Several different meanings of effectiveness as applied to school administrators are identified and analyzed. The criteria of purpose, validity, measurement, and administrative image are used to enhance understanding of four concepts of administrator effectiveness and their implications for the evaluation of school administrators. (SLD)

The expected turbulent environment in the 1990s for higher education requires well-oriented, educated, and active governing boards. Suggestions based on interviews with over 120 college trustees and presidents are offered in the areas of trustee orientation, trustee education, group development, campus governance, and strategic planning. (MLW)

The presentation of statistics in administrator preparation programs is often irrelevant to administrative realities, fails to integrate appropriate teaching technologies, and stresses inferential statistics over statistical strategies for improving skills in problem analysis, program and student evaluation, data-based decision making, and report…

Examines management styles, dispositions, and skills that provide a positive work environment for child care staff. Categorizes suggestions as offering genuine respect and trust, working with a vision for the future, sharing the decision-making process, rejecting a scarcity mentality, tending to the physical environment, and "walking the…

Reflects on the nature of power and the value of collaboration in Writing Program Administration work. Argues that the WPA position is a contradictory one which contains within it the paradox of powerless power (having responsibility and little authority, having insider knowledge and being institutionally ignorant, and needing to cooperate and…

Compares a successful childcare director to an effective coach and adapts the following suggestions for administrators: (1) be a good scout; (2) warm up; (3) offer training camp; (4) get signals straight; (5) use visible scoreboard; (6) consult the team; (7) stay focused; (8) remember the seventh inning stretch; (9) be a model; and (10) create…

Considers how school library media specialist administrative responsibilities can carry over to a job as state consultant for school library media services. Discusses characteristics of effective administrators; collaboration; the appreciative inquiry process for systemic change; and duties and projects of the state program that strengthen media…

Leadership is about transformation. It is the opportunity to transform people, places, and possibilities. The purpose of the study reported in this article was to identify means to assess leadership development and performance. Although leadership development and performance can be assessed, school systems often lack consistent methods,…

This case study explores the influence of a changing and more diversified leadership on a struggling religiously-affiliated institution, Eureka College of Illinois. Eureka is a liberal arts institution founded by the Disciples of Christ denomination of the Church of Christ during the "Emergent Era" of college building in the mid-1800s.…

During the early 1980s, a number of commissions and special reports stated that education as it existed in the United States was in need of significant reform. The recommendations from these reports began to support "school effectiveness" research. Researchers charge that the basis for judging school effectiveness--student performance on…

This publication presents findings of a study that explored the professional needs of principals at various stages in their careers. Data were collected from several sources: two focus groups of Texas principals; a regional survey of 97 principals; an analysis of the professional development plans of five Texas rural school principals and six…

Successful implementation of school-based management (SBM) begins with effective principal leadership. This paper describes findings of a study that examined the principal's role in implementing school-based decision making. Ethnographic data were collected over a 3-year period in 4 elementary schools that implemented SBM. Methods included…

This book describes change in the nature of school leadership as required by the nature of future schools. Two chapters in part 1 develop the perspective for leadership, based on problem solving, for the future. Chapter 1 argues that the problem for future leadership has three components: (1) developing a shared, defensible vision of a future…

After over 20 years with the same senior administration, Floyd College, a two-year college connected to the University of Georgia, underwent a change of leadership. As a result, the college climate, as well as its organizational procedures, have radically changed. In the past, decisions on promotion and tenure started from top management. Now,…

In this era of rapidly changing organizational environments, the task of executive selection is critical. Practitioners clearly need help with such essential questions as: What does it mean to be successful in today's organizations? How can we select executives who are more likely to perform successfully in them? This book seeks to address those…