Increasing criticism of practicing educational leaders has led to additional critiques of the university programs in which they are prepared. In response, many states have mandated statewide university preparation program redesign. The articles in this special issue describe five unique cases of principal preparation program redesign—including both process and product—presented through the chronology of state-level policy development and local implementation. These five case studies establish a literature base that examines the following research questions: (a) Whether and to what degree did externally imposed redesign mandates influence substantive program changes, (b) How did university program faculty respond to the state mandates, and (c) To what degree did program redesign efforts reflect emerging empirical research guidelines on the characteristics of quality educational leadership programs?
BergerP. L.LuckmanT. (1967). The social construction of reality: A treatise in the sociology of knowledge. Garden City, NY: Anchor Books.
2.
BottomsG.O’NeillK.FryB.HillD. (2003). Good principals are the key to successful schools: Six strategies to prepare more good principals. Atlanta, GA: Southern Regional Education Board.
3.
BriggsK.CheneyG.DavisJ.MollK. (2013). Operating in the dark: What outdated state policies and data gaps mean for effective school leadership. Dallas, TX: George W. Bush Institute.
4.
Browne-FerrignoT.SanzoK. (2011). Introduction to special issue on university-district partnerships. Journal of School Leadership, 21, 650-658.
5.
Council of Chief State School Officers. (1996). The interstate school leaders licensure consortium: Standards for school leaders. Washington, DC: Author.
6.
Darling-HammondL.LaPointeM.MeyersonD.OrrM. T.CohenC. (2007). Preparing school leaders for a changing world: Lessons from exemplary leadership development programs. Stanford, CA: Stanford University, Stanford Educational Leadership Institute. Retrieved from http://www.wallacefoundation.org/
7.
Darling-HammondL.MeyersonD.LaPointeM. M.OrrM. T. (2009). Preparing principals for a changing world. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
8.
DenzinN. K. (1997). Interpretive ethnography: Ethnographic practices for the 21st century. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
9.
DenzinN. K. (1999). Interpretive ethnography for the next century. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 28, 510-519.
10.
HallingerP.HeckR. H. (1998). Exploring the principal’s contribution to school effectiveness. School Effectiveness and School Improvement, 9, 157-191.
11.
HessF. M. (2003, January). A license to lead? A new leadership agenda for America’s schools (Policy report). Washington, DC: Progressive Policy Institute.
12.
JacksonB. L.KelleyC. (2002). Exceptional and innovative programs in educational leadership. Educational Administration Quarterly, 38, 192-212.
13.
LaveJ.WengerE. (1991). Situated learning: Legitimate peripheral participation. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
14.
LeithwoodK.LouisK. S.AndersonS. E.WahlstromK. L. (2004). Review of research: How leadership influences student learning. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota. Retrieved from http://www.wallacefoundation.org
15.
LevineA. (2005). Educating school leaders. New York, NY: Columbia Teachers College.
16.
McCarthyM. (1999). The evolution of educational leadership preparation programs. In MurphyJ.LouisK. S. (Eds.), Handbook of research on educational administration: A project of the American Educational Research Association (pp. 119-239). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
17.
MurphyJ. (1999). The quest for a center: Notes on the state of the profession of educational leadership. Columbia, MO: University Council for Educational Administration.
18.
MurphyJ.MoormanH. N.McCarthyM. (2008). A framework for rebuilding initial certification and preparation programs in educational leadership: Lessons from whole-state reform initiatives. Teachers College Record, 110, 2172-2223.
19.
MurphyJ.OrrM. T. (2009, Spring). Industry standards for preparation programs in educational leadership. LTEL-SIG Newsletter, 17(1), 9-11.
20.
National Policy Board for Educational Administration. (2002). Instructions to implement standards for advanced programs in educational leadership for principals, superintendents, curriculum directors and supervisors. Arlington, VA: Author.
21.
OrrM. T. (2006). Mapping innovation in leadership preparation in our nation’s schools of education. Phi Delta Kappan, 87, 492-499.
22.
OrrM. T.PounderD. (2011). Teaching and preparing school leaders. In ConleyS.CooperB. S. (Eds.), Finding, preparing, and supporting school leaders: Critical issues, useful solutions (pp. 11-39). Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
23.
PortinB. S.SchneiderP.DeArmondM.GundlachL. (2003). Making sense of leading schools: The school principalship. Seattle, WA: University of Washington. Retrieved from http://www.wallacefoundation.org/
24.
SchwandtT. A. (2000). Three epistemological stances for qualitative research: Interpretivism, hermeneutics, and social construction. In DenzinN. K.LincolnY. S. (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research (2nd ed., pp. 189-213). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
25.
SchwandtT. A. (2007). The Sage dictionary of qualitative inquiry (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
26.
Southern Regional Education Board. (2006). Schools can’t wait: Accelerating the redesign of university principal preparation programs. Atlanta, GA: Author.
27.
StakeR. E. (2005). Qualitative case studies. In DenzinN. K.LincolnY. S. (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research (3rd ed., pp. 443-466). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
University Council for Educational Administration. (2010). Values, vision and goals. Austin, TX: Author. Retrieved from http://www.ucea.org/values-vision-goals/
30.
U.S. Department of Education. (2004). Innovations in education: Innovative pathways to school leadership. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, Office of Innovation and Improvement. Retrieved from http://www2.ed.gov/admins/recruit/prep/alternative/index.html
31.
The Wallace Foundation. (2012, January). The school principal as leader: Guiding schools to better teaching and learning. New York, NY: Author. Retrieved from http://www.wallacefoundation.org/
32.
WeickK. E. (1976). Educational organizations as loosely coupled systems. Administrative Science Quarterly, 21, 1-19.
33.
WengerE. (1998). Communities of practice: Learning, meaning, and identity. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
34.
WengerE.McDermottR.SnyderW. M. (2002). A guide to managing knowledge: Cultivating communities of practice. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.
35.
YinR. K. (2009). Case study research: Design and methods (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
36.
YoungM. D. (2013). Is state-mandated redesign an effective and sustainable solution?Journal of Research on Leadership Education, 8(2), 247-254.
37.
YoungM. D.CrowG.MurphyJ.OgawaR. (Eds.), (2009). Handbook of research on the education of school leaders. New York, NY: Routledge.
38.
YoungM. D.OrrM. G.TuckerP. D. (2012). Institutional and program quality criteria: Guidance for master’s and doctoral program in educational leadership. Charlottesville, VA: University Council for Educational Administration.
39.
YoungM. D.PetersonG. J.ShortP. M. (2002). The complexity of substantive reform: A call for interdependence among key stakeholders. Educational Administration Quarterly, 38, 137-175.
