Center for Educational Innovation and Improvement (CEii)

CEii Essays in Improvement & Leadership

The Leadership, Equity, and Improvement (LEI) Essay Series is written by the faculty, staff, and graduate students at the Center for Educational Innovation and Improvement.  In this series, we share our lived experience, professional knowledge, and research around leadership aimed at equity and improvement.  Our essays are published monthly, and we welcome your thoughts and feedback.

This Job is Stressing Me Out: A Letter to All My PrinciPALS Out There   Dr. Doug Anthony   READ FULL ESSAY	On Boundary Spanning, Partnership, and improvement   Dr. Segun Eubanks READ FULL ESSAY	Secret Spaces: How Leaders Expose Stakeholders to Power in Education Policy Making   Dr. Cherise Hunter READ FULL ESSAY	Boundary Spanning: Structural and Organizational Needs   Dr. Pamela Catherine Callahan READ FULL ESSAY

It's Been 18 Months. Have we done anything yet?  The Invisible Work Behing Research-Practice Partnerships    Dr. Christine M. Neumerski   READ FULL ESSAY	Leadership, improvement, and Equity: Building the Foundation for Effective School-University partnerships   Dr. Segun Eubanks READ SPEECH	On the Margin of Continuous Improvement   Damaries Blondonville Coming Soon	School Leadership & Improvement Essays: the Missing Link   Dr. Jean Snell Coming Soon

Publications

Improvement Science

Center for Educational Innovation and Improvement. (2024, August). Six Steps in a Cycle of Continuous Improvement: An improvement guide for school leaders. College Park. 

Eubanks S., Neumerski C.M., Callahan P.C., Anthony D., Snell J., Blondonville D., Viviani W., and Liccione L. (2024), Fostering Improvement: a reflection on equity-centered improvement across three initiatives. Front. Educ. 9:1434362. doi: 10.3389/feduc.2024.1434362

Neumerski, C.M. and Yurkofsky, M.M. (2024), "Dilemmas in district–university partnerships: examining network improvement communities as levers for systems change", Journal of Educational Administration, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/JEA-10-2023-0261 

Eubanks, S., McLaughlin, M., Snell, J. L., & Coleman, C. (2021). From learning to leading: Teaching leaders to apply improvement science through a school-university partnership. Teaching improvement science in educational leadership, 141-162. 

Leadership

Neumerski, C. M., Goldring, E., Cox, A., Rogers, L., Moyer, A., & Rubin, M. (2025). Instructional Leadership Plus: Central Office Leaders Rethink the Principalship. Educational Administration Quarterly, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/0013161X251335335

Rogers, L. K., Cox, A., Goldring, E., Moyer, A., Neumerski, C. M., & Rubin, M. (2025). School Districts’ Use of Talent Analytics: Barriers and Possibilities. Journal of Education Human Resources, 43(2), 432-442.

Leonard, J., Blondonville‐Ford, D., Grubb, D., Cheng, D., & Wang, X. (2025). Self‐efficacy, agency, and values as predictors of STEM teacher leader identity in urban‐like learning environments. School Science and Mathematics. DOI: 10.1111/ssm.18347Sch

Callahan, P. C., & Brantlinger, A. (2023). Altruism, Jobs, and Alternative Certification: Mathematics Teachers’ Reasons for Entry and Their Retention. Education and Urban Society, 55(9), 1089-1119. https://doi.org/10.1177/00131245221110559 

Patrick, S. K., Rogers, L. K., Goldring, E., Neumerski, C. M., & Robinson, V. (2021). Opening the black box of leadership coaching: an examination of coaching behaviors. Journal of Educational Administration, 59(5), 549-563. 

Partnerships

Eubanks, S., Snell, J. (2023). "From a Transactional Relationship to a Transformational Partnership." In L. Gomez, M. Biag, D. Imig, R. Hitz, & S. Tozer (Eds.) Improving America's Schools Together, 126-148. 

School & System Transformation

Spillane, J. P., Blaushild, N. L., Neumerski, C. M., Seelig, J. L., & Peurach, D. J. (2022). Striving for coherence, struggling with incoherence: A comparative study of six educational systems organizing for instruction. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 44(4), 567-592.

Education Law & Policy

Callahan, P. C. (2026). Who Moved the Penguins? A Case Study of School Board Decision-Making During a Library Book Challenge. International Journal of Educational Reform, 0(0). https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/10567879261436424 

Callahan, P.C. & Archer, C. (2025). The Case for Developing School Board Members’ Legal Literacy. West’s Education Law Reporter. 1-16. https://www.educationlaw.org/article_content.asp?edition=4&section=10&article=44 

Dhingra, N., & Callahan, P. (2025). The Fastest Known Way to Get Rid of Enemies: Children’s Literature, Forgiveness, and the Liberal Arts. COSMOS + TAXIS, 112–129. https://cosmosandtaxis.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Dhingra_Callahan_CT_Vol13_Iss_3_4.pdf 

Callahan, P. C., & Miller, J. D. (2024). Avenues for Engagement? Testing the Democratic Nature of Library Book Challenge Processes. Teachers College Record, 126(4-5), 31-56. https://doi.org/10.1177/01614681241258834

Eubanks, S., Goldson, M., & Callahan, P. (2024). Replace or repair: Exploring possible methods for improving school governance. Theory Into Practice, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1080/00405841.2024.2343790