This collection of articles is designed to help metropolitan school principals meet the challenges of their positions. It is especially concerned with how principals can contribute to effective education for students of markedly heterogenous backgrounds. The authors deal with such issues as the principalship and metropolitan administration, the actual role of principals, and principals' relationships to administrators, teachers, and students. Articles included are "The Principalship as a Career" by Edwin M. Bridges; "What Principals Do: A Preliminary Occupational Analysis" by Salley Columbus, R. Bruce McPherson, and Melany E. Baehr; "The Principal against the System" by Bernard C. Watson; "A View of the Leadership Shortage in School Buildings" by William W. Wayson; "Creating a New Era for Schools and Communities" by James G. Cibulka; "The Social Context of Urban Education" by Daniel U. Levine; "Education and Ethnicity" by Rodney J. Reed; "Development of a Program" by Staten W. Webster; "Students' Rights" by Michael E. Manley-Casimir; "The Principal as a Moral Actor" by Francis Schrag; "What Principals Should Know about Teachers" by Gertrude H. McPherson; "Collective Bargaining and the Principal" by Frank W. Lutz and William E. Caldwell; "The Future of Middle Management in Education" by Bruce S. Cooper; "Principalship in an Economic Context" by K. George Pedersen; and "Women as Principals: Their Performance as Educational Administrators" by Joan D. Meskin. (Author/JM)