William A. Owings (Ed.D.) is a professor of educational leadership at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia. Owings has worked as a public school teacher, an elementary and high school principal, assistant superintendent, and superintendent of schools. His scholarly publications, co-authored with Leslie S. Kaplan, include books on educational leadership and school finance as well as articles in National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) Bulletin, Journal of School Leadership, Journal of Effective Schools, Phi Delta Kappan, Teachers College Record, the Journal of Education Finance, and the Eurasian Journal of Business and Economics. Owings has served on the state and international board of the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD), is currently the editor of the Journal for Effective Schools, and is on the Journal of Education Finance Editorial Advisory Board. He is a frequent presenter at state and national conferences and a consultant on educational leadership, school finance, and instructional improvement. Owings and Kaplan share the 2008 Virginia Educational Research Association Charles Edgar Clear Research Award for Consistent and Substantial Contributions to Educational Research and Scholarship. Leslie S. Kaplan (Ed.D.), a retired school administrator in Newport News, Virginia, is a full-time education writer and an adjunct research professor at Old Dominion University. She has provided middle and high school instructional leadership as well as central office leadership as a director of program development. Before becoming a school administrator, she worked as a middle and high school English teacher and as a school counselor with articles frequently published in The School Counselor. Kaplan's scholarly publications, co-authored with William A. Owings, appear in numerous professional journals. She also has co-authored several books and monographs with Owings, including CULTURE RE-BOOT: REINVIGORATING SCHOOL CULTURE TO IMPROVE STUDENT OUTCOMES; LEADERSHIP AND ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR IN EDUCATION; AMERICAN PUBLIC SCHOOL FINANCE (in its second edition); TEACHER QUALITY, TEACHING QUALITY, AND SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT; BEST PRACTICES, BEST THINKING, AND EMERGING ISSUES IN SCHOOL LEADERSHIP; and ENHANCING TEACHER AND TEACHING QUALITY. Kaplan is co-editor of the Journal for Effective Schools, and also serves on the NASSP Bulletin Editorial Board. She is a past president of the Virginia Counselors' Association and the Virginia Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, and is currently a board member of Voices for Virginia's Children.
