Contemporary Challenges Confronting School Leaders is the eleventh book in a series focused on advancing our understanding of schools. It analyzes the relationships between school organizations and administrative practices that impact teacher and student effectiveness, centering on student achievement and the factors that influence it.

Preface.
Chapter 1. Instructional Capacity and Student Achievement: A Look Inside an Urban District; Curt M. Adams.
Chapter 2. Student Engagement and Achievement; Tony Frontier.
Chapter 3. The Influence of Academic Press on Students' Mathematics and Reading Achievement; Roger D. Goddard, Christine Neumerski, and Serena Salloum.
Chapter 4. District Readiness to Support School Turnaround: A Case Study; Daniel Player.
Chapter 5. Collective Efficacy, Collegial Leadership, and a Culture of Trust: Predicting Academic Optimism and Overall Effectiveness; Julie A. Gray and C. John Tarter.
Chapter 6. Conceptualizing and Validating a Measure of Principal Support; Michael F. DiPaola.
Chapter 7. Theoretical and Empirical Evidence of the Importance of School Context in Fostering Identification With School; Roxanne M. Mitchell.
Chapter 8. Correlates of Pupils' Sense of Futility in Primary Education in Flanders: The Role of the Teacher; Mieke Van Houtte, Dimitri Van Maele and Orhan Agirdag.
Chapter 9. Maximizing the Power of Decision Making: Ten Useful Concepts for School Leaders; Lauren Bailes and Amy Schrepfer-Tarter.
Chapter 10. Empirical Support for a Broadened Conception of Giftedness: Implications for School Leaders; Valija C. Rose.
Chapter 11. Parent Social Networks: A Resource to Shape Parent Responsibility; Katherine A. Curry and Curt M. Adams.
Appendix.
About the Contributors.