Administration is the process of working with and through others to efficiently accomplish organizational goals by planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. The basic skills required by an effective administrator are technical, human, and conceptual. A strong school administrator preparation and certification program resembles the classical liberal educational model rather than a vocational school education model. Administrator preparation programs heavily oriented toward teaching the theory of administration along with a historical perspective will better equip and develop analytical and evaluating skills for the school administrator. Stipulations for the liberal education model are that: (1) preparation programs be university rather than field based; (2) internship experiences should be the culminating field-based experience; (3) state regulated courses and requirements should be kept to a minimum and be specified in only a general way; (4) state regulation should speak to qualitative and substantive standards and avoid programmatic details; and (5) programs developed by universities should be judged on intellectual integrity, ethics, and the ideals of educational leadership. (MLF)