<p> The United States (U.S.) is undergoing a paradigm shift in manufacturing as it progresses from an era of low skill employees who stood in one place controlling machines that drilled, stamped, cut, and milled products that passed through the effective and efficient assembly line, to one that is derived from scientific inquiry and technological innovation referred to as advanced manufacturing (PCAST, 2011). Presently, manufacturing firms employ ten percent of the nation&rsquo;s employees directly and impact numerous organizations along its supply chain and financial sector (Giffi et al., 2015). The U.S. currently has a manufacturing base that comprises twenty percent of its total gross domestic product and is expected to continue to grow (PCAST, 2011; NSTC, 2012; Giffi et al., 2015). Specifically, Giffi et al. (2015) predicts more than two million jobs will go unfilled in advanced manufacturing by 2020 due to the inability to find qualified employees and the increasing demand for customized products. </p><p> The purpose of this study was to identify principals&rsquo; perceptions on the necessity to prepare students for careers in advanced manufacturing in public high schools in New York State, excluding New York City, with student populations of 600 or fewer students. Specifically, this study examined high school principal leadership actions for incorporating 21st century skills and the use of tools and machines (hard skills) in technology education classrooms to support a student career pathway for careers in advanced manufacturing. </p><p> Findings showed that principals believe advanced manufacturing is a viable career opportunity and have increased technology education offerings aligned to careers in advanced manufacturing. However, the data suggest principal leadership actions supporting the development of hard skills is not consistent with the needs identified by advanced manufacturing organizations. In regards to principal leadership of 21st century skills, findings show that significant positive relationships exist in the incorporation of these skills in technology education courses and through their principal leadership actions. However, principal leadership actions were not significantly correlated to assessing student development and mastery of 21st century skills.</p>

<p> Structured mentoring programs for new principals are designed to support and enhance their professional abilities. Providing mentoring support for new principals has benefits that extend beyond the novice principal to the mentor, school, and school district. Although the benefits of principal mentoring are established, mentoring of new principals is not a common practice in many school districts. The purpose of this study was to investigate the perceptions of principals and district administrators regarding the benefits and challenges of principal mentoring, as well as perceptions surrounding implementation. This qualitative phenomenological research was structured to describe views on principal mentoring and determine areas of focus for mentoring. This study examined views of principals and district administrators in a semi-rural area of Idaho, a state without mandated or funded principal mentoring. </p><p> The data from the participants in this study produced three areas that should be part of a formalized mentoring process: personal (organization, time management, emotional support, managing stress, and professional ethics), instructional leadership (district-specific learning and curricular requirements, teacher support and evaluation, using data to make decisions, and staff development), and management (district financial and policy processes, student behavioral issues, difficult relationships and stakeholders, and legal compliance). The three areas are foundational for a program and need balance to help support student learning. Mentoring can ensure the necessary balance.</p>

<p> Latina principals and assistant principals at the high school level have been overlooked in academic research. A review of literature is explored indicating how Latina, public high school assistant principals and principals are disproportionately underrepresented and face the double challenge of being a gender and an ethnic minority in the field of educational leadership. A qualitative study was conducted that begins with a statement of the problem, review of literature, and continues with a description of the research design, data collection, analysis of the data, discussion of findings, and concludes with the researcher&rsquo;s challenges. Phenomenology was the research methodology used to study four Latina assistant principals&rsquo; experiences and perceptions of barriers and support systems in relation to their career journey. Role congruity theory was used as a theoretical lens to explore the prejudices, discrimination, and career path barriers that female leaders encounter. Findings revealed that the four participants interviewed had similar experiences and perceptions concerning four main themes of motivation, challenges, support systems, and cultural identification; subthemes were also explored. Discussed is a new conceptual model which outlines the career stages of the participants. </p><p> Overall, the narrative data from the participants, the coded themes and subthemes, and the new conceptual model highlight that there are various barriers and support systems that impact Latina high school assistant principals&rsquo; career path experiences. Specifically, the challenges identified are institutional challenges in the form of poor educational leadership, prejudicial hiring practices, and internal challenges in the form of conflicts about family verses job obligations.</p>

