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The court system has been an increasingly important forum in the attempts to remedy the persistent achievement gaps in American education. In the past twenty years, school finance adequacy litigation has replaced desegregation as the most widely used legal strategy in these efforts. Despite the widespread use of adequacy litigation, few researchers have examined the link between adequacy lawsuits and student outcomes.
This study analyzed the relationship between school finance adequacy litigation and academic proficiency, as measured by scores on the 2003 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). The results showed that successful adequacy litigation had a small, significant, positive relationship with NAEP scores, but little differential benefit for students living in poverty or for children of color, with the exception of African American students. Therefore, this evidence suggests that adequacy litigation has had little impact on reducing the achievement gap, though it may have contributed to a small, across the board improvement in student outcomes.

This is a reflection adapting Martin's How Successful Leaders Think to the education system. Business leaders and administrators share a key character trait. It is the ability to recognize not all decisions are based on choosing one answer from two alternatives. Good leaders see the potential to take the best from the two opposing issues, combine them, and create a completely new idea. In the business world, this skill is measured in profits. In the education system, this skill is measured in the success of the students.

This article explores the funding and adequacy of funding in Arizona Schools. A survey of district superintendents statewide taken in 2005 is analyzed and discussed.

The content in this module is aligned with the Educational Leadership Constituent Council (ELCC) Standard 4 and the Texas State Board for Educator Certification (SBEC) Competency 002.

ELCC Standard 4.0 - Candidates who complete the program are educational leaders who have the knowledge and ability to promote the success of all students by collaborating with families and other community members, responding to diverse community interests and needs, and mobilizing community resources.

SBEC Competency 002 – the principal knows how to communicate and collaborate with all members of the school community, respond to diverse interests and needs, and mobilize resources to promote student success.

In fulfilling their gate-keeping function, doctoral programs in educational leadership must attract and graduate the most able candidates if the nation is to retain leadership status in the world economy. Success rates in the past for these goals have been at best mediocre relative to most standards of comparison.Improvements in these base rates are likely to come about only through systematic research and then through the application of this research in the actual setting. That is, data are needed that inform both attraction of and selection among potential candidates for a doctoral program in educational leadership. The focus of this chapter is on providing information bearing on the attraction and on the selection of doctoral students.

Higher learning organizations frequently offer courses isolated from other disciplines or areas of concentration. The intent of this study was to explore collaboration practices on authentic based projects involving two distinct courses from differing programs: Instructional Technology and Educational Leadership. This paper describes the strategies of designing effective learning environments for multidisciplinary collaboration and problem-based learning and reports the effectiveness of those strategies. The result of the collaboration was the production of various multimedia interactive professional development training materials developed by the technology students on various topics proposed by the school administrators. The collaborative learning practices provided the opportunity to not only give and receive knowledge among the participants but also view this exchange as a responsibility to create a collaborative culture within the university.

The content in this module is aligned with the Educational Leadership Constituent Council (ELCC) Standard 4 and the Texas State Board for Educator Certification (SBEC) Competency 002.

ELCC Standard 4.0 - Candidates who complete the program are educational leaders who have the knowledge and ability to promote the success of all students by collaborating with families and other community members, responding to diverse community interests and needs, and mobilizing community resources.

SBEC Competency 002 – the principal knows how to communicate and collaborate with all members of the school community, respond to diverse interests and needs, and mobilize resources to promote student success.

School districts across the nation annually experience frequent teacher turnover and loss of teachers to the profession. The primary cause contributing to this condition is low teacher job satisfaction. This study examined the relationship between small class size in early elementary grades and teacher job satisfaction in a single school district using 20 elementary schools involving 135 teachers. Results of the study indicated that higher levels of teacher satisfaction were associated with fewer children assigned to a class. Specifically, statistically significant correlations were found for the relationship between small class sizes and the use of enriched activities in the classroom, ability to reconfigure classrooms for learning, and increased ability to respond to student needs, all factors enhanced through smaller class sizes and related to teacher job satisfaction.

The use of adjunct faculty positions has been a growing reality for over thirty years in colleges and universities across the nation. The adjunct faculty makes up 46% of the college and university teachers and 65 % of the adjunct and non-tenure track positions (Euban, 2006). The adjunct professors do not have permanent positions with the university. Usually, they are hired on a semester by semester basis and do not have a full-time contract. These part-time positions are considered a minimum teaching load that does not require the professors to have research or administrative responsibilities. Their employment is dependent on the number of students who enroll in each course offered and they are paid by the number of hours they teach (Kamps, 1996; Wegner, MacGregor & Watson, 2003).

