The Division of Educational Policy and Leadership Studies in the College of Education at The University of Iowa is pleased to

From the Editor -

WELCOME

In keeping with the mission of the College of Education at The University of Iowa, the Division of Educational Policy and Leadership Studies is pleased to present the Journal of Research for Educational Leaders. The Journal is an electronic professional resource provided at no charge as a service to educational leaders, their boards, and their faculty and staff.

The goal of the Journal of Research for Educational Leaders is the timely dissemination of interdisciplinary research findings and their practical implications as they identify and/or affect best practice in K-12 schools. The Journal is focused on the improvement of America’s schools, student learning, and educational leadership, knowledge and skills. Each issue contains articles on current research and informed opinion in a variety of disciplines and their practical applications important to educational leaders.

About the Journal of Research for Educational Leaders

All articles published in the Journal of Research for Educational Leaders are refereed and peer reviewed under the supervision of our Editorial Board Members. The Editorial Board of the Journal of Research for Educational Leaders is national in scope and is composed of both professors of education and public school practitioners.

School superintendents and principals are encouraged to share Journal articles with their colleagues, staff, board members, community members, and parents. Copyright will be waived for not-for-profit educational purposes.

Journal articles must meet three criteria:

The article must contribute to knowledge, theory, and practice
The article content must be accurate and scholarly
The article must conform to the editorial guidelines of the Journal:

Manuscripts should be written for a general audience of educators in a usable, easily understood format
Technical jargon should be avoided
Manuscripts should be interesting to a significant body of educational leaders
Manuscripts should focus on the relevance and implications of the research findings for educational leaders
Manuscripts should avoid detailed descriptions, technical information about methodology, and unnecessary details about data findings
Articles will include author contact information. Readers desiring technical information and details are encouraged to contact the author(s) directly.

You, the Reader

While the members of the Editorial Board and The University of Iowa are pleased to offer the Journal of Research for Educational Leaders to the education community, we are quite dependent upon you, the reader in the following areas:

Manuscripts: In order to provide timely dissemination of interdisciplinary research findings and their practical implications for K-12 schools, the Journal requires at least 35 to 40 quality manuscripts annually. To date, the most difficult step in creating this publication has been the solicitation of appropriate manuscripts. If you have a manuscript describing recent research or views of a scholarly nature that are of value and interest to educational leaders, please consider allowing the Journal to review them for publication.
Readership: A publication is of value only when it is read. If you think the Journal has something to offer school leaders and others involved in educating children, please share news of this journal with your peers and colleagues.
Input and feedback: Your ideas on topics for future research, comments on articles we have published and suggestions on how we might improve our publication are desired and encouraged. Please contact us, either directly or through our Editorial Board Members.

Sincerely,

Gerald L. Portman, Managing Editor

Some Things You Keep

Some things you keep, like good teeth, warm coats and bald husbands. They're good for you, reliable and practical and so sublime that to throw them away would make the garbage man a thief.

So you hang on, because something old is sometimes better than something new, and who you know is often better than a stranger. These are my thoughts. They make me sound old...old and tame... and dull at a time when everybody else is risky and racy and flashing all that's new and improved in their lives: new careers, new thighs, new lips, new cars. The world is dizzy with trade-ins. I could keep track, but I don't think I want to.

I grew up in the fifties with practical parents -- a mother, God bless her, who washed aluminum foil after she cooked in it, then reused it -- and still does. A father who was happier getting old shoes fixed than buying new ones.

They weren't poor, my parents, they were just satisfied. Their marriage was good, their dreams focused. Their best friends lived barely a wave away. I can see them now, Dad in trousers and tee shirt and Mom in a house dress, lawnmower in one's hand, dishtowel in the other's. It was a time for fixing things -- a curtain rod, the kitchen radio, screen door, the oven door, the hem in a dress.

Things you keep. It was a way of life, and sometimes it made me crazy. All that refixing, reheating, renewing. I wanted just once to be wasteful. Waste meant affluence. Throwing things away meant there'd always be more.

But then my father died, and on that clear autumn night, in the chill of the hospital room, I was struck with the pain of learning that sometimes there isn't any 'more.' Sometimes what you care about most gets all used up and goes away, never to return.

So, while you have it, it's best to love it and care for it and fix it when it's broken and heal it when it's sick. That's true for marriage and old cars and children with bad report cards, and dogs with bad hips, and aging parents. You keep them because they're worth it, because you're worth it.

Some things you keep. Like a best friend who moved away or a brother or sister you grew up with, there's just some things that make life important....people you know are special....and you should keep them close!

~Author Unknown~ Thanks to J.K.T.

Warning

A rat looked through a crack in the wall to see the farmer and his wife opening a package. What food might it contain? He was aghast to discover that it was a rat trap. Retreating to the barnyard the rat proclaimed the warning; "There's a rat trap in the house, a rat trap in the house!"

The chicken clucked and scratched, raised her head and said, "Excuse me, Mr. Rat, I can tell this is a grave concern to you, but it is of no consequence to me. I cannot be bothered by it." The rat turned to the pig and told him, "There's a rat trap in the house, a rat trap in the house!" "I am so very sorry Mr. Rat," sympathized the pig, "but there is nothing I can do about it but pray. Be assured that you are in my prayers." The rat turned to the cow. She said, "Like wow, Mr. Rat, a rat trap. Am I in grave danger? Duh." So the rat returned to the house, head down and dejected, to face the farmer's rat trap alone.

That very night a sound was heard throughout the house, like the sound of a rat trap catching its prey. The farmer's wife rushed to see what was caught. In the darkness, she did not see that it was a venomous snake whose tail the trap had caught. The snake bit the farmer's wife. The farmer rushed her to the hospital. She returned home with a fever. Now everyone knows you treat a fever with fresh chicken soup, so the farmer took his hatchet to the barnyard for the soup's main ingredient.

His wife's sickness continued so that friends and neighbors came to sit with her around the clock. To feed them, the farmer butchered the pig. The farmer's wife did not get well, she died. So many people came for her funeral that the farmer had the cow slaughtered to provide meat for all of the guests to eat.

The next time you hear someone is facing a problem and think it does not concern you, remember, when there is a rat trap in the house the whole barnyard is at risk.

Thanks to A.J.L.