The road to leadership is not necessarily one that educators plan carefully with a series of logical steps. Certainly some educators start as teachers and then systematically work through a traditional hierarchy on their way to the superintendency. No matter their role or their path, education leaders demand more from themselves and others and…

While people at all levels of education are talking about teacher leadership, few are talking about the bold type of leadership that puts teachers in charge of whole-school success. Many current forms of teacher leadership have teachers carrying out solutions that others have created. Rarely does teacher leadership involve teachers designing and…

This article describes a professional learning plan created in the Fort Wayne Community Schools (Indiana, USA) for principals working and learning together on the RISE Indiana Teacher Effectiveness Rubric. This training plan ensures that principals are observing instructional practice in the same way and in agreement with the district's instrument…

A web-enabled computer simulation program presents real-world opportunities, problems, and challenges for aspiring principals. The simulation challenges areas that are not always covered in lectures, textbooks, or workshops. For example, using the simulation requires dealing--on-screen and in real time--with demanding parents, observing…

This article describes a novel effort in New York City, the Learning Partners Program, which matches veteran principals with two or more newer ones. In 2014-15, the first full year of the effort, the city's Department of Education put 73 of the city's more than 1,800 schools into 23 groups of threes and one group of four. Every group comprised one…

Being a principal was the most demanding job the author ever had. He worked hard, mostly in isolation. Like most principals, he struggled to manage the position's political and bureaucratic necessities in order to concentrate on what he thought was the fundamental work of schools: teaching and learning. He struggled to continue to learn and grow…

Educators and policy makers have placed leadership development at the top of the school reform agenda, believing that aspiring and new school leaders can learn the necessary skills to improve the most challenging schools. Leadership development builds the capacity of educators (teachers and administrators) to be effective in leadership roles or…

This article describes principals' centers and the principals' center movement, identifying key issues raised by them. Future directions and persistent questions for the principals' center movement are developed. (MT)

The Metropolitan Principals' Academy was formed in 1984 by eight suburban school districts in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area in order to help administrators become more effective. The academy is described, and the research-based model of leadership which guides it is examined. (MT)

Describes the Albuquerque Public Schools'"Productive Management Training," a three-year program which helps supervisors of classified personnel (secretaries, custodians, educational assistants, paraprofessionals, food services personnel, maintenance employees) examine their current ways of working and explore new management…

The Florida Assisting Change in Education Program teaches school leaders to facilitate the change process in schools. Training for school improvement facilitators teaches them to lead groups, encourage discussion, mediate differences, and create appropriate spirit for crafting and implementing school improvement plans. Evaluation of the program…

Of all the educators and administrators who affect the success and quality of a school, school principals are the most important. Modeled after teacher centers, the primary purpose of the principals' center would be to stimulate professional growth and effective administrative practices. (JN)

Four school districts adopted a school restructuring project using Deming's business management method. Deming offered alternative views of organizations based on psychology, systems, perceptual framework, and causes of variance. He listed 14 points for quality improvement. Evaluation indicated that key staff members willingly engaged in…

In Dade County (Florida) the Executive Training Program and its Educational Leadership Appraisal seminar help aspiring and practicing educational leaders develop reflection, self-analysis, and growth. Participants learn to view the work setting as an arena for their own growth and a place to perform the work of helping others grow. (SM)

Traditionally, the professional growth and development of school administrators has been left up to the individual. A model for alternative administrator training has five basic operational criteria: collaboration; peer leadership; a sound cognitive base; experiential activities; and an ongoing support system. (JN)