The principalship promises to be fundamentally different in the future than it has been in the past. Throughout the seventies, social trends and studies of schooling caused a loss of confidence in the principal. Yet by the end of the decade, principals were seen to be important in affecting school productivity, as was suggested by many studies of school effectiveness. Both practitioners and scholars now tend to conceive of the role of principal as a balance of management and instructional leadership. Currently surveys show that management duties are extremely time-consuming and leave little room for instructional leadership. Furthermore, if we look to research to provide a knowledge base to support a reconstruction of the principal's role, we find that such a knowledge base does not exist. Yet there are value changes in the society that would favor a reconstruction of the principal's role. There is also a growing recognition of the centrality of the principal in school improvement. School principals clearly are in a strategic position to contribute to the solution of educational problems. Much is needed to be done in the reconstruction of the principal's role and in the support accorded that role if education is to prosper. (Author/JM)