Preparing School Leaders: What Works?

Abstract

Leadership preparation programs in eleven universities receiving grants from the Danforth Foundation were included in this study of preparation program effects and methods. Program graduates (N = 136) in administrative roles provided data about the value they attributed to characteristics of the programs which they had experienced. A sample of their teacher colleagues (N = 739) provided data about the nature and quality of leadership provided by the graduates in their schools. Results suggest that these programs made a significant contribution to leadership as actually practiced in schools, and that constructivist instructional strategies included in preparation programs accounted for much of this effect.