Because the first educational reform waves were centered at state and school levels, superintendents have been left out of the picture. Excluding the superintendency from overall improvement designs or demeaning its contribution could unravel many change efforts. Superintendents must commit to a well-crafted educational agenda and redefine their…

A survey of 2,956 teachers in 92 Illinois high schools found increasing amounts of assigned homework, discrepancies in assignments among curricular tracks, little variety in assignments, need for improved student responses, teacher diligence in reviewing homework, lack of coordination at district, school, and departmental levels, and lack of…

Presents a conceptual model for administrative promotion of school effectiveness by identifying activities, processes, and functions necessary for successful instructional leadership. (JW)

Reviews current governance problems in education and details the range of possible governance models for post-industrial schooling. After describing problems that governance must address, the paper describes various possibilities for school governance in the future. Five types of control processes are considered. Ideological foundations of an…

Vague goals, unmanaged technology, minimal accountability, and little contact among staff members are characteristics that many schools share with other loosely coupled organizations. Effective schools do not share these characteristics. Some strategies for eliminating these traits are suggested. (PGD)

Principals must attend to eight curricular issues in their role as instructional leader: amount of content; extent of academic focus on coursework; focus and sequence of courses; breadth versus depth of content; differential access to knowledge; homework as an extension of content; curricular alignment; and quality of course objectives. Includes…

Examining themes implicit in language used historically to discuss the principalship has proven to be useful in understanding this role. Viewing a large number of works over a 70-year period of time and organizing these themes by decades allows the capture of multiple, implicit messages about expectations for the principalship over time. (33…

Colleges and educational administration departments can bridge the gap between professors and practitioners by employing professors with administrative experience, establishing clinically based sabbaticals, developing positions for clinical professors, and initiating publications focused on clinical issues. Also, practitioners should be involved…

Rebuts Fenwick W. English's negative critique of the Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium. None of the strategies (imaginative reading, academic sophistry, and jejune deconstructivism) suggested for analyzing the standards can be taken seriously. English misreads "continuous improvement" and makes several unfounded claims about…

This article discusses the research concerning the relationship between the organizational and social context of schools and principal instructional leadership. The discussion centers on several contextual variables that include school level, staff composition, technical clarity and complexity, and district context. Particular attention is focused…

As the field of school administration gravitated toward conceptions of leadership based on business management and social-science research, its educational roots atrophied over the course of the 20th century. This paper makes the case for a new conceptual foundation for the profession and presents a possible framework for recasting the concept of…

After publication of the National Commission for Excellence in Education's 1987 report "Leaders for America's Schools," the reform of school administration became central. This article outlines some problems in educational administration, summarizes the National Policy Board for School Administration's agenda to address these problems,…

Examines the current (inadequate) system of initial preparation and inservice development for school leaders and suggests potential ameliorative strategies. University programs are badly tarnished, from student recruitment practices to curriculum content and employment certification procedures. Establishing a professional knowledge base and…

Draws on other articles in this journal issue to identify emergent themes concerning the principal's evolving role in several countries. Explains the context for change, including reform pressures and political response, and examines principals' changing work environment, their transformed roles, and preparation and professional development…

Traces the evolution of U.S. administrator training programs, focusing on 20th-century developments. Delineates four eras: the Ideological Era, 1820-1899; the Prescriptive Era, 1900-1946; the Scientific Era, 1947-1985; and the Dialectic Era, beginning around 1986. Underscores key dimensions and events in each time frame, highlighting inter-era…