Leadership education has become the public education reform strategy of the new century. Spotlighting leadership education presumes that improved leadership preparation and development will yield better leadership, management, and organizational practices which, in turn, will improve teaching, student learning and student performance in schools and districts. But the "hows and whats" of leadership preparation have become hotly debated questions in recent years. While the research in the leadership preparation field has been characterized as scant and of limited methodological quality, the studies have served to foment ideas and diffuse new approaches for educating administrative aspirants. Further evidence of research as a reform strategy can be found in professional forums, like the American Educational Research Association through its Division A and the Teaching in Educational Administration Special Interest Group (TEA-SIG), National Council of Professors of Educational Administration (NCPEA), and University Council of Educational Administration (UCEA). Each has been significantly instrumental in facilitating a research and development approach to innovation and diffusion of new approaches and understandings about leadership preparation. The author concludes that the "Journal of Research on Leadership Education" will provide impetus for more and better research on leadership preparation and leadership development. (Contains 1 figure.)