Shows how 28 contemporary films' messages about educational administrators shape and limit popular discourse about schools and their mission. Hollywood's celluloid images cannot capture our school communities' complex, challenging everyday realities. Practitioners should understand how mass media shapes policy debates about public institutions and…

Exploring cognitive school leadership elements, this study uses a set of 1200 U.S. principals and employs an earlier validated set of five leadership cognitions drawn from psychologists in educational administration. Regression analysis suggests these cognitions exist independently of many social and personal qualities typifying principals and are…

Although "Jordanesque" checklists cannot describe the full dimension of effective school leadership, the literature has generated some commonly accepted principles categorized according to personal attributes, leader behaviors, and organizational outcomes. Sensitive to others' needs, effective principals are generally warm, caring…

Lists a variety of possible ethical incidents that may confront a school business manager. Proposes that ethics be given adequate treatment in preservice programs, that all educators be made more aware of ethics, and that members of the profession be trained and encouraged to police their fellow members. (MLF)

Examines how British school managers operating within a market culture seek to identify parental perspectives, so that these can influence school decision making. The three secondary schools studied varied in openness to parental viewpoints. Managers relied heavily on informal, ad hoc means of feedback, rather than systematic and planned…

Examines administrator attitudes/perceptions about distance education and how this effects administrators' support. Findings indicate: attitudes varied significantly among levels of administrators; peers and personal experience influence attitudes; attitudinal differences not explained by any single variable; administrators, regardless of…

Using Weicke's environmental-enactment theory, explores how 18 "successful" principals enact and structure the internal and external school environment. Examines what specifically captures principals' attention, using the critical-incident technique. Principals' environmental attention-structure seems driven by their concerns for…

Purpose: This article examines factors within the long-term-care work environment that impact the effectiveness of continuing education. Design & Methods: In Study 1, focus group interviews were conducted with staff and management from urban and rural long-term-care facilities in southwestern Ontario to identify their perceptions of the…

This volume presents the 2008 Yearbook of the National Council of Professors of Educational Administration (National Council of Professors of Educational Administration). The theme for this year's address, yearbook and convention is "Leadership on the Frontlines: Changes in Preparation and Practice." This Yearbook contains six parts. Part 1,…

This article is a review of the literature concerned with leadership effectiveness in higher education at departmental level. The literature derives from publications from three countries: the UK, the USA and Australia. Surprisingly little systematic research has been conducted on the question of which forms of leadership are associated with…

Contemporary university administrators are usually wimps, and timidity in facing easily enraged campus radicals only invites outrageous demands which, in turn, subvert intellectual life. This must be changed. For much of human history leaders had to display physical valor and this trait should be restored to the college administrator job…

A survey examined the use of coping mechanisms by rural Saskatchewan principals and principals' perceptions of the effectiveness of coping mechanisms used. A modified form of the Ways of Coping questionnaire was mailed to 110 rural principals throughout Saskatchewan (Canada); 48 usable responses were returned. The questionnaire focused on eight…

The first year as an assistant principal can be even more trying than a teacher's first year. Becoming an administrator is a personal and professional transition that requires a new perspective on schools and a new definition of one's role as an educator. The first year as an assistant principal also is important in setting attitudes and standards…

That the daily challenges facing public-school leaders can sometimes be overwhelming is the underlying theme of this report. The study on which the report is based focused on superintendents' and principals' views on and concerns about leadership. Data for the study were gathered in 2001 from surveys of 853 public-school superintendents and 909…

For over a decade, numerous educators have espoused the need for increased participation in decision making. Yet, evidence shows that mechanisms intended to broaden access actually result in governance that is little different from traditional, more autocratic management methods. To better understand this phenomenon, an examination of the…