About

Lance D. Fusarelli is a distinguished professor of educational leadership and policy in the Department of Educational Leadership, Policy, and Human Development at NC State. His work focuses on the politics of education, federal and state education reform, school choice, school leadership, and superintendents. He has authored or edited seven books and published more than 60 journal articles, with his research receiving media attention from outlets such as USA Today, Education Week, The Hechinger Report, the BBC, CBS17, and NBC14. Fusarelli has been awarded over $16 million in grant funding as principal investigator or co-principal investigator. He teaches courses related to education politics, policy research, qualitative data analysis, case study research, and leadership for school improvement. His academic background includes a Ph.D. in Educational Administration with a specialization in Educational Politics & Policy Studies from The University of Texas at Austin, a master's degree in Government with a focus on Public Policy from the same university, and a bachelor's degree in History and American Studies from Case Western Reserve University. His research interests include the Every Student Succeeds Act, equity in education, education reform, school leadership, and the roles of superintendents and policymakers.

Research topics

• Political Science
• Pedagogy
• Law
• Computer Science
• Psychology
• Mathematics education
• Public relations
• Social Science
• Sociology
• Public administration
• Anthropology
• Communication
• Social psychology
• Media studies
• Medicine

Selected publications

• EFFECTIVE INTEGRATION OF AI INTO LEADERSHIP PREPARATION

  EDULEARN proceedings · 2025-06-01

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• ACCELERATING LEADERSHIP LEARNING IN AN AWARD-WINNING PRINCIPAL PREPARATION PROGRAM

  EDULEARN proceedings · 2025-06-01

  articleSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Leadership for the Future: Enhancing Principal Preparation Through Standards and Innovation

  Education Sciences · 2024-12-22 · 11 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  This manuscript presents a comprehensive analysis of NC State University’s redesigned principal preparation program, emphasizing its alignment with state and national leadership standards, innovative curriculum, and commitment to practical application. The program’s redesign addresses long-standing criticisms of traditional university-based leadership preparation, such as the disconnect between theory and practice, by incorporating data-driven instructional leadership, equity-focused training, and collaborative community engagement. Additionally, this article explores the role of specialized internships, full-time residencies, and the integration of technology in training future principals. The program’s success is demonstrated by improved principal placement, school outcomes, and teacher retention—particularly in high-need schools. Finally, the manuscript discusses the future of leadership preparation, highlighting the potential of artificial intelligence to further enhance decision-making, personalized professional development, and administrative efficiency, while addressing ethical considerations such as data privacy and equity.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• “Fighting an Uphill Battle”: The Pursuit of Equity Through the Every Student Succeeds Act in North Carolina

  Educational Administration Quarterly · 2024-09-10 · 6 citations

  article

  Purpose: The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) reduced the role of the federal government in K-12 education, giving states more flexibility while maintaining protections for marginalized groups. Despite the potential to leverage flexibility, little is known about how states are addressing equity. Research Methods: Using a critical policy analysis (CPA) approach, this qualitative case study uses semi-structured interviews and document analysis to examine the design and implementation of equity efforts by the state education agency (SEA) in North Carolina. Findings: SEA officials describe writing the state ESSA plan as an exercise in compliance and believe the plan could have gone further in pushing equitable solutions. Competing priorities within the SEA, including the struggle to fulfill its dual roles as service provider and regulatory agency, complicated ESSA implementation, as did state-level political maneuvers. A significant, unexpected finding is that participants were much more comfortable discussing the needs of economically disadvantaged students than students of color, and often avoided mentioning race specifically. Additionally, although the pandemic caused major disruptions to schooling, SEA officials identified “keeps” that were begun as a pandemic response and may continue as the SEA pushes equitable solutions for traditionally underserved students. Implications for Research and Practice: This study suggests that competing initiatives, staff turnover, and political ideology may limit the SEA's capacity to address power and resource imbalances and hinder efforts to promote greater equity in the educational system. Moreover, the SEA's focus shifted to ESSER funding during the COVID-19 pandemic.

  PublisherDOI

• What do excellent school leader preparation programs look like?

  Phi Delta Kappan · 2023 · 8 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  • Political Science
  • Computer Science
  • Pedagogy

  Principal leadership is a crucial element in high-performing schools. Research reveals that principals are second only to teachers in impacting student achievement at school. Accordingly, how school leaders are prepared has received increasing attention in recent years. Drawing from the findings of recent reports highlighting exemplary programs and best practices, authors Bonnie C. Fusarelli and Lance D. Fusarelli identify several research-based best practices for improving principal preparation. They include recommendations to scale up best practices nationwide.

