Discusses hurdles to new principals' success. Principals must respect school culture, including ghosts and heroes; realize that working relationships will change; and anticipate isolation and overwork. Meeting individual teachers, locating the power, keeping central administrators informed, listening and learning, finding mentors, and picking…

Purpose: This paper sets out to posit that the new economy places a new set of demands on schools and those who lead. Mindfulness, intentional engagement of people and adaptive confidence are needed developmental features of beginning principal success. The paper examines how beginning principals in Canada respond to the capacity-building work of…

The Kentucky Beginning Principal Internship Program (KBPIP)--the first of its kind in the United States--was mandated by the Kentucky General Assembly to upgrade the quality of educational leadership in the schools through testing and an internship program especially for school principals. Following an overview of educational reform in Kentucky…

Findings from a comparative study of new and experienced urban principals that examined variables associated with work-related stress and role conflict are presented in this paper. A total of 27 male and female principals in a large, urban school district in the South were surveyed--13 first- and second-year principals and 14 experienced…

To ensure that first-time educators in any of Ohio's 615 school systems have access to a supportive environment that would make their professional success more likely, in 1987 the state's Department of Education enacted a policy requiring all school districts to plan and implement programs that provide support to newly employed educators. Because…

New standards in the state of Virginia are being instituted to require that professional development programs for pre-service principals include experience with technology. This study was designed to identify relevant topics that should be part of that experience. Surveys and interviews were used to gather information from in-service principals…

Report of a study of the appointment of acting heads (principals) in 24 Scottish school districts, which explored their effectiveness and reasons for being appointed. Offers suggestions for creating a pool of potential heads to take advantage of opportunities for personal, professional, and school development. (Contains 23 references.) (WFA)

Explores some of the challenges facing educational leadership from the position of university educational-leadership preparation programs. Examines the current and future context of leadership preparation through the metaphor of the sports league, in which each franchise is not independent, but interdependent. (Contains 1 figure and 55…

This article uses the analogy of mastering the game of golf to illuminate education-leadership preparation and practice. A response attempts a connection between the golf analogy as an argument for the implementation of leadership-practice fields in education-administration preparation programs, highlighting the importance of practice in the…

In order to assess some of the major problems and frustrations faced by beginning administrators, a study investigated nine first- and second-year public school administrators in the greater San Francisco Bay Area. Questions asked the principals centered on their recollections of the most challenging problems faced and what was hardest for them as…

This report presents the results of a 7-month study and conversation among field-based educators who attempted to respond to the challenges and responsibilities facing beginning principals. Documented is the role of the principal in affecting the success of school buildings. Apparent in this body of research is the need for the principal to be…

This paper explains the clinical induction experience for beginning school principals. It reflects two themes: emphasis on supervised practice and demonstrated competence as well as networking and collaboration among stakeholders. Generally, it describes the intricacies of an experimental program developed by Louisiana State University faculty in…

Although leadership should not be thought of as manifest only in the acts of a single person, the school principal is the person who arranges the organizational conditions. To help future and present school principals, issues behind leadership and the management aspects of the principalship are presented. The book combines theory and practice,…

This paper presents a case study illustrating the experiences of a first-year elementary-school principal. It follows her through her 18 months on the job, and analyzes the factors contributing to her ouster. The data for the study were gathered through two interviews with the principal and interviews with five other persons in her school…

An evaluation of an Ohio professional development program for beginning rural principals interviewed and observed 23 principals and mentors in 3 study groups. Participants valued mentoring and networking activities, noting they mitigated professional isolation. Participants preferred "unofficial" activities focused on practical problems…