The intent of this study was to assess the perceptions and actions of Wyoming principals concerning their role in supervising and evaluating teachers. A survey was sent to all 286 principals in the state of Wyoming, of which, 143 returned surveys, a response rate of 50%. Findings suggested that principals utilized supervisory behaviors more often than evaluative behaviors. Elementary principals perceived their evaluative practices as significantly more prevalent than secondary principals. Furthermore, principals indicated that their greatest frustrations in supervising teachers were time, the evaluation instrument, and teachers' unwillingness to change. Additionally, findings suggested that Wyoming principals utilized classroom walkthroughs because they provided a snapshot of teaching and provided a medium for providing feedback. In regards to developmental supervision, principals indicated that novice teachers received much more supervision than veteran teachers. However, their reported use of differentiated supervision only applied to teacher autonomy concerning professional development goals. Principals reported that teachers had little input concerning the methods by which they were supervised. Finally, a majority of the Wyoming principals felt that improvement plans were effective at changing mediocre teaching behaviors, but 40% were speculative that such plans truly remediated poor teachers.Keywords Supervision . Evaluation . Formative . Summative . Principal perceptions As both the political and public sectors call for excellence in schools, the demand for accountability trickles down to all school personnel including principals (Ovando Educ Asse Eval Acc (2011) 23:243-265

Following two-failed school bond issues in 1995 and 1998, one mid-sized rural school district organized an effort that led to two successful school bond elections in 2001 and 2003. The school district’s strategic plan mirrored many of the recommendations for successful bond referendums published in School Bond Success: A Strategy for Building America’s Schools. Findings from this case study, utilizing a Rapid Assessment Process, illustrate many of the reasons why the school district passed two consecutive bond issues with unprecedented community support. Although the findings from this school district may not match the concerns of all communities, it provides readers with a perspective of voters’ beliefs in one rural school district.

Community colleges often rely on local taxes as anLike public school financing in most states, community college funding has historically been drawn from local taxation. Nationally, about one-fifth of community college revenue is derived from local tax appropriations (State Higher Education Executive Officers, 2004). Although sales tax revenue has traditionally been directed to state general funds, local property taxes are often used to fund K-12 schools and community, junior, and technical colleges (Puyear, 1999). Over half of all states (twenty-nine of them) allow some form of local taxation-including bond issues, property taxation, and sales taxation-for postsecondary education. Many colleges also rely on state-level appropriations, but because the allocation process is somewhat political, and because community colleges often experience reductions in state support during periods of economic difficulty (Kenton, Huba, Schuh, and Shelley, 2005), community colleges in many states continue to rely heavily on local funding to support much of their operating budgets.One difficulty in relying on state-level funding is the question of equitable distribution: Should state funds be distributed to colleges based on enrollment size, number and types of programs, or the value of property taxes paid to the state government (Martinez and Nodine, 1997)? There is much disagreement about the answer to this question, and the result has been a rise in litigation in nearly half of all states over the equitable distribution and adequacy of funding for public education. Many community colleges are relying on more diverse revenue streams to fund their activities,

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