After a brief review of the position of women in educational administration, the Commissioner examines the role of leadership in encouraging change and improvement. Administrators have a particularly sensitive and demanding role as working partners with teachers and the community. The Office of Education is moving to give school districts a major role in staff development and the preparation of teaching personnel. The teacher can no longer be required to conform to a preconceived pattern, and administrators must lead in providing more freedom for teachers, so that they may teach with maximum efficiency. The key objectives which have been set for the U.S. Office of Education for fiscal year 1972 are 1) career education, to equip high school graduates to hold decent jobs; 2) disadvantaged and isolated, to insure that a child not be a less successful learner simply because he lives in an urban ghetto or rural slum; 3) innovation, to coordinate research and development efforts through the National Institute of Education; 4) right to read, to reduce the number of illiterates unable to function adequately in the conduct of daily affairs; 5) handicapped, to secure the necessary specialized training and essential education services; and 6) management, to simplify procedures and reduce inefficiency in the U.S. Office of Education. (MBM)