As costs for higher education increase and traditional state appropriations formulae, in which dollars follow student/semester credit hours, are often no longer in use, educational institutions are being asked to provide higher quality services with flat or even slightly reduced budgets. To meet these needs, department chairs and deans need to…

This paper presents findings of a study that explored Mexican-American female principals' perceptions of leadership, power, and caring. Interviews were conducted with six principals of public schools in the Rio Grande Valley region of Texas. The principals described the personal and social challenges of being Mexican-American and female, and those…

Research has demonstrated that corporations succeed or fail on the basis of how well they are led. Although the importance of leadership in organizational decision making has been recognized and studied extensively, numerous studies have also demonstrated the central role that the principal plays in shaping the school culture which, in turn, is a…

Although many studies have concentrated on the principal's role in changing school culture, few have noted which norms of school culture were manipulated by the principal. This paper presents findings of a study that identified the effect of the principal upon school culture in two elementary schools in a county of a rural mid-Atlantic state. Both…

This paper presents findings from a 4-year ethnographic research study into school leadership relating to how a particular principal with a well-informed adult development perspective actually employed it through her practices in support of teacher development in a school. This work focuses on leadership, adult development, and teacher development…

Principals today are expected to maximize their schools' performances with limited resources while also adopting educational innovations. This synopsis reviews five recent publications that offer some important insights about the nature of principals' leadership strategies: (1) "Leadership Styles and Strategies" (Larry Lashway); (2) "Facilitative…

The effects of vocational leadership development were studied for 23 Fellows enrolled in the 1992 Ohio Vocational Education Leadership Institute (OVELI). A literature review focused on four components: leadership styles, educational leadership development, vocational leadership development, and visionary leadership development. The Leadership…

This paper examines qualities of effective school leadership that are critical to successful educational change. The first part explores various definitions of leadership, discusses the concept of leadership versus management, and describes the challenges that school leaders face. The paper then draws on data collected from interviews with four…

This paper presents findings of a study that examined how six women headteachers in Great Britain worked as school leaders. Data were obtained through observation, joint inquiry, structured conversations, and life-history interviews. The study drew on Wallace and Hall's (1994) power-culture metaphor, which stated that individuals make different…

This paper examines the nature and function of leadership in the management of postsecondary educational institutions. It explains the need for studying educational leadership and reviews various theories on the nature of leadership. These include the trait, situational, social influence, functional (or action-centered), contingency, contextual,…

This paper argues that leadership in higher education should be open to a female leadership model expressed in an Eastern "Tantric" model. Suggesting that a male leadership model that oppresses and excludes women has been in effect for the past millennium, the proposed Tantric proposition is a step toward a shared model of leadership which will be…

A study examined the relationship between the degree of a principal's instructional leadership and student achievement. Methodology involved regression analysis of the Basic Skills Assessment Program (BSAP) scores of over 7,400 eighth-graders in 104 schools in Mississippi. Questionnaires were also mailed to 104 principals, yielding a response rate…

A study was conducted of the relatively small group of community college presidents who have been in their current position for 10 years or longer. The study focused on the fit of the president to the institution, the presidents' vision, the planning process, and style issues such as leadership, delegation, consensus building, and decision making.…

This paper presents findings of a comparative case study that explored the inner realities of four successful high school principals identified as effective. Case studies were conducted of four high school principals in a North Carolina school district. Data were obtained from 2 interviews with each principal and interviews with 10 teachers in…

A field study of 29 mountain-course instructors at the Colorado Outward Bound School (COBS) explored the relationships of gender-related personality traits and soft skills to outdoor leadership styles and course outcomes. Soft skills are competencies necessary for effective interpersonal helping skills, as opposed to hard skills, which are…