The past few decades have seen substantial debate over the effectiveness of preparation programs for school administrators. A program is suggested that is based on the Texas superintendent certificate of 1994. Eight standards addressing superintendent performance were developed by the American Association of School Administrators: (1)…

An inservice program for administrators that received high praise from San Diego (California) school administrators was a management style seminar using the "Personnel Profile System" and the "Activity Perception System" developed by John G. Geier. After briefly discussing a number of different systems that describe management styles, the author…

This paper advocates that principal preparation programs should be designed on traditional bases. By reviewing existing literature, this article suggests that exemplary principal preparation programs should be founded on a combination of research data, theory, and practice or craft knowledge, and that the contributions of each should be made…

The idea of a continuing association of principals assisting principals brought about the formation of the Learning Environments Consortium, discussed in this paper. The principals involved in this association, the paper notes, are committed to developing student-centered programs. They work together in such activities as school site visits,…

Educational administrator preparation is facing challenges in keeping up with rapidly changing delivery systems, as well as dealing with a shortage of well-trained school principals and superintendents. Distance learning offers an opportunity to serve diverse populations with a focus on individual uniqueness, needs, and concerns. Technology can…

Two trends have become issues for school management in recent years. One is that educational leadership is becoming increasingly a more complex and difficult job to carry out and the other is that an increasing number of people with little administrative experience are moving into educational roles. The implementation of local, school…

The concept of reflective practice and teaching people to be reflective practitioners is examined. The document begins with a look at professional knowledge according to three prominent professionals in the educational administration field: Schon, Schein, and Achilles. "Reflective" strategies that could be incorporated into courses and…

To provide an understanding of the issues and essential elements involved in developing effective inservice programs for administrators, information from research on teacher inservice programs was adapted in light of the insights of several administrators attending the 1986 national conference of the Association for Supervision and Curriculum…

This paper describes a process for determining professional development needs of principals as a basis for designing inservice programs. The study took place in Independent School District 196, one of the largest districts in Minnesota. A questionnaire and the Nominal Group Technique (NFT), a structured group meeting that follows a prescribed…

Elements of a principal renewal program to help principals improve their instructional leadership skills are described in this paper. Nine topics of the staff development training program are highlighted, which are learned through supervised nonjudgmental practice: quality schools development; quality principal characteristics; time management;…

A description is given of South Carolina's principal apprenticeship program to train future administrators. The program focuses on two key elements: a set of field-based experiences planned to meet the specific needs of the apprentice, and a one-to-one mentor-apprentice relationship. Apprentices receive experiences in seven areas: (1) curriculum…

In 1987, the Ohio Department of Education enacted a new policy requiring all school districts to plan and implement programs designed to provide support to newly hired professional educators. The mandate's intent was to ensure that inexperienced teachers, counselors, social workers, psychologists, supervisors, or administrators hired to work in…

An innovative principal preparation program was created at the University of Tennessee--Knoxville. The program was built around 19 parameters and based upon three theoretical domains in administration: organization (defines managerial role), human dimension (defines human relations role), and individual relationship with other two dimensions…

Several time-management techniques will help administrators accomplish necessary objectives and tasks. The most important technique is to prioritize activities, first distinguishing "desired" from "required" activities, and then organizing them according to the "ABCDF" formula of setting priorities: A=Absolutely, B=Better Do, C=Can Wait,…

The Institute for Development of Educational Activities' Principal Inservice Program aims to help principals become more competent. The two-year program uses facilitators who work with groups of six to ten principals so that each can achieve four goals: (1) to carry out a project in personal professional development; (2) to implement a school…