Introduces a theme issue on school-constituent relationships that includes papers on such topics as community development in educational reform; teacher commitment; parent- principal contacts; family school relationships; school boards and school-based decision making; engaging Latino families; the agency of African American teachers in Franklin,…

Examined contacts between individual parents and a high school principal. Contacts included parents' expressed needs/desires and the principal's attempts to satisfy them. Data from interviews, logs, and observations highlighted the balancing act taking place as the principal responded to parent messages while trying to preserve a sense of…

Introduces the topic of school leadership, examining common definitions of leadership, identifying specific leadership behaviors hypothesized to be directly related to these definitions, describing college and university preparation programs for school leadership, and providing an example of a key element common to both educational leadership…

Describes an experimental program in educational administration offered at the University of Judaism in Los Angeles, focusing on program implementation and evaluation. Provides a set of changes in a small leadership-training program. The program and its changes serve as models for adjustment in small leadership-preparation programs, particularly…

Researchers explored the operation of personnel evaluation systems in local school districts, focusing on principal evaluation by superordinates and noting the extent of use of each evaluation standard. Results indicated several personnel evaluation standards were used extensively, with significant differences in the extent of use among the…

Reviews a collection of articles on role-based, outcome-based, standards-based, and structure-based approaches to assessing school principals' work, noting that the impact of the larger political and social context surrounding the school on the principal presents a formidable challenge in assessing the quality of the principal's work. (SM)

Reviews selected literature on administrative evaluation and focuses on four topics: (1) linking principals to school effectiveness as an outcome; (2) increasing awareness of school contextual indicators affecting leadership and effectiveness; (3) the effects of structural reform on the principal's role; and (4) assessing principal's performance…

Reports on two studies that found differences among principals in schools that differed in student achievement levels. Two approaches for assessing the performance of principals are examined. One approach includes rationally segmented steps; the other focuses on programs as preliminarily identifiable steps. Study summaries are provided. (GLR)