Purpose: Performance evaluation informs professional development and helps school personnel improve student learning. Although psychometric literature indicates that a rational, sound, and coherent standard-setting process adds to the credibility of an assessment, few studies have empirically examined the decision-making process. This article…

Research has consistently shown that principal leadership matters for successful schools. Evaluating principals on the behaviors shown to improve student learning should be an important leverage point for raising leadership quality. Yet principals are often evaluated with the use of instruments with no theoretical background and little, if any,…

Purpose: The objective of this article is to provide an analysis of articles in "Education Administration Quarterly (EAQ)" over the 25-year period 1979-2003. Approach: The approach is document analysis. Findings: Information is presented on four key themes: (a) types of articles published; (b) methodologies employed; (c) topic areas emphasized;…

The purpose of this article is to explore the foundations of the Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium's (ISLLC's) Standards for School Leaders. First, the eight strategies used to develop the Standards are discussed. Second, responses are provided to six broad issues raised by colleagues who have provided critical reviews of the…

Argues for reframing the profession of school leadership based on unifying concepts of social justice, democratic community, and school improvement. Reframing provides context for a subsequent discussion of school leadership in terms of three metaphors: moral steward, educator, and community leader. (Contains 51 references.)(PKP)

Explains fundamental shifts dominating education's transition at technical, managerial, and institutional levels. Since the first edition of the "Handbook of Research on Educational Administration," school administration has been reconfigured and recultured. Social justice, democratic community, and school improvement comprise major integrative…

Examining themes implicit in language used historically to discuss the principalship has proven to be useful in understanding this role. Viewing a large number of works over a 70-year period of time and organizing these themes by decades allows the capture of multiple, implicit messages about expectations for the principalship over time. (33…

Investigates classroom environments and sense making within classrooms, using causal mapping techniques. Develops concept structures for classrooms, based on unbiased interviews. A homogeneous conception of classrooms is flawed, because participating fifth graders used highly individualistic concepts or labels to describe classroom environments.…