Purpose: Leadership coaching is an increasingly popular development tool for school principals. However, specific coaching behaviors are rarely conceptualized or examined in prior research. This study presents a coaching behavior framework and then analyzes actual coaching conversations between principals and coaches to illustrate how specific…

While the significance of principals' roles is widely recognized, and the impactful behaviors of principals are empirically delineated, little is known about whether principals spend time in an impactful way, whether principals' time use varies across different school contexts, or whether principals' time use is related to critical school…

Effective school leadership is key to students' academic success. But the development of effective school leadership has been seriously hampered by the lack of technically sound tools to assess and monitor leaders' performance. This article presents the research base and conceptual framework for a leadership assessment instrument under…

A school principal at Oak Grove-Bellemeade Elementary School in Richmond, Virginia, describes the application of the Clifton Youth StrengthsExplorer assessment developed by the Gallup organization. A fifth-grade girl who was in frequent conflict with peers and teachers was helped to identify her strengths and develop more effective emotional and…

A personalized school is one in which each individual person, whether student or teacher, matters a great deal and has a program that is good for him or her. Today, schools are faced with an equally large transition from arbitrary grouping patterns to personalized learning alternatives. Unfortunately, they are also currently blessed with policy…

Explores basic leadership concepts, demolishes three leadership myths, and advises principals concerning ways to vary their management styles using either directive or interactive behavior. Choice of style depends on the situation and a particular subordinate's degree of readiness or compliance. (MLH)

An examination of principals' decision-making patterns indicates that they are essentially reactive in nature and are reached most often on the basis of reports from subordinates without further search for information or guidance. (JMF)

A recent study explored the relative frequencies and intensity levels of selected stressors on Georgia public secondary school principals and the coping strategies they found most effective. In order of most to least frequently used behaviors, Georgia principals reported physical, mental, psychological, direct, and destructive strategies. Some…

Ten behaviors that can signal that principals are experiencing harmful levels of stress are discussed and possible solutions identified. The behaviors include prioritizing responsibilities inappropriately, responding negatively to work situations, becoming detached, and using time ineffectively. (PGD)

Theoretically, schools led by principals providing structure, resources, consideration, useful influence, and professional support in an even-handed, noncontrolling manner should be work places that elicit teacher commitment. This hypothesis was tested using a sample of 72 New Jersey secondary schools. Close control blunts teacher commitment.…

Administrator succession can have varied effects on organizational performance. Although most studies have focused on performance outcomes, this paper reports the personal sense making of a successor to the principalship. The successor found that leadership validation and attribution influenced her transformation from an interloper to an effective…

To identify the cultural elements in school principals' problem-solving processes and the differences between experts and their more typical colleagues, this study interviewed 22 elementary principals. From their responses to brief, hypothetical case problems, a problem-solving model was constructed. Differences were most evident in responses to…

The Excellent Principal Inventory is a unique evaluation instrument that enables principals to obtain confidential performance feedback from superiors, peers, and teachers. Five research-based commitments (to student success, teaching and learning, the school staff, innovation, and leadership) reflect the values and behaviors developed for the…

Principals are confronted daily with opportunities to choose either bureaucratic or nonbureaucratic leadership behaviors. Effective principals make a conscious leadership choice, recognizing that the options have paradoxical implications and produce different school cultures. In the process, new administrator role definitions are emerging.…

Pulling up stakes is seldom the best way to handle difficult people at work, because they exist everywhere as bullies, "yes" people, whiners, nonentities, know-it-alls, or "no" people. This article examines these six personality types and tells how administrators can avoid being victimized. (MLH)