of a case study and policy analysis of a conflict between two federal mandates that arose during the initial implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act in 2002 in a southern school system, Richmond County, Georgia. The first part of the article documents the conflict, drawing on primary source documents and interviews with the school superintendent and school board attorney. A U.S. District court judge ruled that the 1972 court order that had mandated county-wide school desegregation was in conflict with No Child Left Behind's public school transfer policy and granted the county a one-year delay so that the school system could study the policy's likely effects. The U.S. Department of Education's response to the judge's ruling instigated a situation that led to a federal-local political disagreement, whose origins and resolution are described. In the article's second section, the author places these events into broader historical perspective, arguing that they reveal how federal policy in elementary and secondary education has shifted during the intervening decades since the Elementary and Secondary Education Act's enactment in 1965. The case highlights the changing federal-district relationship, the equitable implementation of the No Child Left Behind public school choice provision, and the nature of federal authority in education policy, and how it is currently being exercised by the Bush administration.     

Principals’ Instructional Leadership Within a Teacher Performance Appraisal System: Enhancing Students’ Academic Success

The purpose of this study was to identify principals’ instructional leadership actions within a comprehensive teacher evaluation system in successful schools rated as recognized or exemplary by the accountability measures in place. The study followed a multiple case study approach. Participants included six school administrators within the same school district. From these three were principals and three assistant principals, representing all three schools levels—elementary school, middle school, and high school. The main data sources consisted of interviews, observations and journaling. Data were analyzed inductively to discern emerging themes. Findings of the study revealed that principals’ instructional leadership actions at all three levels included setting clear expectations, monitoring instruction through walk-through observations, and providing professional development opportunities according teachers’ needs. Furthermore, the cross site analysis revealed that principals tend to rely on instructional leadership actions that are pertinent to each grade level’s needs. Findings also suggest that principals, indeed, apply the teacher performance appraisal system as a basis to enhance instruction and improve student achievement.     

Information Technology Classrooms and Elementary School Principals' Roles: Turkish Experience

The aim of this research is to explore what elementary school principals' roles related to IT classrooms were, and how school principals perceived their roles as well as what expected from them. This research was conducted in a small city situated in the west Black Sea region of Turkey. Seventeen schools with information technology classrooms were selected for this research. The participants in this study included seventeen school principals and fifteen computer coordinators. One central office computer coordinator and a regional representative participated in the study as key informants. The primary sources of data included semi-structured interviews and official documents. The self-reported IT related roles of Turkish elementary school principals included facilitation, staff development, and communication. The expected roles, on the other hand, included leadership (instructional and technological leadership), supervision, communication, staff development, planning, coordination, public relation, empowerment, ethics, and security.     

Principals’ Coordinating Strategies and School Effectiveness 1

This paper examines the relationship between strategies used by principals to coordinate organizational activities and school effectiveness. The dominant view of effective principals suggests that they generally emphasize those tasks which are directly related to teaching and learning and assert influence and authority surrounding these tasks to coordinate instructional programs. Attention has also been placed in the effectiveness literature on the importance of developing a shared sense of direction to achieve coordination and effectiveness. The results of a study of elementary school principals in community schools in Israel suggest that principals' roles in framing school goals, that is, establishing a clear mission, are more instrumental in establishing school effectiveness than are the emphases of traditional areas which have been associated with school effectiveness.

     

Technology Leadership Perceptions of Utah Elementary School Principals

Abstract

The rapidly expanding use of technology in education requires principals to be prepared as technology leaders; however, many are not currently prepared for this role. It is crucial that principals are prepared in order to lead schools in successful technology integration and support. The primary purpose of this quantitative study was to determine the perceived level of technology leadership preparation of Utah elementary principals using the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) Standards for Administrators. The data for this study was collected from 129 Utah elementary school principals and the survey used the ISTE Standards for Administrators as the framework, and findings provide evidence that Utah elementary school principals are not adequately prepared to lead as technology leaders. (Keywords: technology leadership, principal, ISTE Standards for Administrators).     

Reforming Preschool to Ready Children for Academic Achievement: A Case Study of the Impact of Pre-K Reform on the Issue of School Readiness

Research Findings: Policymakers preschool reforms that are to prepare young children for school success have sparked important conversations within the field of early childhood education over how these programs are to ready young children for school. This article presents findings from a case study that examined this issue of school readiness across a collection of pre-k programs. Doing so illustrates how preschool reforms can impact early childhood stakeholders' understanding of school readiness, what it is they do with their students in their programs, and why. Practice or Policy: These findings demonstrate how policymakers' pre-k reforms can tighten the link between preschool and elementary school in a way that prioritizes the goals of K-12 education systems. They also suggest that for those who want to expand the construct of school readiness they should do so in a way that addresses and recognizes the challenges pre-k stakeholders in local contexts face on a day-to-day basis. For policymakers, there appears to be an opportunity and willingness within the ECE community for preschool reform. They should take advantage of this willingness for change by considering policy solutions that value the complexity of the child and of the field of early education itself.     