In response to societal, pedagogical, and economic pressures for change, colleges of education and departments of educational leadership have sought alternative formats for the professional development of educational leaders.

The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina brought devastation and confusion to the Mississippi Gulf Coast region on August 29, 2005. A desperate need for leadership, collaboration, and coordination of relief and recovery efforts was revealed during a March 2007 strategic planning session involving 96 organizations, groups, agencies, and researchers working in the area. As an outgrowth of the planning session, the Inter-University Collaborative Research, Relief, and Recovery Initiative was formed March 14, 2008, with the purpose of developing a better understanding of the research process after a natural disaster and the roles of university researchers and social service providers in conducting the research. A qualitative study of the group’s initial collaborative discussions was conducted implementing focus group methodology. Participants of the study included nine researchers and six social service providers working in the post-Katrina environment. Results showed needs for collaboration among researchers and social workers and the establishment of research parameters sensitive to the cultural context of this post-disaster region.

The editors offer concluding remarks on the Handbook of Doctoral Programs in Educational Leadership.

The NCPEA Handbook of Doctoral Programs in Educational Leadership: Issues and Challenges, CONCLUSION, authored by Carol A. Mullen, Theodore B. Creighton, Frederick L. Dembowski, andSandra L. Harris.

Doctoral students are by their very nature social creatures, and those who experience an "organic union" with others have a far better chance of becoming productive, skilled researchers and lifelong learners. Many studies have found that "cooperative efforts produce higher achievement than do competitive or individualistic efforts" (Johnson & Johnson, 1998, p. 9; see also Johnson, 2003; Winston, 2006). In this confessional essay, I situate myself as a doctoral supervisor reflecting on the value of positive interdependent learning and, as a vehicle for this, research support groups. I have come to realize that my core values are situated, biased, and not generally representative of all of my students, a story I share in this essay. The personal–confessional genre is one in which "confessors" reveal their subjectivities and engage in reflective thinking in ways that potentially shape educational discourse (Bleakley, 2000; see also Bullough & Pinnegar, 2001). In keeping with social theorist C. Wright Mills's conception of research (1959), I believe that "personal troubles" should not be presented merely as troubles but rather "understood in terms of public issues" (p. 226).

This case study is designed to serve as a teaching and learning tool which can be used by aspiring educational leaders to enhance their skills in conflict management and communication. The mastery of both leadership skills will enable aspiring educational leaders to effectively plan, lead, and direct critical decision-making processes that affect the internal organization and external stakeholders. The college President at Integrity Community College was not able to effectively communicate with the Board and, as a result, the Board Chair had to intervene and resolve the issue. Today’s educational leaders must serve as the organization’s the primary leader and architect prepared to meet the decision-making challenges of its internal and external constituency.

There can be no question that P-12 education was one of the more volatile issues during recent local, state, and federal elections. Reform initiatives were being touted by virtually all of the candidates whose names appeared on the November ballots. Data supporting success of many of these reform initiatives, particularly those in great favor with the political right, simply do not exist (see Hudson, 1998; Kohn, 2000; McNeil, 2000; McNeil & Valenzuela, 2000; Nevi, 2001; Ohanian, 2002; Popham, 2001; Smith & Ruhl-Smith, 2002a; Smith & Ruhl-Smith, 2002b; Smith & Ruhl-Smith, 2004). For those willing to carefully investigate the claims most commonly made in support of the corporate-driven reform efforts endorsed by conservatives and conservative groups, it is obvious that "the emperor has no clothing" (Smith & Ruhl-Smith, 2004). For-profit schools are in no significant way out-performing their public P-12 counterparts. Standardized instruments for the assessment of student learning toward specific outcomes are frequently unable to document evidence of "true" learning. Corporations that produce such standardized instruments and supporting preparation materials have proven unable to meet "guaranteed timelines" but, nonetheless, continue to generate profits at rates astronomically greater than the growth in virtually any other sector of the U.S. economy.

Nationally recognized experts in the field of educational leadership and administration contribute to this book, with chapters focused on the past, present, and future of the preparation of our nation's school leaders. Every field of professional practice must periodically reflect on its past, assess current conditions, and chart a course for the future. This book is designed to stimulate thinking and action for the field of educational leadership. The authors portray historical achievements and short comings, describe what is transpiring now, and explore implications of current developments.

This case study covers a wide variety of challenges facing administrators as they make an effort to improve the learning environments of impoverished communities. It may be used in an introductory course for aspiring school leaders and practitioners in th