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Many school leaders who sought to enculturate distributive leadership and shared decision-making within their schools/school districts may not have adequate data tools that would encourage teachers and educational leaders to actively participate during times of decision-making. School organizations may struggle in this area and could benefit from the decision-making practices of other learning organizations (Adler-Greene, 2019; Azeska et al., 2017; Darrow, 2016; Flowers &Carpenter, 2009). One such learning organization that has experience in the data decision-making cycle is the U.S. Army (Greer et al., 2018; Hernandez et al., 2017; Parham; 2015; U.S Army Doctrinal Publication, The Operations Process No. 5.0, 2019). This field study explored and compared the cultural use of decision-making tools of a U.S. school district located in the Southeastern region of the United States of America to the cultural use of decision-making tools of a U.S. Army Military unit located in the Southeastern region of the United States of America. The results suggests that U.S. Army decision-making tools may be more sophisticated in solving complex problems than current education decision-making tools used by school principals and enculturates practices of distributive leadership and shared decision-making (Greer et al., 2018;Hernandez et al., 2017; Parham, 2015; U.S Army Doctrinal Publication, The Operations Process No. 5.0, 2019; U.S. Army Field Manual, Commander and Staff Organization and Operations No.6-0, 2015).

This study examined the relationships between enabling structures, academic optimism, and student achievement to determine whether academic optimism served as a mediator between the two. Student achievement was measured using both criterion-referenced and norm-referenced tests. Findings indicated a relationship between academic optimism, enabling structures, and student achievement. Also, academic optimism appeared to serve as a mediator between enabling structures and norm-referenced assessments but did not correlate with criterion-referenced tests. This study is one of only a few seeking to establish connections among enabling structures, academic optimism, and student achievement, measured at the school level, in elementary schools. The use of mediation also offers a unique perspective on the literature.

Members of Auburn University's educational leadership program at the doctoral level have created a new framework for learning and sharing knowledge, experience, and support. This framework is shared among the doctoral candidates in the form of series of core classes called "doctoral cohort." This paper captures the essence of the educational leadership doctoral cohort program at Auburn University, Alabama, by describing the doctoral cohort experience as viewed through Bolman's and Deal's (1993) four leadership frames: political, structural, human resource, and symbolic. Furthermore, this essay puts forth metaphors within each frame in order to underscore the value of the cohort experience. (Contains 1 note.)

Educational leadership redesign efforts have been numerous in recent years. Scholars have reported descriptions of these redesigns and have included important and relevant program improvements (Brooks, Reames, & Reed, 2010; Browne-Ferrigno, 2011; Buttram & Doolittle, 2015; Mountford & Acker-Hocevar, 2013; Phillips, 2013), unique features of exemplary programs (Darling-Hammond, L., LaPointe, M., Meyerson, D., & Orr, M. T., 2007), international perspectives (Jean-Marie & Normore, 2010). These have included the perspective of K-12 partners; university scholars, deans and state department of education officials but none have examined redesign from the educational leadership program coordinator perspective.

This study, conducted in one state in the United States, replicated similar research from over a decade ago to compare principal demographics and reasons for remaining or leaving the profession. Demographics have trended with the nation. Principals are older, more diverse and are largely eligible for retirement within the next five years. Similar demographics are noted in Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. The reasons for retiring have changed dramatically since the first survey. External mandates were the number one reason for retirement. Another reason included spending more time with their family. Around the globe, other countries are considering national initiatives, such as accountability and high-stakes testing or national curriculum standards. This study may provide a cautionary note regarding the impact on principal role and retention. Thus, while the study occurred in the United States, the policies that influenced principals' reasons for choosing to retire or stay in the profession appear to have global implications.

Calls for changing educational leadership preparation have led many state policy makers to initiate program redesign efforts; the governor of Alabama constituted a working group to examine the situation and develop recommendations. This article details the school leadership preparation program redesign process in Alabama from the perspective of faculty at one university. The article presents an overview of the design process, basic program tenets, and manner in which one set of university faculty engaged in this endeavor. It also presents facilitating and hindering factors, compares redesigned program with previous program, and aligns the redesigned program with best practices. (Contains 1 table.)

