"The Learning Principal" is an eight-page newsletter published eight times a year. It focuses on the important and unique work of school principals. This issue includes: (1) Framework "for" Improvement: Effective School Leadership Translates into Increased Student Learning (Valerie von Frank); (2) Q & A: Instructional…

Closing programs is the most severe of the three strategies campuses typically consider during difficult financial times: generating new revenue, making across-the-board spending cuts, or undertaking targeted cuts. Closures of academic programs can have lasting negative fallout and the savings may not be as great as anticipated, but at certain…

Principals know that effective teachers are the greatest school-based contributors to improved student outcomes. What is not always clear is how principals can help teachers adapt their instructional practices to the increasingly diverse learning styles they find in their classrooms. Teacher evaluation practices are typically not seen as a tool…

The purpose of this study was to examine principals' perceptions of parental involvement at various levels in terms of their role in facilitation and parent involvement in school processes. The principals in this study (n = 171) were receptive to their roles in facilitation, but not to parental involvement in school processes. Because there are…

For many it's a dollars and cents issue; for others, it's a heritage or spiritual issue. In reality campus heritage is both a spiritual and a monetary/economic issue. Some say that heritage should reflect institutional values, tradition, academic stature, and the role graduates have played in society, and others cast aside tradition and pay…

Survey data from 222 student teachers at a small, liberal arts college were used to address the following three questions: Do university supervisors add value to the student teaching experience? Do student teachers distinguish between the roles played by supervisors and those played by cooperating teachers? How do student teachers characterise…

Currently principals are involved with a variety of programs offered in schools, such as IDEA, English Language Learners, Title I remedial services, migrant education, and gifted and talented programs. However, there is a growing recognition that gifted students are being poorly served by most public schools. The purpose of this study was to…

A research project team studied schools in Washington, Ohio, Illinois, and Wisconsin to investigate the scope of a leader's responsibilities and identified seven common functions of leadership. The study revealed that understanding and delivering what the school needed was the principal's core job.

To explore the informal socialization of beginning elementary school principals, questionnaires were sent to a population of 107 Catholic school principals in their first, second, or third year of elementary school principalship in Ohio. Usable responses from 81 (76 percent) identified the significant others and the stages of 25 selected…

A study to describe Ohio vocational education planning district (VEPD) superintendents' perceptions of their role in the marketing function and their perceptions of VEPD marketing effectiveness for secondary vocational education received a 97.9% response. Most had positive perceptions of their roles but were undecided about the effectiveness of…

This article discusses the lack of female teachers in leadership positions. In 1988, The National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP) and the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) commissioned a study to address the administrator shortage. They found that the top three reasons candidates gave for not applying…

Describes lively and attractive learning environment in halls, classrooms, playground, and even rest rooms of an Ohio elementary school on kindergarten assessment day. School's equally lively principal, a former classroom teacher, is seldom in her office, preferring to mix with teachers and students. Books are everywhere, and children with…

The question for higher education is no longer "What should be in the plan for diversity?" but rather "How is that plan implemented successfully?" Many institutions are turning to senior diversity officers to lead campus diversity as it relates to students, faculty and staff. A review of recent higher education job listings…

Effective school leadership requires an understanding of the tension between the technical and symbolic aspects of leadership. This paper presents findings of a study that examined principals' self-reported leadership orientations. A survey (the Principal Behavior Inventory) mailed to 865 secondary principals at Ohio public and private schools…

A survey of rural and suburban principals in Ohio and West Virginia explored the different approaches to planning that principals take and examined two possible contextual influences: rural versus suburban locale, and state. A survey instrument based on five types of planning discussed in the literature was completed by 207 West Virginia…