The empowerment of teachers through collaboration, a supervisory trend currently receiving much attention and emphasis, employs variability and encourages cooperative decisionmaking. Despite its apparent popularity, collaboration can be viewed as unwieldy and difficult to manage with teachers who are already working under less than desirable…

Addressed is the administrative dilemma of principals' and teachers' sharing decision-making and its effect on strong instructional leadership. The findings were developed as part of an exploratory field study conducted in six public middle schools in a large urban school system. The sample consisted of five black male and one white female…

This paper reports on a study of teachers involved in a collaborative model of clinical supervision. Study participants were interviewed in order to ascertain their perceptions of their collaborative relationship and the focus and effect of their collaboration. The study found that the most effective collaborations were characterized by…

Takes a critical look at who has the legitimate right to engage in supervision and for what valued social purpose, contending that those who are closest to the work are best qualified to form judgments about its quality and worth. Proposes an "educative" model of collaborative supervision to encourage self-awareness and self-determination among…

Instructional leadership is long-term dedication to instructional excellence that includes both instructional and school management issues. Recent research suggests that effective principals can make a significant difference in their schools' instructional programs through a combination of personal traits, particularly a strong belief in their…

Argues for the use of colleague mentors to increase retention rates among new teachers. Describes mentors' role as offering emotional support, suggestions about effective instruction, and information on the mores of the school community. Identifies characteristics of good mentors. Stresses the importance of shared decision making in teacher…

This study examined curriculum procedures and the roles, decision-making processes, and perceptions of central administrators, building administrators, and teachers in five school districts. Qualitative data collection included taped interviews using a focused indepth interview schedule, field notes, observation, and document collection. The study…

The conceptual level of teachers was measured in relation to their preferences for support in the supervisory tasks of staff development, curriculum development, and instructional improvement. It was hypothesized that teachers at a high level of conceptual development would prefer to be more involved with others and more flexible in adapting their…

This document presents the four case studies that constituted the major sources for "Teacher Evaluation: A Study of Effective Practices" by the same authors. The study was undertaken to find teacher evaluation processes that produce information useful to school districts in helping teachers improve or in making personnel decisions. The…

Describes a study at an Israeli high school that investigated changes in the principal's role as the result of the introduction of a school management information system (SMIS). Discusses information handling and flow, interrelations with teachers, accountability, instruction evaluation, supervision, feedback, frequency of meetings, and shared…

This paper describes a qualitative study at an at-risk primary school after a year of implementing educational changes. The paper opens with a detailed diary of the author's first morning observing the principal in action at the school. The analysis of data and field notes centers on the strengths of the principal's leadership, and the themes in…

This monograph focuses on the implementation process that has been a concern of school jurisdictions since the teacher evaluation policy became mandatory in Alberta, Canada, in 1985. Research has shown that school systems are adept at developing written policy but much less successful at putting that policy into effective operation. This overview…

This paper takes a distributed perspective on leadership practice in schools. Drawing upon empirical evidence from two contemporary studies of successful school leadership and the international research base concerning distributed leadership, the paper argues that leadership practice is a distributed entity that is mediated through human…

This study examined instructional leadership in eight diverse secondary schools in four urban, suburban, and small-city school districts in one western state. The aim was to gain access to a set of schools that provided both variety in instructional leadership and diversity in school size, organization, grade level, faculty and student…

This packet is designed to assist educational leaders in presenting current research-based information on the characteristics of effective schools to their school staff. The packet is divided into five sections, each including a sample presentation script, transparency models, and worksheets for promoting group discussion. The first section is an…