This action research establishes a method for creating more equivalent learning outcomes in a leadership course taught in resident and distance education formats. Students in the resident course have the benefit of continuous collaboration and peer feedback, while such opportunities are limited for the distance learners. This research proposes to address the gap by examining the distance learning population through qualitative analysis of their capstone assignment. Examination of 120 student development plans revealed a set of themes representing a diverse set of perspectives on various leadership topics. Each theme offers curriculum developers the opportunity to design course content intending to reinforce or to challenge the student's beliefs and opinions. The authors propose that, by providing alternative sources of cognitive conflict, curriculum developers can fill the void created by reduced collaboration and feedback, creating the context for a more equivalent learning outcome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Educational leadership programs have the responsibility of preparing and supporting school leaders to embrace technology. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between educational leadership higher education faculty beliefs about the importance of technology integration and the extent they felt prepared to model best technology practices in their preparation of future school leaders. Educational leadership faculty perceived it important to model technology best practices with their students but reported a deficit between this measure and the overall preparedness of their program to fulfill these duties. The Internet is changing the way we conduct business, socialize, and learn. Wikis, Facebook, and Google are just a small part of the vast digital resources that are changing how we interact and perceive the world around us (Bennett & Maton, 2010; Madden & Fox, 2006; McLeod, 2011; Prensky, 2009; Silva, 2009). The skills necessary to participate in this digital landscape are now considered to be part of the instructional goals of K-12 educational institutions (Charamlambous, Ioannou & Tsounta, 2011; O'Reilly & Battelle, 2009; Williams, Foulger, & Wetzel, 2009) and the nation's educational leadership programs (ISTE, 2009; Keengwe, Kidd, & Kyei-Blankson, 2009; Nyirongo, 2009). These skills, often referred to as 21st century skills, include consuming available data in discriminating ways, collaborating, communicating, and problem-solving (Prensky, 2009; Silva, 2009; Williams, Foulger & Wetzel, 2009). Educational leadership programs and their faculty have the responsibility to prepare K-12 school leaders to serve as technologically savvy leaders for both teachers and students (Meier & Mineo, 2011). School leaders will need training and ongoing support in order to provide this kind of leadership, develop 21st century skills, and successfully implement technology initiatives in their schools (Flanagan & Jacobsen, 2003). To accomplish preparing school leaders in the 21st century the more than 500 university leadership preparation programs across the United States offer Master's (M.Ed.), Specialists (Ed.S), and Doctoral (Ph.D, Ed.D) degrees (Young & Brewer, 2008). Educational leadership programs do the lion's share of leadership professional development through their advanced degree programs. Because technology is so critical to K-12 student learning outcomes, teacher pedagogical practices, and school leadership, university professors are tasked to stay abreast of current technological trends. The professors must adopt technology best practices to engage in productive programming (Keengwe, Kidd, & Kyei-Blankson, 2009), but the extant literature suggests they may not be providing best practices models for technology leadership (Sahin & Thompson, 2006; Schrum et al, 2003). Moreover, Javeri and Persichitte (2010) argued that college faculty may be "lacking in technology integration skills and knowledge outside their content specialty" (p. 615). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Alabama Torchbearer School Program was established to identify high-poverty, high-performing schools in the state. The purpose of this study was to determine if there are differences among the perceptions of principals in Torchbearer Schools and principals in similar schools with low student performance relative to the professional development practices in their schools. Three one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) procedures were conducted to assess differences in the perceptions of principals in the implementation of process, content and context of the National Staff Development Council standards (NSDC 2001). The findings from this study suggest that principals in Torchbearer Schools perceived higher levels of the implementation of NSDC standards (content, process and context) in their schools than their counterparts in non-Torchbearer Schools as measured by the NSDC survey. Additional statistical procedures supported this finding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]