This book provides a personal look at the styles of several school leaders, probes the literature on school leadership, and explores some of the instruments designed to measure leadership style. The introduction explains the need to change leadership styles as education changes. Chapter 1 examines the redefinition of leadership roles and the role…

Initiatives to bring about school improvement usually involve certain teachers taking on leadership roles. This paper presents findings of a study that examined the experiences of a small group of teacher leaders in schools that have demonstrated successful school improvement. The schools participated in a school-improvement project in England,…

Recent research has suggested that administrator preparation programs based exclusively on university courses are not very effective. Individuals progressing through innovative programs allowing greater opportunities for reflection and collaborative school/university activities should be better prepared to deal with the complex issues facing…

Six strategies for using reflective narratives to promote the professional development of school leaders are briefly described in this paper, which is designed to accompany "School Leadership: Reflections on Practice by California's Instructional Leaders." Narratives are characterized by subjective perceptions that are shaped by personal…

This paper describes the strategies, issues, activities, and interactions associated with establishing six professional development schools (PDS) as part of the Benedum Project in West Virginia. Establishment of the PDSs was a collaborative project, a school-university partnership between West Virginia University and local school districts. The…

The paper identifies key attributes of syntopical theory as developed by Mortimer Adler, examines the status of the foundations of education, and discusses the importance of a national dialogue about foundational studies in teacher education and syntopical theory. People who work in disciplines embedded in the foundations of education lack a…

Results of a staff development program designed to enhance participative decision-making through improving the quality circle process are presented in this practicum report. Methodology was based on two sets of interviews--needs assessment and followup--with school leaders at two school sites and onsite observation. After identifying problems in…

Most superintendents experience high levels of stress associated with their school administrator role. This paper reports on a survey conducted to help Maine superintendents better understand the stressors inherent in their role. The Survey of Superintendent Stressors was distributed to all 1989-90 Maine public school superintendents and a…

Implementation processes and outcomes at a junior high school of the Mastery in Learning Project, an NEA-sponsored national school transformation effort, are described in this paper. Based on the principle that a school's decisions should be made by its faculty, the project seeks to develop teachers' ability to creatively and cooperatively use…

A 2-year case study of a well-supported teacher-research group examined the kinds of support teachers need if they are to conduct classroom research. The study focused on the effects of becoming researchers on teachers' views of classroom practice and of themselves as professionals, the levels of knowledge teacher research can provide, and the…

Teaching assistants (TAs) play a considerable role in undergraduate education. Adopting a developmental perspective could lead TA supervisors and other faculty members to facilitate the maturation of their graduate students/TAs into tomorrow's professors more successfully. According to J. Sprague and J. D. Nyquist (1989), there are 4 questions for…

There is growing public recognition that the most important route to educational improvement is through enhancing the skills and status of adults who work within the education system. The purpose of this document is to provide a resource to school personnel who are attempting to improve their professional development efforts; hence both sections…

Conditions of the principalship that contribute to short-term planning are examined in this report, which also offers strategies for longer range educational integrity. A multiple case study approach was used to explore the experiences of 12 high school principals in 5 states. Over 200 interviews were conducted with principals, teachers, staff,…

The Oklahoma Chapter of the Association of College and Research Libraries (OK-ACRL) and the Oklahoma Library Association, College and University Division (OLA-CUD) co-sponsored a survey of professional academic librarians to obtain institutional and background data on their characteristics, their preferences for academic professional association…

One of the founders of the Association of Leadership Educators in the late 1980s, Katey Walker explores the history of the association and the incremental development of the idea of a journal to support professional development among leadership educators.