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Federal and state policymakers in the USA have sought to better differentiate the performance of K-12 teachers by enacting more rigorous evaluation policies. The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether these policies are working as intended and explore whether district stressors such as funding, enrollment, and governance are associated with outcomes.

The authors examined teacher evaluation ratings from 687 districts in Michigan to identify the relationship between district stressors and two outcomes of interest to policymakers: frequency of high ratings and variation of ratings within districts. A qualitative index of variation was used to measure variation of the categorical rating variable.

About 97 percent of teachers in Michigan are rated effective or highly effective, and variation measures indicate overwhelming use of only two ratings. Charter school districts have fewer teachers rated highly than traditional districts, and districts with higher fund balances have more teachers rated highly. Districts with increasing fund balances have higher variation.

The findings suggest that district stressors presumably unrelated to teacher performance may influence teacher evaluation ratings. State teacher evaluation reforms that give districts considerable discretion in designing their teacher evaluation models may not be sufficient for differentiating the performance of teachers.

This research is important as policymakers refine state systems of support for teacher evaluation and provides new evidence that current enactment of teacher evaluation reform may be limiting the value of evaluation ratings for use in personnel decisions.

Creating inclusive schools for students with disabilities is a major leadership responsibility for principals throughout the world. Each national, regional and local context is different, but every principal can help create and support inclusive schools. The purpose of this article is to describe the evolving context of inclusive education and school leadership in the United States aligning what is known to an established leadership framework (Hitt and Tucker, 2016), as there are similarities between the Hitt and Tucker domains and the work of leaders in inclusive schools. The authors emphasize that inclusive leadership is consistent with existing conceptualizations of principals' work. The authors consider specific policies and organizational conditions that support inclusive schools and highlight successes and continuing challenges for principals that can be applied throughout the world.

This paper utilizes an exploratory approach to review the US policy-related and empirical literature on school leadership for effective inclusive schools. The authors draw across time from research syntheses in school and inclusive leadership from leading journals in educational leadership, special education and edited volumes focused on school leadership. The authors analyze common themes centered on leadership practice, organizational and social conditions and challenges.

The research review identified effective leadership practices that support inclusive education in the United States and provides a critical discussion of how these findings relate to international research and practice.

The paper considers the relevance of national policy contexts coupled with a review of school leadership for inclusive schools that is insightful for policymakers and practitioners seeking to create more inclusive schools throughout the world.

The paper offers a situated review of leadership for inclusive schools in the United States. As such, this review lays the foundation for a comparative and international conversation on school leadership for inclusion.

The purpose of this article is to describe and analyze how three principals attempting to establish effective inclusive schools for students with disabilities identified and learned from failure, with a specific focus on how failure was used to drive school improvement efforts.

This qualitative study involved interviews and observations during one school year in an urban school district in the southwestern United States. Participants varied in their levels of experience and their perceptions about establishing inclusion in their schools. In addition, each school ranged in the length of time working toward implementing inclusion and the relative success of their reform efforts.

This study presents insights into several types of failures with a range of causation, from what we term “unnecessary failures,” to “complex coordination failures” and “trial failures.” In response to these failures, the principals in this study attempted to foster a culture of professionalism and trust by creating avenues for relationship-building that would allow teachers and staff to buy into the inclusive mission of the school. Principals also attempted to build school capacity by working to strengthen teams and pre-existing structures and to cultivate teacher-leaders that could improve communication, motivate others and effectively lead meetings that would encourage authentic collaboration.

Analyzing and learning from instances of failure is an important practice, especially for failures that are unexpected, yet much of the literature on leading from failure exists in business management scholarship, with very limited examples in the area of special education and special education school leadership.

Most education systems were not initially designed to include students with disabilities. However, over the past 25 years, great strives have been taken to ensure students with disabilities have access to the general education classroom and to important social, emotional and academic opportunities. Within the USA, researchers have begun to focus on the principal's role in creating and sustaining effective inclusive schools. The purpose of this article is to examine the leadership practices and perceptions associated with creating effective inclusive schools for students with disabilities.

This qualitative study examined how two elementary school principals created an effective inclusive school and how they understood the challenges and change processes associated with inclusion. Each principal was interviewed and observed four times over one school year. Teachers and district administrators were also interviewed to gain insights into the school's progress with inclusion and to verify principals’ interview data.

This study added to existing research by identifying the following leadership practices critical to creating effective inclusive schools: (1) creating a culture of change-oriented collaboration, (2) planning and evaluating, (3) building capacity and (4) developing/revising plans. The principals felt that these practices enabled inclusion to take root, despite challenges and the chaotic nature of life in schools. A total of three additional themes emerged related to how principals understood change processes and challenges associated with inclusion: collaborative inquiry, information flow and crises/distractions/fatigue.

Several key leadership practices were identified in this study, including practices associated to systems thinking (ST). These practices hold promise and might be applied to thoughtfully design inclusive reforms. Faculty in principal preparation programs might also consider exposing aspiring leaders to the literature on leadership for effective inclusive schools as well as systems thinking.

The paper identifies the leadership practices of two principals who created effective inclusive schools. The paper is unique as it applies a ST lens to the investigation of leadership for inclusion.