Reviews a few trends characterizing the preparation of school leaders since the mid-20th century. Discusses three current challenges facing educational leaders and those who prepare them: evaluation of preparation programs, standards-based reforms, and recruitment/pipeline issues. Argues that school leaders need to be creative and proactive in…

Examines current national conversation on educational leadership preparation and practice and the implications of these conversations for educational leadership preparation; focuses specifically on the rhetoric and research concerning two major issues contributing to current leadership crises: the shortage of qualified administrators and…

Examines state superintendent licensing requirements and problems and issues related to university-based superintendent preparation programs. Discusses five major concerns that need to be addressed in superintendent preparation programs: synchronizing preparation with superintendents' career, reconnecting academic and professional preparation,…

Examines teachers' perceptions of the exemplary instructional leadership strategies, behaviors, attitudes, and goals of principals. Finds two major themes: talking with teachers to promote reflection and promoting professional development. Draws implications for instructional leaders and their preparation. (Contains 31 references.) (PKP)

Analyzes 60 studies providing evidence or arguments about the effect that principal practices have on student achievement. Links findings with content of principal preparation programs. (Contains 66 references.) (PKP)

Comparative case study of factors related to operation of school-level financial management in five UK community/foundation schools and five US charter schools. Uses on-site interviews with UK head teachers and bursars and US directors and business officials. Explores four themes and related conclusions: control, evolution, shared leadership, and…

Examines the influence of a privately funded scholarship program on strategic adaptations within metropolitan public and private schools. Finds, for example, that public school administrators accelerated development of distinctive school missions, while private schools recruiting low-income students began to explore ways of adapting curricula and…

Interviews 16 school board chairs in North Carolina to determine their attitudes toward state education reform legislation. Discusses two themes emerging from the interviews: Downsizing the state bureaucracy translates into autonomy and accountability at the local level, but paradoxically boards now lack the organizational buffering previously…

The goal of this study is to present a brief, statistically rigorous assessment of the determinants of the availability of gifted and talented programming both across and within states. Of particular interest is whether gifted and talented program opportunities are randomly distributed across students by their socioeconomic status and race across…

In recent years, an increasing number of districts have turned to district education foundations (DEF) for added fiscal support. Similar in many ways to university development offices, DEFs are privately operated, nonprofit, tax-exempt organizations that solicit funds from individuals and businesses and then distribute these funds to public school…

The main goal of the present study was to investigate the perceptions of Cypriot teachers on the management of small primary schools. From the wide range of issues identified in the literature, seven areas were chosen for examination: management and leadership; teachers in small schools; advice and support; pupils in small schools; curriculum and…

Many school reform initiatives now require school leaders to make curriculum and resourcing decisions on the basis of evidence about their likely impact on student achievement. In this paper, we discuss the implications of this policy demand in the context of a descriptive study of schools' capacity to collect, analyze, and use collective…