Santa Maria High School reorganized its management structure so that the comprehensive program for 2400 students requires only four line administrators. Students and teachers are grouped into three learning units, organized around the graduation proficiency requirements of California law AB 65. An organizational chart is provided. (SJL)

Every month, "Leadership" features articles written in an informal, conversational style that provide practical information for school administrators. This issue of "Leadership" contains the following titles: (1) "Building Communities of Practice: Creating Small Learning Communities of School Leaders that Support Teacher Development Has a…

Personalizing education means going beyond structural changes and changing how educators see their students. It means knowing students' stories. The personal stories of students are powerful; educators must devise ways to gather and share those stories to benefit student learning. Principals and assistant principals can help ensure that there are…

This study examined the impact of NISL's [National Institute for School Leadership's] Executive Development Program for principals on student achievement in Pennsylvania schools between 2006-2009. Roughly half of the NISL-trained principals started the program during the 2007 school year and completed it in the 2008 school year, whereas the other…

The National Association of Secondary School Principals periodically studies practices and characteristics of secondary schools to help inform educators and shape policy. Such studies of middle-level education were conducted in 1966 and 1981. As middle-level education moved into the 1990s, many new questions about education and leadership needed…

The "National Survey of Salaries and Wages in Public Schools," produced annually since 1973, is an authoritative source of salary and wage data in education. The current survey collected data from more than 1,000 responding school districts for 32 selected positions in which personnel are employed in public school districts. This report contains…

This paper identifies four models of educational administration--the rational, mechanistic, organic, and bargaining models--and argues that a fifth model of leadership--a caring model--is needed. The ethic of caring (Nodding, 1986) is reciprocal, natural, and ethical and emphasizes connection, responsibilities, and relationships. Creating a model…

Little research exists on the roles and career intentions of deputy headships in English cities. This paper explores how deputy heads in Sheffield, England, perceive their roles in relation to preparation for the headship. The text describes the national context of primary education in England and Wales and explores the understanding of theories…

Novice school administrators find that demands for excellence have grown while budgets have shrunk. This paper reports on a study that examined the stress levels of beginning administrators. Two of the key questions for the study--Is the stress experienced by new school administrators manageable or out of control? and Does the job put beginning…

Since the advent of effective-schools research findings, educational administration experts have advocated a democratic and collegial leadership style for school administrators. This paper provides the findings of a study that examined 43 beginning administrators (25 females, 32 Caucasians, 9 African-Americans, 2 Hispanics) to determine what…

This paper describes a practicum that was designed to increase the efficacy of assistant principals as members of an administrative team in a learning organization. The 1-year practicum took place at a grades 8 to 12 public school facility in a rural community. The problems facing the school principal, who designed the practicum were that the two…

Included in this annotated bibliography of 11 publications are reports asserting that principals primarily are instructional leaders whose training must include a strong mentor relationship and expanded experiential education. Subsequent reports suggest that educational programs should prepare students for the socialization aspects of their future…

The role of an elementary school principal is diverse, challenging, and highly specialized in both technical and interpersonal skills. The principal either makes the school an exciting, vibrant learning center, or a stagnant, regimented building; he or she is the measure of achievement or the cause of failure. The selection of this leader should…

The relationship between assistant principals' orientation process and career mobility is examined in this qualitative study, based on the assumption that the assistant principalship is a testing and an opportunity position for both the candidate and the organization. Methodology involved formal and informal interviews with 20 secondary school…