This report offers recommendations made by the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) University Consortium for improving the secondary principalship. Several premises require agreement within the profession: the definition of administrative competence and its assessment; the need for quality control; the role of state agencies and universities; and the balance among stakeholders for the delivery of content and skills. Chapter 1 examines issues in making administrator preparation more professional. The second chapter explores the career paths of four principals and identifies stages of administrator preparation and professional development. Chapter 3 examines considerations in guaranteeing quality in the areas of quality assurance and control. The fourth chapter presents the functions of each stakeholder and proposes five principles for a working model of principal preparation and development, which is based on the concept of "irreducible minimums"--those essential tasks for which each stakeholder is responsible. The final chapter suggests action steps based on collaboration and consensus to coordinate major stakeholders in the professional preparation of school administrators. The appendix includes a grid of principal preparation space derived from a preliminary survey and a list of 21 performance domains. (LMI)