The purpose of this research was to investigate a formal principal mentoring program and report on perceived learning benefits and the well-being of the participants. The study highlights aspects of the mentoring relationship evidenced in the explicit and intentional development of school leaders. The empirical investigation used…

For over two decades, Giselle O. Martin-Kniep and her colleagues have worked for Learner-Centered Initiatives, a consulting organization based in New York, promoting best practices in curriculum, development, assessment, and leadership. A significant portion of their work is directed toward helping educators attend to and assess students' ability…

Many principal supervisors in the United States work in relative isolation and experience no professional development designed to support them. Over the past four years, the role of principal supervisor in Long Beach Unified School District in California has shifted from compliance and at-a-distance supervision practices to a deeply rooted…

Most special education administrators do not get the chance to network regularly with professional peers to discuss job challenges and strategies. School-district special education directors routinely juggle complex, difficult, time-consuming, and emotion-laden job demands, but when things get tough, they usually find themselves solving problems…

Understanding both process and context is essential to resolving problems. This paper articulates the decision seminar model, a rational problem-solving technique, and uses a hypothetical policy problem to show how various stages of the model might be applied to school issues. Process facilitates problem definition, inhibits fragmentation, and…

Inservice workshops employing simulation exercises can effectively provide school board training. Such training encourages board members to view problems from numerous perspectives, develop confidence, and build camaraderie. Problem-solving simulation steps are outlined, and six sample scenarios are offered for consideration. (MLH)

Describes the Middle-Management Center at Tulane University, which through simultaneous research and action seeks to develop the problem-solving capabilities of principals. (JG)

A large California school district provides on-the-job management training at building and central office levels for 10 promising school employees (including teachers) annually. Trainees develop 15 administrative competencies through hands-on experience and exposure to 4 activities: working with mentors, district seminars, training sessions, and…

The Peer-Assisted Leadership (PAL) Program created at Far West Laboratory (San Francisco, California) gives principals and vice-principals a year-long professional development program to reduce their isolation and improve their instructional leadership performance through nonevaluative peer observation and reflection. A key element is challenge…

The Louisiana Leadership in Educational Administration Development (LEAD) program is a technical assistance network designed to help newly appointed administrators improve their instructional leadership skills. LEAD began in 1987 as a 3-year federal grant and was adopted by the Louisiana State Board of Education in 1989 as a certification…

This paper seeks to familiarize school administrators with the Vroom and Yetton Normative Leadership model by presenting its essential components and providing original case studies for its application to school settings. The five decision-making methods of the Vroom and Yetton model, including two "autocratic," two…

The Educational Management Development Center (EMDC) seeks to build the organizational capability for problem-solving through a process offered in the context of a dynamic, operating system. The problem-oriented school manager is helped by support staff to take administrative theory, successful practices, personal experiences, and leadership…

This publication reviews five information sources about new designs and recommendations for principal preparation programs. In "The Landscape of Leadership Preparation: Reframing the Education of School Administrators," Joseph Murphy examines the nature of current problems in administrator preparation. He argues that before they can draw sound…

Contending that participation in quality circles enhances effective time management by school administrators and teachers, this guide provides both a theoretical briefing and practical recommendations for better time management. A pre- posttest prefaces a review of basic concepts of quality circles with reference to the work of Abraham Maslow,…

This booklet discusses creativity and provides suggestions for instigating and implementing creativity in organizational settings. Specifically, the booklet discusses practical creativity (also called targeted innovation), an approach to generating ideas especially suited to organizational problem-solving. The targeted innovation process,…