In 1987, the Ohio Department of Education enacted a new policy requiring all school districts to plan and implement programs designed to provide support to newly hired professional educators. The mandate's intent was to ensure that inexperienced teachers, counselors, social workers, psychologists, supervisors, or administrators hired to work in…

In this paper critical skills needed by beginning principals are identified in order to guide mentors as they support and assist novice principals by indicating effective ways of dealing with critical responsibilities. A review of related literature and research-based information is presented followed by a description of the study. Findings were…