<p> Instructional leadership for high school principals is becoming more important as principals are being held increasingly accountable for student achievement results. Principals are next to teachers in impacting learning in the classroom. The problem for high school principals is that they do not feel prepared to be instructional leaders for their school. There are many tasks a principal must handle throughout the day and these tasks take time away from principals acting as the instructional leader for their school. Principals are also not always supported in their development as an instructional leader. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore how high school principals have developed into instructional leaders, the obstacles they encountered during this process and their perceptions of the types of external support they received in instructional leadership. The participants in the study included six high school principals from four different school districts. The principals had all been on the job for at least one year. Interview and document data were collected and analyzed for common themes. The findings of the study suggested that when principals receive external support in instructional leadership, there are indications that they begin to develop in this area. District support, mentoring and coaching, team support and reading with purpose were important in the development of the principals. The findings also suggested two obstacles, time and people, for principals as they lead their schools in instruction. Finally, the study&rsquo;s findings indicated the principals who receive support had positive views of that support. Based on the results of the study, recommendations were made for providing a strong system of support for high school principals in the area of instructional leadership.</p>

<p> Research on school turnaround has been centered on individual schools and principals. This research argues the principal&rsquo;s role is essential to turnaround (Herman et al., 2008; Leithwood &amp; Strauss, 2008, 2010). There has been little research on what role superintendents play to influence school turnaround. This qualitative study explored the self-perceptions and reflections of ten superintendents (representing city, rural and suburban settings) that led districts in which schools turned around. The central question investigated the role and leadership approach of these superintendents. Along with exploring the superintendents&rsquo; leadership through Bass&rsquo;s (1985) transformational leadership theory, Rawls&rsquo; (1971) concept of social justice also underpinned the study. This framework was appropriate considering mostly poor and minority students attended the nearly 5,000 chronically low-performing schools in America (Stuit, 2010; USDOE, 2014). Despite decades of effort, low-performing schools continue to deprive many students of an excellent education. Former Education Secretary Arnie Duncan argued a quality education remained an unresolved civil rights issue (Duncan, 2014). Using primarily interviews and document review, results provided a deeper understanding of the challenges district leaders faced during turnaround efforts. While superintendents self-identified having various leadership styles, collaboration and stakeholder engagement emerged as important. Superintendents also spent time navigating resistance, addressing personnel challenges, promoting instruction, and attempting to create district focus. Superintendents often cited a social justice belief, but acknowledged stakeholder influence and district culture sometimes led to a compliance mindset. The study suggested that superintendents must consider their district&rsquo;s context to determine their approach for inspiring stakeholders to champion educating <i>all</i> students. </p>

<p> This mixed-methods study was conducted to determine if there was a significant relationship between extracurricular and/or co-curricular participation and leadership styles of beginning superintendents in the state of Missouri. First-year superintendents from 63 school districts in Missouri were invited to participate in the study, and 28 participated. The first instrumentation used in the research was a Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire 5X Short Form, created by Bass and Avolio (2004), consisting of 45 leadership style questions and was administered on-line through Mind Garden, Ltd. In addition to the MLQ 5X-Short, participants were invited to complete a second survey created by the researcher, the Profile of Extracurricular and Co-Curricular Participation Questionnaire, was administered on-line through Survey Monkey and consisted of nine demographic and background questions. This particular survey also asked participants to identify past involvement in extracurricular and/or co-curricular activities and to answer three open-ended questions regarding their perceptions of the impact, if any, of those activities on their leadership experiences. The quantitative and qualitative data indicated many of the first-year superintendents had participated in extracurricular and co-curricular activities in high school and/or college. Many participants also reported they believed these activities had made a significant impact on their lives, including leadership skills.</p>

