The Excellent Principal Inventory is a unique evaluation instrument that enables principals to obtain confidential performance feedback from superiors, peers, and teachers. Five research-based commitments (to student success, teaching and learning, the school staff, innovation, and leadership) reflect the values and behaviors developed for the…

An extended interview process is designed to give the superintendent and the school board a better opportunity to get to know prospective school executives. Each job applicant spends eight or nine hours in activities that offer a revealing look at the candidates. (MLF)

In a study of teachers and administrators seeking advanced degrees and certification, over 78% of teachers reported negative rewards that included larger classes and more duties and committee assignments. Over 85% of administrators were given more responsibilities with no pay increase. While such rewards seemed positive at first, they led to…

Discusses the concept of managers as coaches and summarizes a study that was conducted to evaluate coaching skills among sales managers by using telephone interviews with employees to collect data regarding managers' effectiveness in eight coaching skills. Behaviors associated with high and low rankings are identified. (Contains 26 references.)…

Examines criteria and procedures for selecting new (Ohio) elementary school principals during 1992-93. A survey of 50 superintendents indicates that selection criteria comprised academic criteria, personal characteristics, and professional competencies. Respondents rated attitude toward others and strong human relations skills as most important…

Every student and educator needs a trusted person to ask provocative questions and offer helpful critiques. A critical friend understands the context of the work presented and the person or group's desired outcomes. Critical friendships begin through building trust; critical friends must listen well, offer value judgments on the learner's request,…

According to a 1984 study of seven public school headteachers from Barbados, these administrators see their role of creating good interpersonal relationships as very important. The principals experienced feelings of powerlessness and ambiguity resulting from being controlled by centralized policies and rules. These policies caused some frustration…

Local education authorities in the United Kingdom are drawing up policies for implementing principal evaluation. This article describes three case studies based on observations of three elementary school principals' daily activities. The exercise raised several issues, including the need for a whole school approach, a clearly delineated appraisal…

Administrator evaluators perceive principals' leadership styles variously as principal/teacher, general manager, professional/scientific manager, administrator/instructional leader, and curriculum leader. Currently practice promotes the administrator/instructional leader view of principals (for principals one knows) and denigrates the general…

Investigates principal-selection decisions made by teachers serving on school councils, using a between-within split-plot factorial design. Teachers preferred candidates with whom they shared a dominant work value. Elementary- and middle-school teachers preferred candidates oriented toward instructional leadership. High-school teachers preferred…

Study examines the relationship between effective principal leadership characteristics gleaned from current literature on principal evaluation and certain tenets of principal evaluation statutes in 11 of the 19 North Central Association states. Finds that many state statutes do not list effective leadership characteristics. Makes six…

One critical element to maintaining a close, productive and enduring partnership with the governing board is a well-designed and executed process for board evaluation of the superintendent's performance. For the board's evaluation to be a powerful partnership-building tool, it must be based on two sets of performance targets. The two basic steps…

This article tells the story of Grayhead Public Library and the results of a new evaluation process developed by the state library that asked staff to critique their bosses' management capabilities and the library's services anonymously. Galloway, the director, was shocked when she received the results. She read the responses in disbelief,…

Simple checklists, one-shot interviews, brief site visits and narrative evaluations remain widespread as the tools of assessment. In many school districts, the evaluation includes little or no face-to-face contact, and the principal simply gets his or her evaluation in the mail, leading one researcher to describe them as "infrequent, late,…

Superintendents are in the right place at the right time to take advantage of a golden opportunity to reverse a trend that threatens the nation's schools and communities. They are now uniquely positioned to stop the retreat of good-hearted, well-intentioned citizens from public life. In this article, the authors present perpetual traps that…