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…

Through its engagement with grantees on initiatives to improve school leadership, The Wallace Foundation came to recognize the important role that state organizations play in advancing effective leadership in districts and schools as well as the importance of coordination among state- and district-level policies. The authors have recently…

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…

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…

Findings are reported from a series of studies of staff development coordinators, principals, and superintendents carried out in Georgia. The staff development needs of the three groups are identified, ranked, and compared. Implications for staff developers are proposed. (IAH)

Explores leadership development from preservice preparation programs to renewal activities for veteran administrators. Staff development professionals offer examples of leadership development, such as the preparation of prospective principals, using mentors, promoting ownership in staff development, linking school districts with universities, and…

A former educator who currently holds a management position in private industry relates perceptions of the differences between programs in education and business. Clients, content, and training processes of both settings are explored. (DF)

The Simmons College Institute for Women in Educational Administration provides women with specific organizational and personal skills for professional advancement in school administration. Outcomes resulting from the program include: new skills in technical areas; knowledge of school organization; and an increased ability to assess personal goals.…

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…

Staff developers need to recognize management practices that interfere with the establishment of conditions necessary for professional growth, then seek alternative to those practices. The article describes 13 management myths and presents alternative actions that encourage viewing the school as a community of leaders. (SM)

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…