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This study examined the perceptions of educators to determine if they felt that they were adequately prepared to teach in a high poverty school setting. The participants, educators from four school districts, completed a survey based on their perceptions of their own level of self-efficacy and preparedness to work in high poverty schools. The analyses indicated that, overall, educators felt well-prepared with limited supporting evidence to work in high poverty schools in the areas of student learning and engagement, which included curriculum and pedagogy, differentiation, and assessment. Findings further indicated a need for professional learning so educators can best support students in the high poverty setting in terms of problem solving when issues arise in the classroom. The implications for practice suggest that educators need support to ensure a high level of preparedness to work in high-poverty schools, as educators need to have a high level of self-efficacy to positively impact student success. Future research could help pinpoint specific areas of need within student learning and engagement to determine how to best develop professional learning opportunities that are purposeful, collaborative, and sustainable. Additional research should be conducted to determine if teachers' levels of self-efficacy and perceptions of preparedness are correlated to leadership style.

School leaders must make decisions and implement strategies to improve a school climate and student achievement, and it benefits them to understand which areas of school climate have the greatest impact on student achievement. The State of Georgia measures school climate and student achievement with its school accountability measure, the College and Career Ready Performance Index (CCRPI). This study employed a quantitative research design using archival data that was publicly available from CCRPI data for a two year span to examine the relationship between school climate and student achievement statewide in the middle grade sector. Findings revealed that all four components of school climate (i.e., Survey Score, Discipline Score, Safe & Substance-Free Learning Environment Score, and Attendance Score) were significantly related to student achievement. Additionally, the Survey Score and Discipline Score were the most significant predictors of student achievement. These findings provide school leaders with essential information to strategically make decisions involving processes and procedures that impact these areas. Future research is needed to determine whether the relationship between school climate and student achievement is similar for elementary, middle, or high schools. In addition, separating the data into rural, suburban, and urban schools and running similar analyses may also help administrators improve school climate and student achievement.

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between principal attrition and academic factors in Georgia’s high-needs rural schools. The research shows that principals have a significant impact on student outcomes, and principal attrition is a disruptive factor in schools. The findings from this study indicate a negative correlation between principal turnover and every academic component of Georgia’s College and Career Readiness Index (CCRPI) at elementary, middle, and high schools in high-needs rural schools in Georgia. Implications for practice are the need to recruit and retain high-quality principals in Georgia’s high-needs rural schools and the development of purposeful, collaborative, and sustainable professional learning to better prepare leaders for the unique challenges these schools face. Recommendations for future research include expanding the research to other rural schools and expanding the timeframe of the study to better understand the relationship between principal attrition and student outcomes.

Phenomenological analysis was used to explore Georgia rural school principals’ lived experiences of effective school leadership preparedness. Four overarching themes were found: productive/favorable leadership preparation program culture, bridge theory and practice in educational leadership preparation program, multicultural competencies for practice, and recommendations for effective principal preparation. The findings revealed that school leaders need increased experiential learning opportunities, increased assignments applicable to daily leader tasks, and increased cultural awareness and diversity training in their preparation programs. Principal preparation programs should work with school districts to provide purposeful, collaborative, and sustainable professional learning to prepare competent school leaders. Further research includes recruiting more rural school principals to share their experiences and perceptions with principal preparation program providers in an effort to advance aspiring principal training. Implications for practice include equipping aspiring principals with the knowledge and skills to lead for equity to continue to have a pipeline of effective school leaders to serve in Georgia’s traditionally underserved areas.

This study explored the cultural knowledge (CK) and cultural skills (CS) levels of Texas school leaders to determine if there was a relationship between cultural knowledge and cultural skill as well as between principals' CK and CS levels and school academic outcomes. In comparing within-group scores, the results indicated CK scores were higher than CS scores in all participant groups. Between-group analysis revealed participants in non-Title I schools scored higher in CK, but Title I school leaders scored higher in CS. Results further indicated school leaders who identified as a member of a marginalized group scored higher in CS but slightly lower in CK than leaders who did not identify as a member of a marginalized group. There was a statistically significant, positive correlation between CK and CS scores; however, CK scores were negatively correlated with proficiency levels in marginalized student groups and CS scores were positively correlated with proficiency levels in marginalized student groups.

A vast body of research supports the notion that school leadership is the second most influential factor on student achievement, behind only the classroom teacher (Davis & Darling-Hammond, 2012; Lynch, 2012; Mendels & Mitgang, 2013; Miller, 2013; Pannell, Peltier-Glaze, Haynes, Davis, & Skelton, 2015). Lawmakers have begun to recognize the significance of the principal’s impact on student achievement, and while waiting on reauthorization of federal education legislation, the United States Department of Education (USDE) included a principal evaluation component in the requirements for states to waive certain provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001. To request flexibility, states were required to develop a principal evaluation system that met certain criteria as outlined by the USDE, including the use of student outcomes as a major component of the evaluation system.