Stephen Jacobson, Corrie Giles, Sharon Brooks, Lauri Johnson, and Rose Ylimaki

With federal legislation requiring that ‘no child be left behind’, it is imperative that educators and policymakers learn more about the practices and approaches employed by school leaders who have improved the educational life chances of youngsters, especially those who have traditionally been at high risk for failure.   A team of researchers from the GSE, led by Stephen Jacobson, will report initial findings from a unique ‘multi-perspective’ research project designed to identify the qualities, characteristics and competences of successful school leadership in six Western New York schools.   The cases reported include elementary and secondary schools in urban, suburban and rural communities, five of which are listed by New York State as high need schools.  Preliminary findings reveal that principals in these settings must work to create safe, stable learning environments for children and adults, and then provide sufficient resources and support to develop the capacity of the teaching force.  This set of case studies, funded by a Ventures in Leadership Grant from the Wallace Foundation, is part of a larger, eight nation study to determine whether there are a set of generic core qualities, characteristics and competences which can be identified within and across national, regional and local policy and cultural contexts.  Participating countries include: Australia, Canada, China (Hong Kong), Denmark, England, Norway, Sweden, and the USA.

Dr. Stephen L. Jacobson is Professor of Educational Administration at the University at Buffalo/SUNY.  His research interests include teacher compensation, human resource administration, and the reform of a leadership preparation and practice.  He has published extensively including four books on school reform and leadership.  In 1994, he received the Jack Culbertson Award for outstanding contributions to the field of educational administration from the University Council for Education Administration (UCEA).  He is a past President of the American Education Finance Association (1999), co-director of the UCEA Center for the Study of School-Site Leadership and co-editor for Leadership and Policy in Schools.  Prior to receiving his Ph.D. from Cornell University in 1986, he was a special education teacher with the New York City Public School system.  Also presenting from the Educational Leadership & Policy department at UB are:  Dr. Corrie Giles, Ph.D., Ms. Sharon Brooks, Dr. Lauri Johnson, Ph.D., and Dr. Rose Ylimaki, Ph.D.