The purpose of this project was to establish criteria necessary to evaluate a mentoring policy for beginning principals. This study found that most mentor programs for first year school leaders lack expectations for selection and assignment of mentor principals. This process began with a multi-faceted approach to researching best practices.…

For those who have just been appointed to their first headship or who are aspiring to be a head of school, they undoubtedly know the importance of the mechanics of finance, curriculum, development, and trustee work. These are critical to their success. After four years of headship, however, the author has come to learn that the intangibles can be…

This second report of an ongoing evaluation of "The Wallace Foundation's Principal Pipeline Initiative" describes the six participating school districts' activities in school leader preparation and support and analyzes their progress over two years. The evaluation, conducted by "Policy Studies Associates" and the "RAND…

Beginning school administrators face a predictable set of professional challenges that are very personal. By addressing these challenges as opportunities for learning and growth, new administrators can become leaders. This article offers several tips on how school administrators can adapt to their new positions.

In recent years there has been a greater emphasis on support, guidance and orientation programs for early career teachers, referred to as induction programs. Though on a smaller scale, similar induction programs have been implemented for early career principals as well. This study provides information on whether such programs have a positive…

This study surveyed pre-service administrative internship students (N = 61) at an urban Midwestern state university to explore factors that influence duties assigned to school counselors at the elementary, middle, and high school levels. Results indicated variation in duties assigned by pre-service administrators based on school building level.…

There is increasing recognition that effective leadership and management are vital if schools are to be successful in providing good learning opportunities for students, and emerging evidence that high quality leadership makes a significant difference to school improvement and learning outcomes. However, in many countries, including South Africa,…

This book series, "International Research on School Leadership," focuses on how present-day issues affect the theory and practice of school leadership. For this inaugural book, the editors focused on the challenges facing new principals and headteachers. Because the professional lives of school leaders have increasingly impinged on their…

Leadership has been under-researched in the Early Years (EY) sector of primary schools in England, especially in leading change for professional development. The aim of this paper is to theorise what the leadership culture for EY practitioners looks like, and how Initial Teacher Training providers and schools are preparing practitioners for…

This empirical qualitative study of 62 new principals was conducted over several years to determine what challenges they face, how the principalship compares with their expectations, and what their long-term career aspirations are. The findings indicate that the challenges experienced by new principals pertain to instructional leadership;…

This study is a first year principal's quest to transform the culture of Midwest Middle School (MMS). The study covers the 2009-2010 school year. The data from the 2008-2009 school year provided the baseline data for this study. Alarming results of a state survey regarding the culture of the medium sized suburban middle school caused concern. The…

Wyoming principals were surveyed regarding their perceptions of the strengths and deficits of their preparation program, their professional development needs as beginning principals, and the areas in which their districts offer professional development. Findings indicated much variation in perceptions of preparation program strengths and deficits.…

The purpose of the study was to document the reported experiences of nine beginning principals who participated in New Jersey's mentoring program revised in 2005, in order to gain a better understanding of this aspect of the professional education of school leaders. New changes to the program included an additional year, completion of eight…

During the author's first decade in school administration, coupled with his work with the National Association of Elementary School Principals' National Principal Mentoring Certification Program, he has collected a few nuggets worth sharing to rookie principals. In this article, he discusses what he calls his 7UP (Seven Unyielding Principles): (1)…

This study examines principal mentoring practices in Wisconsin. Particular attention is paid to practices deemed promising in the literature on mentoring for improving principals' capacity for instructional leadership. The implementation of Wisconsin's policy for teacher and administrator mentoring (PI 34) is also examined. Wisconsin's…