This paper discusses the conceptual reform of university-based graduate level administrator preparation programs. The functionalist, interpretative, and critical approaches to social science have important implications for the study of motivation, decision-making, communication and leadership. Interpretative and critical approaches must be woven into the fabric of the present functionalist approach which undergirds course content in the study of educational administration. These approaches will create appropriately new paradigms and models for the analysis of selected administrative processes. (JAM)