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.