  PublisherDOI

• Bookshelf: <i>Kappan</i> authors on their favorite reads

  Phi Delta Kappan · 2023

  Senior authorCorresponding
  • Sociology
  • Social Science
  • Sociology

  In this regular column, Kappan authors recommend books that have influenced them. This month, Ferial Pearson recommends Case Studies on Diversity and Social Justice Education (2nd ed.) by Paul Gorksi and Seema Pothini. Bonnie C. Fusarelli and Lance D. Fusarelli recommend Savage Inequalities: Children in America’s Schools by Jonathan Kozol.

  PublisherDOI

• Equity and Early Implementation of the Every Student Succeeds Act in State-Designed Plans During COVID

  Educational Policy · 2022 · 8 citations

  • Political Science
  • Political Science
  • Public administration

  The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) reverses a trend toward centralization of education policy and instead provides greater authority to the states. This study explores states’ interpretation and early implementation of ESSA’s equity-related provisions. Using a qualitative case study approach, we find wide variation in the design and implementation of equity-related provisions. We provide an overview of implementation efforts and highlight states that are making significant strides and those that are lagging behind. Our findings highlight the need to build capacity at the state and district levels and to better understand the role of state education agencies in implementing ESSA.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• School Administration and Classroom Management

  Routledge eBooks · 2022 · 4 citations

  1st authorCorresponding
  • Political Science
  • Psychology
  • Political Science

  This chapter explores the evolution of principal supervision of classroom management. We explore how supervision has changed over time and explore the connections between supervision of instructional leadership and classroom management. Principals play a key role in providing support to beginning teachers, particularly when the consequences of failure are so high. We examine how principals support effective classroom management and the limitations of that support. Because of the racial inequities produced by ineffective classroom management and the principal’s role in addressing these inequities, we offer research-based recommendations for how school leaders can help teachers become more effective in their classrooms.

  PublisherDOI

• Superintendency

  2022-05-30

  reference-entry1st authorCorresponding

  This entry highlights research on the superintendency – the top leadership position in public school districts. Beginning with an historical overview of the duties and responsibilities of superintendents, the entry locates their role within the organizational structure of schooling. The dynamics of gender and race/ethnicity in the superintendency are explored, followed by a detailed discussion of superintendent turnover and longevity, which are hot button topics of interest to professional organizations, practitioners, policymakers, and researchers. Turnover is complex and situated within several voluntary (pull) factors and involuntary (push) factors. Related to turnover and longevity (or tenure in the position) are issues of whether school boards should hire personnel from within the district to become superintendent (insiders), hire from outside the system (outsiders), hire an interim superintendent, or hire someone lacking an educational background as a teacher, principal, or district administrator as superintendent (non-traditional superintendents); each type of superintendent brings strengths and weaknesses to the position. The entry concludes by addressing the bigger question of whether superintendents really matter at all – their impact on student achievement.

  PublisherDOI

• Early Adopters: Private School Leaders Respond to the Introduction of Targeted School Vouchers

  International Journal of Educational Reform · 2020-03-06 · 2 citations

  article

  The North Carolina Opportunity Scholarship Program awarded private school vouchers to over 7,000 low-income students in 2017-18, yet only 61% of the state’s private schools registered to participate in the Opportunity Scholarship Program and just over half of schools (54%) actually enrolled voucher recipients. Given that the program is anticipated to grow by $10 million per year for 10 years, private school supply will be an important consideration as student participation rises. Using rich focus group and survey data collected from private school leaders between 2014 and 2017, this analysis probes the participation decisions of private school leaders.

  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• George J. Petersen

  Radiocommunications Agency

  17 shared

• Theodore J. Kowalski

  14 shared

• Bonnie C. Fusarelli

  North Carolina State University

  12 shared

• Bruce S. Cooper

  9 shared

• Andrew Saultz

  4 shared

• Anna J. Egalite

  North Carolina State University

  3 shared

• Jennifer B. Ayscue

  North Carolina State University

  3 shared

• Jay D. Scribner

  3 shared

Labs

• Fusarelli LabPI

Education

• Ph.D., Computer Science

  University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

  2003

• M.S., Computer Science

  University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

  1999

• B.S., Computer Science

  University of North Carolina at Charlotte

  1997

Awards & honors

• Chancellor’s Creating Community Outstanding Faculty Award (2…
• Board of Governors Award for Excellence in Teaching (2014)
• North Carolina State University – Academy of Outstanding Tea…