<p> The focus of this study was to examine the impact of Missouri Leadership for Excellence, Achievement, and Development (MoLEAD) program on the school district administrators who attended and their constituents. After three cohorts of school leaders have attended the MoLEAD training, Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education authorities have yet to evaluate the effectiveness of the program. The purpose of this study was to determine the value and benefit of administrators attending the MoLEAD professional development. The participants of this study included school administrators who attended MoLEAD training in Cohort One in the state of Missouri. Data from the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (MODESE) was reviewed, along with the participants&rsquo; survey results. The outcome of the study indicated no correlation between administrators&rsquo; participation in the MoLEAD training and their students&rsquo; achievement test scores. Participants responded to open-ended questions and replied that the MoLEAD training offered great collaboration opportunities, but the program needed updating. Participants in Cohort One of MoLEAD scored highest in the area of Model the Way on the Leadership Practices Inventory (LPI) Survey; no school districts who experienced an increase in school achievement scores as measured by Missouri School Improvement Plan (MSIP) Phase 5. The essential elements identified in this study served MoLEAD directors and provided MoDESE insight into supporting the improvements needed in this established program.</p>

<p> The position of the Superintendent of Schools is multifaceted and complex. The superintendent is responsible for instruction, personnel, general business operations, budget, finance, law and politics. Do existing superintendent preparation programs adequately prepare individuals for the duties and responsibilities that they will face on a day to day basis? Research on this topic is becoming more prevalent but, because of individual state licensing and certification requirements, the research is often either generalized or it is state specific. There are few identifiable studies on superintendent preparation in New York State. </p><p> Current research indicates that superintendents felt that their administrative preparation programs were lacking in specific areas such as finance, budgeting and law and that the programs needed improvement. Therefore, research in this area is important because improving the quality and content of superintendent preparation programs will have a positive impact on the individual&rsquo;s readiness to assume the position. </p><p> The study is a qualitative study that will utilize a series of semi-structured interviews with individuals that are currently working as a Superintendent of Schools in New York State. The interviews focused on their perceptions of their administrative preparation programs, their internships, and the relevance of their coursework to the performance of their day to day duties. The interviews were structured to elicit comments and discussion regarding the personal experiences of those interviewed with regards to those aspects of their preparation program that was most beneficial to their role&rsquo;s as superintendent and those aspects that were least beneficial. Interviewees were also asked to make recommendations regarding ways to improve administrative preparation programs.</p>

<p> This research addresses moral decision making and the experience of public school principals. It also explores the possible influence mentoring has on principals&rsquo; abilities to confront complex decisions when clear ethical choices do not exist. This study incorporates a survey methodology, exploring the relationship between principal mentoring programs and schemas of morality in principals&rsquo; decision making. I used the Defining Issues Test-2 (Bebeau &amp; Thoma, 2003; Rest &amp; Narvaez, 1998) as the quantitative measurement tool to assess moral reasoning in this study. The survey also included questions about mentoring experiences and principal demographics. The DIT-2 uses the following three moral schemas that Rest (1973) identified: Personal Interest Schema, Maintaining Norms Schema, and Postconventional Schema. Rest based the three schemas on Kohlberg&rsquo;s (1958) moral development theory, which provides a framework for understanding various levels of moral judgment. The first part of my research involves determining the moral schemas principals use when making moral judgments. Principals in various studies have not only identified a need to improve moral judgment, but also areas of improvement that would most benefit them (Dempster and Berry, 2003; Drago-Severson, 2012; Henry, 2010). As a result, the second part of my research explores how principal mentoring programs with an ethics component impact moral judgment in principals.</p>

<p> Principals who are able to develop a high level of trust and establish positive relationships with teachers in a given school have greater opportunities to increase student achievement. This study reviewed the leadership factors that can increase or decrease the level of trust between teachers and the principal in rural elementary schools. A mixed methods study allowed for the most thorough review and interpretation of the data. Quantitative data was gathered from surveys regarding trust level and leadership styles. The results from the quantitative data indicated significant differences in faculty trust in the principal and the leadership styles between two principals from the six studied. This provided two schools in which to conduct the qualitative research. Interviews were held with the principal and four teachers at each school. The interviews provided rich data for analysis regarding the factors that enhance or decrease the faculty trust in the principal. Four themes were found to impact the faculty trust: relationships, communication, interpersonal skills, and a direct style of leadership. Of equal value were the development of relationships and possessing good communication skills. Having the potential to greatly influence both relationships and communication was the interpersonal skills of the principal. A principal who used a direct style of leadership and watched too intently for the mistakes teachers make was determined to have a negative impact upon trust. It was demonstrated that trust takes time and consistency to develop, but it may be destroyed easily. All of this was evaluated within the unique environment of the rural elementary school. </p>