Recently much attention has been focused on the quality of educational leadership programs in the United States. A central issue in improving the preparation of educational leaders concerns the necessity and value of engaging in more systematic collaboration among universities (and the various units within them), departments of educational leadership within schools of education, government agencies, school districts, and professional associations. This document reviews recent literature on the subject of collaborative investment in educational leadership and administrator preparation programs. It begins by reviewing criticism of current doctoral programs in educational administration to illustrate the principal underlying weakness of the status quo: the mismatch between field experience and the culture of the academy. The next section reviews literature that focuses on the concept of competencies as an educational objective for administrator preparation programs. This is followed by a review of the multiplicity of approaches to content in educational administrator preparation programs. A survey follows of conceptual and programmatic frameworks for clinical experience, along with approaches to collaboration. The review concludes with 22 recommendations for establishing a collaborative, field-based approach to administrator education. A bibliography is included. (TE)