How can we prepare practicing and aspiring education leaders for the complex, adaptive challenges they face? In "Helping Educators Grow," Eleanor Drago-Severson presents a new approach to leadership development. Too often, she argues, we teach leadership development the same way we teach world history: just the facts. Instead, we need to…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to invite educational managers and management educators to reflect critically on practice. Design/methodology/approach: Using the point of Socrates' death, the paper suggests ways of reflecting on actions using ethically-critical, socially-critical, environmentally-critical, politically-critical and…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to introduce the papers in this special issue and some issues surrounding choosing management as a career. A jointly developed questionnaire is also presented. Design/methodology/approach: The paper is descriptive in nature. Findings: It is crucial for researchers and practitioners to expand their perspectives…

Effective principal training should reflect the relationship of theory, training, and practice. The Contingency Framework for Administrator Development (CFAD) model is presented as a training program that can integrate administrative task areas, processes, and characteristics through theory and application. (MD)

Focusing on issues affecting the development of nursing leadership in the Midwest, the papers in these proceedings attempt to move forward the implementation of an effective program for enhancing skills needed by nurse administrators. The proceedings contain: (1) "Regional Plan for Development of Nursing Leadership Potential 1982-92," by Rozella…

Reviews the concept of principal centers, which help principals in their professional growth. Includes the results from a study of the organization and operation of 34 principal centers throughout the United States. (MD)

Classroom supervision can be improved through use of behavior modeling and Theory Z organization. An illustration of the use of behavior modeling is provided. (MD)

Describes a recent study of principals' evaluations and perceptions concerning the quality of inservice learning experiences based on five alternative models. Findings disclosed participants' preferences for short-term institutes sponsored by a professional association and informal networking. More work is needed to design effective inservice…

Understanding both process and context is essential to resolving problems. This paper articulates the decision seminar model, a rational problem-solving technique, and uses a hypothetical policy problem to show how various stages of the model might be applied to school issues. Process facilitates problem definition, inhibits fragmentation, and…

In 1983 the Far West Laboratory's instructional management program established Peer-Assisted Leadership (PAL), a unique professional development program for principals. No longer isolated, principals help each other develop analytical and other skills to become better instructional leaders. MLH)

Reports conclusions reached from the observation of inservice education efforts in three states and a number of federal projects as well as from a review of the literature. Discusses six characteristics of effective inservice programs, the persistent problems that impede program success, effective practices, and future issues. (Author/WD)

The U46 Administrators' Academy, sponsored by School District U46 in Elgin (Illinois), provides administrator inservice training at no cost. Academy instructors, primarily central office administrators, are selected for their credibility with their peers, for their knowledge of the topics, and for their ability to teach. (Author/MLF)

The success of schools depends in large measure on the effectiveness of school administrators. A major component of administrator effectiveness is human relations skills. Over the past 20 years, a large and systematic body of knowledge and training methods in human relations skills has been developed in counselor education. Given the collegial…

The PDQ Project, Planning and Development of Quality Services in the Schools, was an effort by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association to provide public school personnel working with communication-disordered children with information and training related to better management. The report summarizes program objectives and outcomes including…

Describes a graduate study program designed by the Journalism department of Northeastern University to meet the needs of journalists who wanted management training. Discusses the program's development and problems it has encountered. (FL)