Discusses autobiographical stories of one Caucasian and three African American female doctoral students during their "rites of passage" in educational administration departments. Although not generalizable, the four stories offer nontraditional students' varied perspectives and experiences. Training program recommendations cover five…

The reform of educational administration preparation programs is hampered by systemic factors supporting a traditional liberal arts model, whereas reform advocates argue for substantive changes in content, process, and outcomes. A new model stressing leadership practice has five overriding themes: increasing cultural diversity, desire for…

Investigates the needs of graduate students in educational administration programs, focusing on what learning would prove most valuable to administrators dealing with diverse constituencies and cultures. From indepth interviews, researchers found that graduate students learned far more about diversity (of gender, race, ethnicity, and social class)…

Context is a powerful tool for understanding educational organizations, devising professional development programs for school administrators, and preparing future administrators. Specific strategies should be expanded for harnessing that power in analyzing educational settings, transferring knowledge across settings, and developing appropriate…

Describes the search for a relevant knowledge base for the field of educational leadership and identifies some traditional and emergent sources. Presents a newly developed program in educational leadership to illustrate how elements of the knowledge base have been incorporated into an innovative, holistic approach to preparing school…

Reports findings of a survey of 78 California educational administration professors. The survey sought information concerning age, gender, ethnicity, education, employment status, prior school administrative experience, and differentiated pay. California education professors are overwhelmingly white, male, and middle-aged or older. Diversified…

To create a more supportive and collegial learning environment, many educational administration preparation programs are using cohort groups of students. This article traces the development of cohort groups by describing the organizational features and instructional delivery systems used to foster collegial learning and then links these practices…

Analyzes administrative content areas prioritized according to competence and aspiration by midmanagement (principal) interns over an eight-year period as they completed administrative certification programs. Interns were primarily concerned with areas of practice involving instructional leadership and were less concerned about certain technical…

The Cooperative Educational Administration Internship Program at the University of New Mexico has received remarkable support from cooperating school districts, participating interns, mentoring site administrators, and the university's education faculty. Because its primary financing depends on program participants, the Danforth Foundation program…

During the past four years, the University of Northern Colorado's educational leadership program has undergone major revision and restructuring. The new program provides a coherent, integrated program designed to assist individual learners' personal and professional development. This article describes the change process, showing how changes were…

Describes professional associations' attempts to define desirable knowledge and skills for aspiring administrators. Shows how an educational administration program model (the Reasoned Action Leadership Model) blends a professional knowledge base with the performance skills needed for effective practice. Offers performance-based illustrations and…

Reports findings of a study that examined the activities of 45 part-time administrator-interns enrolled at 2 large midwestern universities. Content analysis of interns' daily logs revealed that two-thirds of interns' time was spent attending meetings, doing office work, or supervising students. Interns spent little or no time in an administrator…

Examines prevailing administrative internship assumptions, classifications, and cognitive constructs. Offers a conceptual model for switching from a reactive to an integrated approach. The emerging model engages interns as active participants in rigorous developmental experiences, uses problem-based learning, forges cooperative partnerships, and…

A survey of 109 doctoral-granting educational-administration institutions indicated that about half use some form of distance learning (off-campus courses, interactive video, or Internet courses) and 60% are planning to do so. Faculty are concerned about workload, resource availability, program quality, technical issues, and program costs. (24…

In 1992, faculty at a Midwestern university developed and tested a leadership expertise performance assessment system to use with educational administration students. The system includes five performance rubrics, job-related criteria, and multiple evidences for determining leadership expertise. Successful performance reflects inquiry-oriented…