Investigating instructional leadership in Kuwait's educational reform context: school leaders’ perspectives

This study explores the practices of Kuwaiti school principals acting as instructional leaders during education reforms, using qualitative content analysis of standardised open-ended interviews with 28 randomly selected school principals. The results showed that principals faced obstacles related to the deeply-ingrained centralised structure in the Ministry of Education, whose mandates conflicted with the stated goal of building principals’ capacity. There were variations in instructional leadership dimensions, including defining the school’s mission, managing the instructional programme, and creating a positive climate for teaching and learning. A gradual, planned decentralisation is recommended to improve educational leadership practices in Kuwait.     

Practices that support the transition to public preschool programs: Results from a National Survey

The number of children participating in public school preschool programs has steadily increased over the last two decades. While the use of specific practices to support the transition to kindergarten has received a great deal of attention, there are little data on the use of transition practices by public school preschool teachers to support children's entry into the public school preschool setting. This article presents findings from a national sample of 2434 public school preschool teachers on the use of 25 transition practices to support the transition of young children into public school preschool programs. The study represents a collaborative extension of the National Center for Early Development and Learning (NCEDL) Kindergarten Transition Survey [Pianta, R. C., Cox, M. J., Taylor, L., & Early, D. (1999). Kindergarten teachers’ practices related to the transition to school: Results of a national survey. Elementary School Journal, 100(1), 71–86]. Public school preschool teachers reported using an average of 12.81 of the 25 transition practices included in the survey, with a total of 12 of the 25 transition practices reportedly in use by 70% or more of teachers responding to the survey. Findings from this study indicate that three variables – training on the use of specific transition practices, classroom composition, and school context – were related to the use of transition practices by public school preschool teachers.     

Being Black, Male, and Gifted in Miami: Prevalence and Predictors of Placement in Elementary School Gifted Education Programs

Although it is well established that Black male students are underrepresented in gifted educational programs in the United States, due to a scarcity of longitudinal prospective research, little is known about the protective factors at the child, family, and school level that increase the probability of Black male students being identified as gifted during early elementary school. Using data from the Miami School Readiness Project, we followed 6,926 low-income Black males from preschool through 5th grade to describe trajectories for the 453 Black males (6.5 %) who were identified as gifted, and examined child, family, and preschool variables associated with gifted classification. Boys were most commonly identified as gifted in first and second grade, and 15 % of the identified boys did not appear to be receiving gifted courses. Hierarchical multiple logistic regression analyses revealed that being classified as gifted in early elementary school was more likely for Black males who (a) attended public school pre-K programs at age four, (b) had higher cognitive, language, fine motor, behavioral, and emergent literacy school readiness skills before entering kindergarten, (c) spoke a language other than English at home, (d) were older upon entering kindergarten, (e) received higher grades in school, and (f) scored higher on standardized tests of math and reading. Predictors of gifted identification in the kindergarten year were different and weaker compared to identification in later years. Implications for early identification and intervention for talented Black males are discussed.     

The Effects of Chronological Age and Information Media on Teacher Screening Decisions for Elementary School Principals*

Screening decisions made by public school administrators have been shown to be influenced by the chronological age of teacher candidates and have been examined through a single medium consisting of paper credentials mailed to principals in the field setting. However, today, unlike the past, teacher candidates have available to them several different mediums for communicating their interests and personal information to potential employers in the public school setting. To determine the impact of different mediums (traditional, CD-ROM, & Web page) and specific messages (masked or unmasked for chronological age) on screening decisions made by elementary school principals, an experimental study was conducted. Results indicated that principals may well overlook many qualified teacher candidates choosing to use electronic mediums for communicating their credentials to organizational representatives at the screening stage of the selection process.     

Investigating the Transition of Young Children With Intellectual Disabilities to Mainstream Classes: an Australian perspective

An investigation of the transition of 33 children with intellectual disabilities to mainstream kindergarten classes was conducted by surveying parents, receiving teachers, and receiving principals. All 33 children had received a model university-based inclusive preschool program in the year before kindergarten. Structured interviews with the parents, teachers, and principals at the beginning of Term 2 of the school year and with the parents and teachers at the end of the school year provided information about issues relating to the transition and the initial and subsequent integration of the children. The findings from this study were valuable in relation to the ongoing evaluation of the model preschool program, but also provide useful information to early intervention services and mainstream schools wanting to improve the success of their transition programs.     

The culture of inclusion: Recognizing diversity at multiple levels

Federal and state initiatives to ensure public educational opportunities to youngsters with disabilities have resulted in the inclusion of these children in typical preschool and community placements. With these mandates come questions and concerns about the methods that are most useful in supporting children in these settings. Educators are challenged to provide services for children with a range of behavioral and developmental differences as well as services that are responsive to the diverse needs of children and families who vary considerably in their cultural, ethnic, and linguistic backgrounds. The purpose of this paper is to examine how preschool programs and community sites acknowledge, adapt, and match the cultural preferences and/or expectations of participating children and families. Themes related to culture and diversity which have emerged from this qualitative study are discussed as they influence preschool inclusion.     

Examining contextual differences in the development of instructional leadership and school achievement

This study examined the generalizability of a principal instructional leadership model and its impact on school academic achievement across different school levels. The study tested the model across elementary and secondary school levels. The study also examined whether elementary school principals exert stronger instructional leadership influence over their school's academic achievement than high school principals. The results confirmed the fit of the same instructional leadership model to principals from both school levels. The results are discussed in terms of their theoretical and practical implications.