Discusses characteristics of instructional leadership as a form of proactive administrative behavior. Proactive administration is built on awareness of personal beliefs, understanding of organizations, instructional leadership as an ongoing process, sensitivity to alternative perspectives, consistency of personal behavior, and ability to…

Examines academic middle managers' monitoring role in British secondary schools since implementation of the 1988 Education Reform Act, drawing on a large-scale postal survey of middle managers in three local authorities and three case-study schools. Participants acknowledge the need for monitoring colleagues' teaching, but experience departmental…

Instead of relegating their assistant principal to discipline and attendance, the Frankfurt (West Germany) American High School restructured the AP role to focus on instructional leadership, employee supervision, collegiality, training, and positive student interactions. Conflict resolution, lunchtime intramurals, town hall meetings, and a…

The reflections of an assistant principal portray the dilemmas of the supervisory role and the shift from a bureaucratic to a collegial culture. A basic conflict between the necessity to evaluate and the desire to be of genuine help to teachers is outlined. (SLD)

This study examined the work of a principal of a Midwestern urban elementary school who used instructional supervision as a means of developing a learning community for adults. Implementing a variety of approaches adapted to the culture of the school, the principal crafted a process to meet the learning needs of 125 teachers and created an…

Part of a 13-volume series designed to be used as a group inservice or a self-learning system to train school administrators and counselors for their role in career education, this first section (5.1) of module 5 (implementation--for administrators) contains readings and activities on the major components in a system of observation and…

Despite burgeoning literature that acknowledges the importance of the principalship in achieving and maintaining school effectiveness, principals have been depicted unfavorably in film and television as insecure autocrats, petty bureaucrats, and classic buffoons. This paper presents findings of a study that not only catalogued images of principals…

The role of the principal as an educational leader for the 1990s is described in this keynote address. The first part discusses the roles and responsibilities of principals and supervisors as administrators, managers, and leaders. The second part examines educational issues of the 1990s, which include: (1) the importance of education to all…

Findings from a study that described the responsibilities and characteristics of Kentucky school district instructional supervisors are presented in this paper. Instructional supervisors are those district personnel who are responsible for the professional development of teachers. Questionnaires mailed to 184 Kentucky instructional supervisors…

A review of literature on the principal's changing role in shared decision making is provided in this paper, which discusses the following areas: policy development; the egalitarian ethic for teacher participation; the principal/faculty relationship; the principal's functions in shared decision making; and elements of successful decision making.…

Using some dictionary definitions, one might easily infer that supervision of teaching is a managerial/administrative function closely related to evaluation and control, implying hierarchical connotations. However, Guthrie and Reed (1991) describe teacher supervision as "a function of leadership concerned with improving, enhancing, and reinforcing…

The purpose of this study was to determine if a number of supervisory tasks could be categorized according to delineated dimensions. (Editor)

This textbook, intended for graduate students in introductory educational supervision courses, draws on the research on effective schools, teacher and adult development, and supervisory practice, as well as on direct practical experience, to provide information that supervisors can use to help their schools be more successful. The term…

Because leadership theories and recent research into principals' roles have only limited validity, practical utility, and comprehensiveness, this study undertakes a description of effective principals' behaviors and a coherent explanation of them. Long-term goals, factors affecting student learning, strategies for goal achievement, and structures…

Research findings can assist secondary principals in promoting instructional effectiveness. Factors influencing effectiveness include societal structure, educational goals, teachers' learning theory attitudes, and student maturity, while problem areas range from selecting instructional materials to evaluating student progress. Cases indentify key…