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Purpose – An appreciative inquiry (AI) collaborative study with 11 school administrators in a highly diverse suburban school district sought to understand if observing and sharing successful school practices/events in a whole group setting led to change in their perceptions, attitudes, and administrative practice. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – The study took place over a ten-week period with a group of self-selected (voluntary participation) school administrative participants. Findings – There were two findings: the AI focus of inquiry on successful practices/events shapes school administrator perceptions, attitudes, and application of craft knowledge to practice; and the school administrators’ sharing of successful practices/events in a whole group setting generated new forms of practice during the ten-week study. Originality/value – The findings suggest that reflection and integration of successful practices/events are a source of craft knowledge advancing changes in school administrative practice.

This study describes the second year of an ongoing partnership between an urban drug court (UDC) and a research university with very high research activity. The purpose of the second year of our study was to engage an appreciative inquiry (AI) Learning Team in all stages of the AI 4-D Cycle to discover the positive core of their work history and work relationships to create a healthy UDC workplace culture. Nine purposively selected participants were engaged in all four stages of the AI 4-D Cycle. There were four findings. Participants (a) developed a strong sense of personal and collective empowerment; (b) created a compelling vision for healthy workplace culture; (c) created a blueprint to achieve their vision of a healthy workplace culture; and (d) generated important action steps to implement a healthy workplace culture. The application to practice of using an AI 4-D Cycle provides managers in both private and public organizations with strategies to create healthy workplace cultures.

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to advance the preparation of prospective school administrator students by extending the Web 2.0 application of blogging to discover students' strengths and successful leadership experiences. During the blogging process, students reflected on and responded to appreciative inquiry (AI) blog posts that encouraged reflective responses highlighting and identifying their inherent leadership strengths and successful leadership experiences.Design/methodology/approachA qualitative case study model was used to explore the reflective blog contributions of prospective school administrators to discover patterns in the blogging data by grounding the study in an AI theoretical research perspective. A bounded case study delimited the scope of the study to participants who were: masters or doctoral students in a school administration preparation program at a large Midwestern United States research extensive university; and enrolled in four graduate administrative preparation classes taught using reflective blogging over three instructional quarters.FindingsThe Web 2.0 application of appreciative inquiry blogging: confirmed personal strengths and successful leadership experiences; bolstered a supportive learning environment; confirmed the students' history of successful leadership experiences; and increased social capital among students.Social implicationsFuture research using AI in Web 2.0 applications can influence the positive preparation of school administrators by preparing them to lead schools in an evolving digital world. Researchers may examine how an AI blogging Web 2.0 application contributes to changing personal perceptions of contemporary deficit views of schooling to what is possible in light of stakeholders' strengths.Originality/valueThe importance of integrating Web 2.0 applications into educational administrator preparation programs is critical in an age where elementary and secondary school students live in a Web 2.0 world and build social networks with peers throughout the globe. Moreover, the evolving global workplace demands fluency in Web 2.0 applications.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to document how a doctoral research team applied an action research process to improve communication and collaboration strategies among rural Midwestern school district stakeholders.Design/methodology/approachAn appreciative inquiry (AI) action research methodology framed as a qualitative case study using the AI 4‐D cycle over four consecutive weeks was facilitated with nine purposively selected stakeholders.FindingsFindings suggest that the AI 4‐D cycle promoted greater respect and value of participants' strengths/assets through shared personal narratives; participants transformed their rural school district's culture from defensive, isolationist, and reactive to one that embraced internal and external collaboration, greater levels of trust, and hope; and participants increased social capital between the school district and community agencies as well as in the relationship among school district stakeholders.Practical implicationsParticipants entered the process with strong expressions of powerlessness focused on school district and stakeholder deficits. They left the process empowered, with a plan to improve stakeholder communication, form district and community partnerships at many levels, and act immediately to initiate transformation projects. Participants became conduits of hope for their rural community and viewed themselves as assuming leadership roles to bring groups together to build generative capacity.Originality/valueThe paper highlights the importance of the highly participatory nature of school organizations as democratic institutions, and it demonstrates that educators are empowered when their focus is on a co‐constructed imagined future.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to describe how practitioners from Canada, the UK, Singapore, and the USA, university educational administration faculty from the USA, and the editor of a premier international journal of educational management engaged in a collaborative process to discover how to improve the preparation and practice of educational administration on a global basis.Design/methodology/approachAn appreciative inquiry theoretical research perspective was used to discover a positive core of experiences that could add to cultural proficiency as it relates to educational administration.FindingsIn each cultural context, the central nature of the highpoint stories focused on appreciative ways to work with other people. The stories suggest that relationships and collaboration are at the heart of an educational administrator's practice. It was discovered that twenty‐first century educational administrators operating in a global context believed that they could become difference makers in education.Originality/valueThe findings from this study provide encouragement for extended global collaboration for practicing educational administrators as well as those who are responsible for their preparation. The findings also suggest that using collaborative technologies in the framework of a cross‐cultural educator partnership can enhance the preparation and practice in educational administration programs.

The purpose of this study was to use an appreciative inquiry (AI) theoretical research perspective and change methodology to transform the working relationships and cultural expectations of members through the discovery of their positive core leading to an optimistic and confidence-based future for an urban drug court. This study describes how participants through their participation in the first two stages of an AI 4-D cycle (Discovery and Dream) transformed their working relationships and organizational culture. Participants included an urban drug court magistrate, manager, and purposively selected staff [15 participants]. The urban drug court is designed as a last chance opportunity for substance abusers. As a result of participation in the appreciative inquiry process, participants (a) discovered a resiliency and willingness to overcome challenges, (b) reaffirmed a sense of purpose in their work and (c), discovered a positive core of successful experience. Our study demonstrates the creative possibilities when applying AI to groups mired in deficit thinking. In doing so, we advanced the research in AI, positive organizational psychology, and learned optimism. Keywords: Appreciative Inquiry, Cultural Transformation, Urban Drug Court, AI 4-D Cycle Public organizations are influenced by forces beyond their control such as the