As members of the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) Task Force on Principal Preparation, the authors recently completed a study of the changing role of the secondary principal. One striking finding was that multiple roles and responsibilities leave today's principal feeling chronically harried and overworked. For…

Describes a project to identify the causes of job satisfaction and dissatisfaction in a district's schools in an attempt to improve teacher attendance. (MD)

Provides two teacher evaluation models for principals. Emphasizes teacher evaluation based on teacher's abilities rather than student achievement. (MD)

To explore the principal's role as instructional leader in school improvement strategies, this research brief focuses on characteristics of effective schools, a profile of effective principals, and a discussion with Dr. Steven Bossert, Associate Laboratory Director for Research and Development at Far West Laboratory in San Francisco, California,…

To be effective instructional leaders, principals and assistant principals need to know what's new in secondary school curricula. Education associations representing 14 subject areas outline the current focus, likely trends through 1990, and new practices in their respective disciplines. (MLH)

Planning for instructional use of microcomputers should start with the curriculum, not with computers. Planning is a necessity and it should be a fluid process. A planning model offered by the Minnesota Educational Computing Consortium starts with an analysis of current curriculum to identify the content, skills, and attitudes that are considered…

Written for administrators, school principals, and teachers, this manual offers a systematic approach to the implementation of instructional video technologies in developing nations. The manual is divided into two main parts. The three chapters comprising the first part, which address issues related to planning for instructional video, focus on:…

Principals can and should develop strategies that will enable them to provide instructional leadership despite increased demands from other tasks. Recommended actions include: delegation; peer observation; commitment to instructional leadership; and effective communication with teachers. (CB)

In response to the need for professional growth opportunities for principals, the Indiana Principal Leadership Academy (IPLA) was founded in 1985. The IPLA was created to be a national training model for principals, as leaders of instructors, empowered with effective behaviors and practices. The academy's focus is on four proficiencies: (1)…

This paper was written in response to the Idaho Teacher Excellence Program (part of the Idaho School Improvement Act of 1984) to assist districts in developing teacher appraisal programs. Central to effective teacher appraisal systems is a clearly defined purpose, i.e., the improvement of instruction. The system used should distinguish between…

This annotated bibliography was prepared to serve as background material for the paper "Instructional Leadership: A Composite Working Model" by James R. Weber. Although not all the materials compiled in this bibliography propose discrete models of instructional leadership, the selections represent the range of issues, tasks, and…

Instructional leadership is the principal's role in providing direction, resources, and support to teachers and students for the improvement of teaching and learning in the school. This handbook reviews factors affecting that role in four broad domains: keeping informed about trends, planning for instructional improvement, implementing…

Principals can influence teachers and instructional behavior by working through linkage mechanisms within the organizational structure of the school. Two types of linkages are identified: bureaucratic and cultural. Principals have access to linkages of both kinds; using linkages effectively, they can generate a common purpose in their schools. (MD)

Instructional leadership studies are plentiful but have many shortcomings, including lack of definition of key variables, problems of causality, overrepresentation of exemplary schools, and lack of validity and reliability in research design and implementation. Definitions of "leadership" and "instruction" are needed. There is…

A strategy for assessing the skill needs of principals and for training them to assume effective instructional leadership is outlined in this paper. A school production model of instructional leadership, supported by research, is presented; the model emphasizes orientation toward specific goals of school productivity and suggests ways to analyze…