Teachers comprise the greatest professional population of a school; they have the most contact with students; and they have perhaps the greatest influence on school climate. For this reason, teacher morale is a topic of great concern to public school administrators. Moreover, research suggests that poor teacher morale negatively affects student performance just as high teacher morale positively affects student performance. Research also indicates that teacher morale is influenced more by the leadership style of the principal than any other single factor. This study was designed to determine whether certain relationships exist between teacher morale and the following independent variables: (1) principal trust and (2) leadership satisfaction. Additionally, investigations were conducted to determine whether the aforementioned independent variables lead to increased student achievement. Information regarding teacher morale was collected from 65 teachers using the 2009 MDed - Multi Dimensional Education Incorporated (MDed) Survey at three 7-8 Initiative schools in a large suburban district in southeast Texas. It was the intent of this study to determine whether principal leadership and teacher morale are significantly correlated. The study also demonstrated whether or not teachers' and principals' perceptions of leadership behaviors contribute to student achievement. vi After analyzing the data, it was found that principal leadership behaviors do significantly impact teacher morale, and student achievement. Additionally, it was found that positive teacher morale and student achievement in the Initiative Schools influenced positive student behaviors, ultimately reducing student discipline referrals. Multiple interventions were put into place that led to the positive outcomes. The interventions, new principal leadership, ongoing intensive staff development, establishment of small learning communities, reduction of student population and low student to teacher class ratios, were the catalysts that lead to the Initiative Schools' transformational success, a transformation of high teacher morale, increased student achievement, and positive student behaviors.

This book provides contemporary knowledge on school effectiveness and proposes strategic interventions for enhancing it. It focuses on improving academic leadership for enhancing the effectiveness of schools and discusses how national education policies are helpful in providing a vision towards improving school effectiveness. It highlights the role of teachers as academic leaders in the implementation of policy recommendations at school and classroom levels. It offers methods and mechanisms for academic leaders to measure the learning of students for school assessment. The author also discusses how academic leadership involves creating a vision and mission based on science and research data for the organisation, inspiring innovation and creative ideas, developing teamwork, and a safe environment for staff to express their views. While providing an understanding of school as an organization, the volume outlines its management functions such as processes and quality of planning, management of curriculum, learner evaluation, institutional networks, and human resource management, among others. The volume is a guidebook for training and capacity building for school-level practitioners and leaders in education management. Embedded with real-life cases and episodes, this volume will be of interest to teachers, students, and practitioners of education, management, and education management. It will also be useful for academicians, educationalists, practitioners, management professionals, educational leaders, and policymakers.

This book features contributions from leading experts who present peer reviewed research on how the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic affected U.S. teachers, students, parents, teaching practices, enrolments, and institutional innovations, offering the first empirical findings exploring educational impacts likely to last for decades. The COVID-19 pandemic presented the greatest crisis in the history of U.S. schooling, with America’s 50 states, thousands of school systems, and tens of thousands of private and charter schools responding in myriad ways. This book brings together peer reviewed, empirical research on how U.S. schools responded, and on the educational and health impacts likely to persist for many years. Contributors explore how the U.S. responses differed from those in other countries, with slower reopening, and both reopening and modes of instruction varying widely across states and school sectors. Compared to European countries, U.S. responses to reopening schools reflected political influences more than health or educational needs, though this was less true in market-based private and charter schools. The pandemic was a catalyst for school choice movements across the U.S. Many parents reacted to school closings by exploring alternatives to traditional public schools, including an important and likely permanent innovation, small, parent-created or “pod” schools. As the papers here detail, long term student learning loss and health and socioemotional impacts of COVID-19 closings may well last for decades. The volume concludes by exploring teacher experiences across different sectors following the pandemic. COVID-19 and Schools will be a key resource for academics, researchers, and advanced students of education, education policy and leadership, educational research, research methods, economics, sociology and psychology. The chapters included in this book were originally published as a special issue of Journal of School Choice.