School leaders make countless decisions but do not receive adequate preparation for communicating their decisions to parents, students, and teachers. Building on the need to prepare school leaders for a variety of complex professional situations, this article introduces the medical education pedagogy of standardized patients to the field of school…

The professional expertise of educational leaders has been defined through the lens of problem-solving processes. Problem-based learning has therefore become an increasingly popular instructional approach in principal preparatory programs. As such, this study represents an initial attempt to explore learning from success (i.e., success-based…

Reviews research on organizational change and leader effectiveness, and argues that communication should be addressed formally in administrator and teacher preparation programs. An ongoing effort to develop a communication skills component of an administrator preparation program that incorporates problem-based learning is described. (SLD)

Describes the development and implementation of a class on the topic of school change. The class was organized using the precepts of problem-based learning, believing that this was an effective way to reflect the reality of the environment in which school change occurs. (SLD)

Three field-oriented, problem-based administrator preparation programs at the University of Colorado at Denver have provided opportunities and challenges. Student involvement in planning and conducting learning, collaboration among faculty and students, and use of performance-based learning outcomes and portfolio assessments are among the…

Provides an analytic case description of an innovative, problem-based principals preparation program at Stanford University, incorporating views of students, graduates, and faculty. Promising aspects of the program are highlighted. Appendices include annotated lists of core courses and problem-based learning projects. (Contains 36 references.)…