This paper adapts the framework developed by J. Murphy and P. Hallinger (1987) in a conceptual analysis of current approaches to educational leadership development. Murphy and Hallinger identified differentiating patterns of program operation in the areas of program content, program process, program focus, and what this referred to as "supporting tissue." The first section presents the conceptual framework. Next, examples from specific principal development programs are used to illustrate the range of variation among emerging approaches within the context of the conceptual framework. In the final section, the implications of the analysis for the future of principal training and development are discussed. (42 references) (SI)