"Improving Educational Performance: Local and Systematic Reforms," Volume 5 of the series published in 1997, examines improvement of educational performance through state and local reform efforts and through increases in school choice opportunities. Researchers present operational frameworks that address the perceived failure of public schools to provide high levels of student academic performance. These frameworks included measurement, motivation, and accountability in local school districts; state-driven systemic reform of curriculum standards; and accountability through school choice and school-centered reform. Perspectives presented on accountability and educational performance compare the effects of centralized governance and local authority, examine the relative benefits and adverse effects of state government and market competition on school operations, and review the tensions between professional and community control of instruction and assessment.

Advances in Educational Administration presents new perspectives and the latest thinking within the areas of educational leadership and administration.

Hardbound. Distributed Leadership: School Improvement through Collaboration, Volume 4 of the series published in 1995, focuses on defining leadership and questioning the relationships among leaders and followers through a series of case studies. From data leaders and followers through a series of case studies. From data collected at two elementary, one middle, and one high school located in Texas, Missouri, and Illinois, researchers offer in-depth analyses of a variety of leadership styles in schools working toward structural and academic reform. These case studies reflect themes that include shifts in leadership roles through participative decision making, connections of leadership processes with instruction and curriculum development processes, and change efforts motivated by student success. Commentary addressing these themes focuses on re-examination of traditional assumptions about the organization of schooling, and on the advantages of scho