We interviewed eight principals from Bermuda and Florida about how they identify and manage their most pressing challenges. Their challenges are composed of both adaptive and technical work, requiring leaders to learn to diagnose and manage them. Challenges focused on change and were traced to accountability contexts, yet accountability was not…

The authors describe a process of self-assessment attuned to equity and justice in the policies and practices that affect student diversity, namely, those associated with the selection of candidates. The disproportionate rate of rejection for applicants from underrepresented groups and the unsystematic process of applicant selection operated as…

This article addresses the leadership preparation line of inquiry developed in the past decade by the University Council for Educational Administration/Learning and Teaching in Educational Leadership Special Interest Group Taskforce on Evaluating Leadership Preparation Programs, and it particularly addresses the series of survey instruments…

To prepare 21st Century school leaders, educational leadership professors need to learn and teach the utilization of increasingly sophisticated technologies in their courses. The co-authors, a professor and an educational specialist degree candidate, describe how the use of advanced technologies--such as Wikis, Google Docs, Wimba Classroom, and…

This paper describes the ways that feminist theories, history and pedagogies can be infused into leadership preparation programs in educational administration. This work is situated with the larger movement of leadership for social justice. The authors describe the theoretical frame for this work and the organization of a feminist leadership…

This paper presents a self-study project that goes beyond the surface of praxis to examine the internal academic teaching process of a PK-12 school leader educator. The study systematically relates one professor's intrapersonal struggle and professional challenge in addressing his lived contradiction of teaching aspiring school leaders. Results…

This paper examines in-service school leaders' perceptions regarding the degree to which their administrator preparation program addressed necessary skills and knowledge to effectively work with educators of children in special education and gifted programs. Principals from a large metropolitan district were surveyed. Findings indicate some…

Definitions are central to both the practice and the power of leadership. This deceptively simple supposition was the basis for an elective doctoral leadership seminar at Illinois State University designed and taught by Lyman in Fall 2005, and replicated by Gardner in Spring 2007. The authors featured the same texts and stimulated students'…

This article reports the results of a survey of novice superintendents in California, Missouri, North Carolina, and Ohio. The research provides a profile of novice superintendents and their opinions regarding the adequacy of academic preparation and the problems they encountered after entering this challenging position. Findings indicate that the…

This article presents findings from a case study on the National College of School Leadership (NCSL) in Nottingham, England, an exemplary program that bridges the theory-to-practice gap using distributed leadership philosophies to develop leadership among school administrators and has manifested a positive impact on school leadership in England.…

One of the most influential experiences in the author's development as an educational leadership professor has been the opportunity to work with educators outside the United States. His international experiences have caused him to observe distinct and subtle differences between leadership education in the United States and other countries. The…

In the United Kingdom, a hegemonic view of the purpose of educational leadership is summarised by the National College for School Leadership (NCSL) as "transform[ing] the quality of learning for all pupils." School leaders are assumed to be committed to this aim, leading to a view of schools, embedded in preparation programmes, as benign places,…

Confusion and furies about issues such as gender and sexuality present themselves as counternarratives about schooling. Rather than treat them as situations for educational administrators to manage or evade, the author proposes to use these counternarratives to fundamentally reframe educational leadership to be a profession proud of and skilled at…